Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced seven ambitious targets to transform India's agricultural research ecosystem during the 98th Foundation Day celebration of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) at the NASC Complex in New Delhi.

In his address, Chouhan emphasised the importance of quality over quantity for India's future agricultural development and highlighted the need to strengthen research and development in the field of climate-resilient agriculture to cope with El Niño and shifting climatic conditions. He announced plans to introduce 100 Climate Smart Villages before ICAR reaches its 100th year, which will showcase climate-smart agriculture, integrated farming systems and water and soil conservation models to help farmers in adapting to the changing situation.

ICAR has launched the “One Institute-One Grand Innovation” initiative, which requires each institute to develop one transformative innovation, such as a new crop variety, vaccine, digital tool or solution for climate change, within two years. Chouhan also set a target of reaching 100 million farmers with ICAR technologies by the centenary year. He proposed transforming “Mission ICAR-100” Krishi Vigyan Kendras into training centres, innovation hubs, climate advisory centres and start-up support centres.

An ICAR Open Digital Knowledge Platform was also proposed, which will provide scientific advice, soil analysis, crop recommendations and weather forecasts directly to farmers’ mobile phones free of cost. The Minister called for stronger controls on counterfeit seeds and pesticides and announced that he would ensure ICAR’s internal resources reach Rs 10,000 crore by 2029 through technology commercialisation and licensing.

In addition to signing more than 70 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) and technology licensing agreements with private industry and start-ups, ICAR released 43 new crop varieties, 17 technologies and products at the Foundation Day event and published 14 documents. Chouhan also announced the regularisation of services of more than 150 ICAR employees, describing it as a step towards addressing a long-standing issue.