Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday launched 35 crop varieties with special traits — developed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) — to address the twin challenges of climate change and malnutrition.
The new crop varieties were dedicated to the nation through a video conference organised at all ICAR institutes, state and central agricultural universities and Krishi Vighyan Kendra.
According to the PMO, 35 crop varieties with special traits like climate resilience and higher nutrient-content have been developed in 2021.
These include a drought tolerant variety of chickpea, wilt and sterility mosaic resistant pigeonpea, early maturing variety of soybean, disease resistant varieties of rice and biofortified varieties of wheat, pearl millet, maize and chickpea, quinoa, buckwheat, winged bean and fava bean.
These special traits crop varieties also include those that address the anti-nutritional factors found in some crops that adversely affect human and animal health.
