Date:05/01/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/01/05/stories/2008010561651200.htm

National

Swaminathan’s suggestion to tackle farm crisis

Special Correspondent

VISAKHAPATNAM: Noted agricultural scientist and MP M.S. Swaminathan has favoured constitution of a National Participatory Research Network involving all stakeholders and including farmers for tackling the crisis faced by the sector.

The network, comprising scientists, experts, farmers and other sections, should be agro-ecological specific and it should be entrusted with the task of studying the situation in arid, semi-arid, hilly, coastal as well as irrigated zones. It should take up joint research with farmers instead of confining the research activities to laboratories, he said.

The proposal comes a day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked the scientists at the 95th Indian Science Congress to come out with specific suggestions to face the challenges faced in five core areas, including agriculture.

Dr. Swaminathan wanted the participants of the science Congress to constitute a monitoring group which could evolve a design for the network that, in turn, could be sent to the Central Government.

Regulatory authority

He favoured the constitution of a regulatory authority for biotechnology, an independent body on the lines of the Election Commission and other agencies, to govern the developments in the segment. The sector that could give immense benefits to farmers if properly used could at the same time create problems if the quality parameters were not followed.