Excelsior Correspondent
Jammu, Jan 23: Under the Eminent Lecture Series, the Central University of Jammu (CUJ) today organized a lecture on, “Food Security: Role of Biotechnology” by Prof Sudhir K Sopory, Vice Chancellor, Jawahar Lal Nehru University, New Delhi.
Prof Sopory said that the increasing world population has led to increased demand for food and reduced per capita availability of arable land and irrigation water. Besides, most farmers in the developing world have small land holdings, Low soil fertility and crop losses from pests and droughts have reduced harvests to below subsistence levels, he said and added that fifty percent of the soils are affected by salinity problem.
According to USDA, 40 percent of the soils will be lost due to salinity, said Prof Sopory. “This situation has led to serious food insecurity. India too has to feed 1.2 billion people. In context of nutritional security, India ranks lowest amongst the Asian countries,” he added.
Prof Sopory underlined that Biotechnology had ability to eliminate malnutrition and hunger through production of crops resistant to pests and diseases, having longer shelf-lives, refined textures and flavours, higher yields, tolerant to adverse weather and soil conditions, and generate employment. However, there is need for Government and public-private collaborations to invest in agricultural biotechnology-based companies, researches, or initiatives, in order to make the gene revolution beneficial to developing countries including India, he said.
The Vice-Chancellor of CUJ, Prof Devanand said that genetic engineering or biotechnology is the modern tool that can be used in boosting the production of crops. Earlier, Prof D R Gupta formally welcomed the speaker and the guests while Dr Bhawna Arora introduced Prof Sopory.
Dr P S Pathania, Dr N R Sharma, Prof Lokesh Verma, Prof Shyam Singh, Heads of the Departments, faculty and students attended the lecture.
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