Mohali, March 11 (IANS): Union Science & Technology Minister Jitendra Singh on Monday inaugurated the first-of-its-kind 'National Speed Breeding Crop Facility' at the National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute (NABI) in Mohali.
Ashwani Pareek, Executive Director, NABI, said that the speed breeding crop facility "will be used to develop new varieties of crops such as wheat, rice, soybean, pea, tomato, etc., by using a precisely controlled environment (light, humidity, temperature) to achieve more than four generations of a crop per year".
Speaking on the occasion as chief guest, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said: "This initiative is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's priority of doubling farmers' incomes, ensuring their economic empowerment and promoting Agri-StartUps."
He said that farmers will now have the opportunity to "improve their crop qualitatively as well as quantitatively".
Singh said: "Biotechnology speedy seeds facility will cater to all the states of India but it will be especially useful for North Indian states like Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and the UT of J&K."
"This facility will augment transformational changes in crop improvement programmes by accelerating the development of advanced crop varieties that could withstand climate change and contribute to the food and nutritional demand of the population with the implementation of speed breeding cropping methods," he added.
The Union Minister, while highlighting the recent achievements of institutes under the Science & Technology Ministry, said: "Our institutes have specialised technologies in fruit, flowers and crop cultivation through modern genetic means."
He recalled the success of 'Tulip' Cultivation by CSIR Palampur. He also recalled the development of the '108-petal lotus' by CSIR Lucknow in this context.
"Bio-manufacturing and Bio-foundry will drive India's future bio-economy and promote green growth," he said.
The Union Minister also highlighted the fact that under Prime Minister Modi, "India's bio-economy has grown 13 folds in the last 10 years from $10 billion in 2014 to over $130 billion in 2024".
He said that the Narendra Modi government is conscious of the importance of bio-economy and thus the recent 'Vote of Account-Budget' had a provision for a special scheme for bio-manufacturing.
According to the Union Minister, institutes like NABI will have an important role in enabling transformational progress and value addition in farming sector productivity.