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Bhubaneswar, April 11: Farmers should grow crops that do not need much water or fertilizers, said experts at a two-day national seminar at the Orissa University of Agriculture Technology (OUAT).
Crops such as rice, wheat, oilseeds and pulses cannot be grown in as much as 70 per cent of the land in Orissa throughout the land, it was pointed out at the seminar titled all India coordinated network project on potential crops.
However, scientists have identified crops that can be grown without much water and fertilizers. These include grain amaranth, rice bean, faba bean, chenopodium, buck wheat, adzukibean, jatropha and simarouba.
“These crops can not only grow in non-irrigated land but can also produce a lot of protein and other vitamins. Farmers need to shift from growing traditional crops to these crops,” empasised experts here.
The crops can be used as food for humans and animals. These can also be used for medicinal purposes.
Rice bean is a kind of pulse that has been grown by farmers of as many as 13 interior districts of the state. The crop has 21 per cent protein, 1.5 per cent calcium, 3.5 per cent essential fatty acid and other major nutrients.
The two-day long national conference that concluded here at OUAT Saturday was attended by scientists BS Phogat, JS Chauhan, IS Solanki of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, along with several other scientists from across the nation and from abroad.
