Sustainable agriculture

In a landmark development poised to reshape the future of agriculture, Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday announced the successful creation of the world’s first genome-edited rice varieties developed indigenously in India.

As smart farming technologies continue to mature, frameworks like this will be key to ensuring that agriculture not only meets the demands of a growing global population but does so in a way that is sustainable, efficient, and secure.

Meena’s work has not only built a thriving local economy but has also contributed to a 70 percent reduction in forest fires over the past year. What began as survival has become stewardship, and a local economy built leaf by leaf.

The study highlights that the economic damage will not be evenly distributed. Developing nations, often located in regions more vulnerable to extreme weather events, will bear the brunt of the impact.

The programme would also develop an integrated pollutant and a greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventory system to provide a comprehensive approach to tracking and managing emissions data.

The minister said that the Farmers Distress Inde is designed to develop a forewarning system to take preventive measures to identify farmer distress, providing alerts three months in advance.

The minister said that as Sri Lanka moves forward, the challenge remains clear: finding sustainable, humane solutions that protect both livelihoods and biodiversity for future generations.

Choudhary said that to assist states in regulating groundwater resources, the ministry of Jal Shakti drafted a Model ‘Groundwater (Regulation and Control of Development and Management) Bill.’ This bill provides a regulatory framework to curb indiscriminate groundwater extraction while promoting rainwater harvesting and artificial recharge.