DBT unleashes its two initiatives to bridge farmers with biotechnology

In the recently concluded event at the CSIR Science Centre, New Delhi, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, exchanged details of  Department of Biotechnology’s (DBT) two programmes, which are intended to have major impact on rural livelihood activities through biotech innovations.
Harsh Vardhan took the covers off from the project called ‘Impacting People’s Lives through Science’. Under this project, DBT will be closely working on two verticals, Biotech-KISAN and the Genomics of indigenous livestock.
Shedding some light on one of the verticals, Biotech Kisan, Dr Harsha Vardhan said that the programme which focuses on small farmers will be a catalyst to make the existing systems reach out to the farmers more effectively and will also equip them with latest trend and technology. Adding further, he also laid heavy emphasis on latest communication technologies and revealed that the modern farmers are using latest communication methods such as ‘Whatsapp’ to gain access to the global information and to learn new techniques involved in farming and cultivation.
Echoing the same voice, Professor VijayRaghavan, Secretary, DBT stated that the department has chalked down these initiatives in order to meet the modern farmer’s desire for scientific approaches.
Professor VijayRaghavan also highlighted the growing need for SNP genotyping and livestock improvement in India which could help protection and conservation of indigenous breeds of cattle, identification and mapping of temperature resistance, disease resistance, milk yield and QTLs for other economically important traits and also for genetic improvement of cattle.