ICAR-IARI Vision 2050

Abstract

India has made a remarkable progress in agriculture sector, which is credited with making the country not only self-sufficient in food grains in early 1970s but has enabled it to export agricultural commodities worth Rs. 2.35 lakh crores during the last year. However, along with numerous accomplishments, newer challenges have come up. The ever increasing population and income have raised the demand for food but the resource base that was responsible for increasing the production has been shrinking. Rising cost of cultivation has adversely impacted the profitability; consequently, farming no longer remains an attractive option. In addition, growth rate in productivity of many crops has become stagnant. This is further compounded by the challenges of global warming. Indian agriculture, therefore, faces twin challenges of increasing production, productivity along with profitability of farming on one hand and maintaining the environmental security and sustainability on the other. The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), the flagship institute of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, has served the country by developing appropriate technologies through basic, strategic and applied research leading to self-sufficiency in food grains and diversification and export of agricultural commodities. During the last 107 years, IARI has responded dynamically to the needs, challenges and opportunities of the Indian agriculture by redefining its mandate, plans and programmes accordingly. The institute is not only credited with the success of the Green Revolution but also brought about a radical transformation of Indian agriculture from traditional to modern by continuously employing advanced tools and technologies to address various problems in a more effective manner. The Institute has taken the initiatives to address challenges and new opportunities that Indian agriculture is facing today and may face in future. The Vision 2050 document has been prepared keeping in mind the recent development in international agriculture and the future challenges such as sustainability, climate change, scarcity of water resource for agriculture, degraded soil and water resources which are expected to affect the cropping systems in the country. The Institute envisions that by 2050 Indian agriculture should transform itself from subsistence level of farming to commercial farming, input intensive to input responsive, carbon-negative (C-) to carbon-positive (C+), low-efficiency to high efficiency, polluting to pollution-free, and climate-prone to climate-smart agriculture. This document provides a framework for visualizing new priorities, developing new programmes, adopting participatory modes of action, and making organizational adjustments for effectively addressing the challenges and tapping the opportunities before us for ushering in an ever green revolution.