M. S. Swaminathan
Scientist
1925-08-07
Quotes by M. S. Swaminathan
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Where two or more crops are taken normally, it is time to begin preparation for a good rabi crop by assembling the seeds, soil nutrients, and other agronomic inputs needed for timely sowing and good plant population.
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I was chairman of the steering committee for agriculture when we set up the target of 4% growth rate. I had written that if you want to achieve 4% growth rate in agriculture, you should have 8% growth in animal husbandry and fisheries and 8% in horticulture.
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Floods will become more serious and frequent in the Indo-Gangetic plains. Drought induced food and water scarcity will become more acute. South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and the small islands will be the worst victims.
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The government only gives subsidies for nitrogenous fertilisers. With the result, farmers do not apply balanced fertilisers.
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It will be very foolhardy and suicidal for a country like India to forgo food security.
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Waiver of farm loans is not an ideal solution. To ensure that the situation is not repeated, the government should focus on creating a robust system to extend the necessary ingredients of farming such as water harvesting systems, seed and fertiliser supplements.
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There are two major challenges before Indian agriculture today: ecological and economical. The conservation of our basic agricultural assets such as land, water, and biodiversity is a major challenge. How to make agriculture sustainable is the challenge.
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See, technology can advance yield and productivity, but only public policy can advance the income of farmers. There has to be a synergy between technology and public policy.
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Land tenure is key to protecting land rights. The Central and State governments should have accessible systems for registering, tracking and protecting land rights, including customary rights and common property resources.
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One of India's major blessings is the rich store of experience and knowledge available in the rural and tribal areas.
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Agriculture can trigger job-led economic growth, provided it becomes intellectually satisfying and economically rewarding.
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Farmers, young and old, educated and uneducated, have easily taken to the new agronomy. It has been heart-warming to see young college graduates, retired officials, ex-armymen, illiterate peasants and small farmers queuing up to get the new seeds.
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Looking ahead, the bright spot in Indian agriculture is the availability of a large untapped production reservoir.
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There is an urgent need for regeneration of fisheries and fostering a sustainable fisheries programme. What I mean is, designing new fishing vessels and nets so that they do not disrupt the fish lifecycle by catching young ones and also do not destroy sea grass beds, which serve as habitats for dugongs.
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Without the wholehearted involvement of farmers, particularly of young as well as women farmers, it will be impossible to implement a Food Entitlements Act in an era of increasing price volatility in the international market.
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Contract farming can be promoted if it is structured on the basis of a win-win situation both for the producer and the purchaser.
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If agriculture goes wrong, nothing else will have a chance to go right.
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In any case, if I grow hybrid maize or hybrid pearl mallet or any hybrid, I have to sow fresh seed every year. I cannot keep the seed of the same plant. If I keep the seed of the same plant, yield will be much less and there will be a wide variation in the field, like maturity period, quality and so on.
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