New Delhi: Giving space to five little pots on your balcony can help you cook a colourful and nutritious meal, say agricultural scientists. The ongoing Krishi Vigyan Mela at Pusa campus, Indian Agricultural Research Institute is focusing on farming technologies for urban farmers. The fair is on till March 3.

Farm technologies are not reaching farmers on the ground, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh observed here on Monday and said “it represents the failure of the system.”

He was speaking at the Golden Jubilee convocation of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) here.

Despite the steady growth of India’s farm sector in the past five years, the country has not been able to utilise fully the many scientific achievements in the agriculture sector, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Monday. “It represents failure of the system,” Singh said while speaking at the Golden Jubilee Convocation of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI). “There is a gap between the yield per hectare that is observed in the field and the yields that can be achieved under the ideal farm practices.

Indian Agriculture Research Institute has developed four hybrid mango varieties which promise a yield three-four times higher than the existing varieties. This is likely to scale up mango production in the next 10 years without any additional input cost. The varieties named Pusa Pratibha, Pusa Peetamber, Pusa Shreshth and Pusa Lalima possess traits of popular varieties like Dussehari and Neelam.

Although women are admittedly bearing the brunt of climate change, India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) has remained gender-blind and does not focus on gender issues.

Aditi Kapoor’s report Engendering the Climate for Change — Policies and Practices for Gender-Just Adaptation highlights that the four adaptation-focused missions remain largely techno-managerial in their orientation without focusing on how many women, than men, are engaged in growing vegetables, tea, coffee, paddy, livestock-rearing, fish processing and gathering medicinal herbs and fuel wood.

The State Variety Approval Committee, at a meeting in Ludhiana today, approved HD 2967, a new wheat variety, to replace the existing PBW 343, which is being phased out because it has become increasingly susceptible to yellow rust.

The new variety was formally approved at a meeting of the Approval Committee chaired by Agriculture Director Dr BS Sidhu. Other members on the committee included PAU Director, Research, Dr SS Gosal and Director, Extension, Dr MS Gill.

Eminent city scientists on Tuesday made a plea to the Prime Minister to lift the moratorium on commercial production of Bt Brinjal and called it absolutely safe for human consumption.

Scientists were drawn from Government institutions, including Indian Agriculture Research Institute, Ministry of Agriculture; Department of Biotechnology, Government of India; National Institute of Nutrition; National Institute of Plant Genomic Research; Research and Information System for Developing Countries among others.