Indian President Pratibha Patil on Wednesday said the country needed another Green Revolution as the population growth is set to increase on already scarce resources.

"The land is limited but the demand for foodgrains has been increasing consistently. The Green Revolution enabled us to meet the rising demands so far, but now in the 21st century there is a need to usher in a new Green Revolution," said President Patil.

She said dryland farming could be the cradle of the second Green Revolution. She began her speech recalling Mohan Singh Mehta, an educationist from Udaipur, who proposed the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), a Farm Science Centre, when he was the head of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research committee.

Since then, KVKs have been established and they are working today from Kargil to Car Nicobar. President Patil said by 2050 India's population would be 1.6 billion.

"We have to plan for the food requirements of such a large population," she said.

The President said strategies to make small holdings more productive should be made. A farmer is a stakeholder in every sphere of agriculture, she added. Their rights need to be protected. She also said this is the decade of innovations and the farm innovations made should be cost-effective and locally planned.

Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot called for the application of IT services in agriculture, and Punjab governor Shivraj Patil talked of the advanced measures to be adopted for developing agriculture.

He said each district should have a farm science centre like the KVK and private agencies and corporates should come forward in setting these bodies.

(Source: Another Green Revolution needed: Prez Patil [Times of India])