| Abstract |
The Government of India (GOI) and the CIMMYT signed an agreement on October 5, 2011 to set up a new research institute named after the renowned agricultural scientist and Nobel Laureate, Dr. Norman E. Borlaug. The new institute known as Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) has three Regional Research Centres located at Ladhowal (Ludhiana, Punjab), Pusa (Samastipur, Bihar) and Manegaon (Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh). These centres are located in 3 agro-ecologically different regions, namely, the semi-arid northwest IndoGangetic plains in Ludhiana (Punjab), the subhumid middle Gangetic plains of Samastipur, Bihar and the humid central plateau of Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh). The BISA research centre at Ladhowal is located on the bank of Sutlej River at 30°59’28.74” N latitude and 75°44’10.87” E longitude at an elevation of 229 m. The research Centre at Manegaon is located between 23°13’13.45 and 23°14’37.21” N latitude and between 80°04’2.77” and 80°04’59.64” E longitude at an elevation of 407 m above mean sea level. The research Centre at Pusa is located between 25°57’08” and 25°57’ 44” N latitude and between 85°40’13” and 85°40’57” E longitude, and the soils belong to Dholi soil series, a member of the fine loamy, mixed, hyperthermic (calcareous) family of Fluventic Haplustepts. Typically soils of the Dholi series are very calcareous, deep, and moderately well drained on very gently sloping recent alluvial plain. The annual rainfall at Ladhowal, Manegaon and Pusa is about 680, 1700 and 1200 mm respectively. Whereas soils of the Ladhowal and Pusa centres are of alluvial nature, soils of Manegaon belong to deep black cotton soils (Vertisols) of the Central Plateau derived from basaltic rocks. The BISA farm at Ladhowal is representative of the agro-ecological situation of Haryana, western UP and the two Punjabs on the Indian and Pakistan sides. The BISA farm at Pusa represents large tracts of sub-Himalayan Tarai in India and Nepal, eastern UP, Bihar, West Bengal and Bangladesh. Agricultural situations of the Manegaon farm are typical of the large tracts of the Central Plateau region of India and the summers of the Central Asian republics. South Asia is inhabited by 50% of the world’s poor, and 75% of the South Asia’s poor live in rural areas. They consume 25 and 101 million tons of maize and wheat, respectively. Climate change and terminal heat stress are expected to result in 6-23% losses in maize and 25-30% losses in wheat in South Asia. |
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