KOLHAPUR: NCP president and former Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said the time has come to think about increasing productivity by using genetically modified (GM) crops.
Pawar was speaking at the virtual inauguration ceremony of D Y Patil Agriculture and Technical University set up at Talsande in Kolhapur.
“There is opposition to GM crops. Protests against GM foods in America and Europe are taken out. But America and Brazil have become major exporters of oil, sugar and wheat. This happened due to increased production through GM crops,” he said.
“On one hand, the western countries oppose introducing GM crops in developing countries and on the other hand, they grow GM crops to make commercial gains. We need to think of using all such methods to grow productivity in agriculture and need to support scientists,” said Pawar
The state legislature had approved to set up the first private agricultural university of the state. At present, agriculture education and research are done through four universities run by the government.
He said when he took charge as agriculture minister in the Centre during 2004, the stock of grains left with the government was adequate for just three days and he had to hesitatingly decide to import grains. “When I resigned the office 10 years later, India was among first three countries in terms of production of grains, fruits, milk and vegetables. We need to emphasise on bringing the use of every drop of rainwater as still 60% of our agriculture is rain-fed. Also, we need to increase the quality of the soil. The research needs to be done in this aspect,” he said.
Pawar suggested that the D Y Patil Agriculture and Technical University needs to tie up with international universities for knowledge sharing and exposure to the students.
