New Delhi: Tata Chemicals, the leading manufacturer of chemicals, fertilisers and food additives and International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), a non-profit independent organisation and global leader in rice science, today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop, test and promote new, flood-, drought- and salinity-tolerant rice varieties which will enhance and stabilise the rice productivity under changing climate.
Under this MoU, Tata Chemicals will get non-exclusive access to latest technologies, variants and releases of rice of IRRI. The MoU is an extension of the series of innovations undertaken by Tata Chemicals in the recent past.
PK Ghose, executive director and chief financial officer, Tata Chemicals, and Achim Dobermann, deputy director general for research, IRRI, Philippines, signed the MoU at a ceremony in New Delhi.
Speaking at the occasion, Mr Ghose said, “It is indeed a proud moment for Tata Chemicals to join hands with IRRI for development of new variants of flood-, salinity- and drought-tolerant rice suited for the Indian subcontinent. The new variants would help our farmer friends to get better quality of produce which would be able to withstand a large range of stress conditions. On the basis of the regular feedback with the farming community, we will be able to touch their lives in a more meaningful manner. “
Adding further, Mr Dobermann said, “We are very happy to be associated with Tata Chemicals in India which is very heartening and would be helpful in our mission to improve the income and health of rice farmers and ensure that rice production is environmentally sustainable.”
Taking into the consideration the topography of the Indian subcontinent, which is predominantly dependant on the monsoon, Tata Chemicals’ Centre for Agri-solutions and Technology (CAT) in Aligarh, will play a pivotal role in developing and testing the new variants of rice, thereby release newer rice varieties that are suitable for the Indian farming requirements.
Almost half of the rice area in India is rainfed and prone to one or the other abiotic stress, such as flood, drought or soil salinity. Productivity of this area remains low and fragile. It was not affected by the first green revolution. Farmers of this area are marginal and poor. They do not have access to the latest techniques and implementations. The new variants being developed under this initiative will be more stress-tolerant and generate better and stable yield with more nutritive value, thus helping them in getting a better value.