Apart from loans, debts and quality of inputs, technology of agricultural production also came into limelight, in being discussed and ways suggested. Climate change, extinction of species, virulence of certain other species, production methods, crop standards, seed quality, genetic modification, bio-safety and various other issues are being discussed at various levels. Unfortunately, such debate and discussion is not enabled at local level among scientists, and specifically in Hyderabad. This presentation discusses science, in this context, in agriculture.
7. Global spending
• Total global public spending on agricultural
R&D in 2008 was $31.7 billion
• Global public spending on agricultural
R&D increased by $5.6 billion (+22%) fromR&D increased by $5.6 billion (+22%) from
2000 to 2008. China (+ $2.1 billion) and
India (+ $0.6 billion) were the main drivers
of growth
• In 2008, 49% of global public spending in
agricultural R&D came from low and
middle income countries
8. Research Establishment
49 ICAR institutes,
17 national research centers,
6 bureaux,
25 project directorates,25 project directorates,
79 All India Coordinated Research Projects
(AICRPs) and AINPs
607 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVK) 52 State
Agricultural Universities (SAUs), 1 Central
Agricultural University, 4 Central
Universities having faculty of Agriculture
10. Consideration for
science
• Decrease in productive land
• Growing number of pests
• Pest resistance
• Seed varieties – build on the present• Seed varieties – build on the present
• Limits to yield
• Soil health – loss of top layer, mineral loss
11. Flaws in Agricultural Science
• Business-oriented research
• Patent as a objective - IPRs
• No contextual research
• Very minimal problem definition –• Very minimal problem definition –
conceptual clarity
• ‘Outlandish’ solutions
• Controlling ‘questions’ – conditioned
thinking
• Pursuing ‘Western’ model
12. Flaws in Agricultural Science
• Ignoring agro-climatic zones
• Neglecting existing practices
• No follow-up research on ‘field’ releases of
knowledge or technologyknowledge or technology
• Serious problems with agricultural science,
scientists and establishment
• Wrong direction
• No output-oriented work
• No experimentation and observation
13. Commandments for ‘good’
science
• ‘Local’ agricultural field as a destination,
and not a conference
• ‘Fruit’ or ‘harvest’ as an outcome, than a
article in a journalarticle in a journal
• ‘Service orientation’ than job prescription
• ‘project’ as a vehicle, than a goal
• Insect-centric research, than ‘pest’ linked
pursuit
14. In summary
• Serious introspection, at individual and
institutional level
• More consideration for Indian ethos, and
centuries old practicescenturies old practices
• Shunning ‘Western’ models, and critically
reviewing ‘recommendations’
• Questioning oneself, and also
establishment