Vision 2050
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Abiotic stresses, which cause more than 50% losses in crop productivity are the major concerns for food and nutritional security of additional 0.4 billion Indians by 2050. Being a tropical country, India is more challenged with multitude of abiotic stresses. The country has been experiencing losses in productivity due to episodic and frequent droughts, floods, degradation of land, extremes of temperature in addition to pest and disease outbreaks. These problems are likely to aggravate with changing climate that can be a grave threat to food security in the 21st century. Hence, the main task ahead is to maintain the efficiency of agro-ecosystems on long term basis. This can be accomplished by several approaches including those which aim at bridging the knowledge-gaps in mechanisms underlying tolerance to abiotic stresses in plants, livestock and fishes. |