Himalayan Times (1962)

jHmalapan Stints

A NEWS WEEKLY PUBLISHED EVERY SUNDAY

I

VOL. XV JUNE 24, 1962. NO. VIIIL

I.A.R.I. SERVES THE ENTIRE COUNTRY

BY DR. B. P. PAL

India ii a country
with a tremendous range
of variation!) in soils,
olimate and crops; the
problems facing the re-
search w« rk r therefore are
more complex than in
many other oonntriee.
Thus, the agricultural
problems in the terraced
slopes of the Himalayas,
where oultiv. tiou extends
to high altitudes subject
tu biting cold and snow
in winter, are quite dif-
ferent from those in Ke-
rala and the southern t
parts of Madras where
truly tropical conditions
exist. In some parts of
the country two to there
crops are taken.each year
from one and the same
field. There are many/iif-
ferenoes in the pattern
of sericulture, in the ro.
tations followed, the kind
of agricultural implements
used, and so on. If one
has to introduce an im-
provement, it is not
enough to consider merely
one aspect or one item
since any ohange in prac-

Annual Ra. 6/-

tice mny have repercus-
sions on other parts of
the cropping system.

It has also to be kept
in mind that in this
country holdings are typi-
cally small, the farmer
has very limited resources
and in many areas he
may also not be educated
or even lit rate. Also the
fertility of the land is
very low in many regions
due to continuous cropp-
ing for thousands of years
and soil erosion. These
factors as well as the
increase in population and
the increasing demands
made by modern standards
of living have made it ur-
gently necessary that the
resoures of modern sciences
be made available to the
farmer so that he may pro-
vide all the food that is re-
quired for thp growing po:
pulation as well as the ma-
terials to feed our raw ra-
pidly expanding industries.

'n view of the vastnees
of the agricultural problem
there are a large number
of agenoies working to-

wards agricultural impro-
vement. The Government
of India maintains several
highly equipped and well-
staffed institutes. Their
purpose is to carry out
particularly more the basic
aspects of research which
require staff and facilities
of a type whiob it would
be difficult to duplicate
in each of the States,
keeping in view considera-
tions of economy and the
availability of highly trai-
ned personnel in many
specialised fields. The
Commodity Committees
deal with orops like cotton,
sugarcane, tobacco, coco-
nuts jute and provide
funds for giving concen-
trated attention to those
important commodities.
The State Governments '.
have their own research
institutes but their atten-
tion is naturally enough
given mainly to problems
of importance within the
State. A certain amount
of work in agricultural
sciences is also done in
our universities and in
private institutions. With
suoh a multiplioito of
organisations there is need
for coordination of effort,
( Continued on page 6 )

Per Copy 13 nP.