Climate change challenge for entire ecosystem: PM

Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi on Tuesday said climate change is a big challenge not only for the farm sector but also for the entire ecosystem, and efforts needed to be stepped up to address the problem. Modi called for collective efforts and continuous intensive research to deal with the climate change, which is adversely impacting the output of agriculture and allied sectors, thereby causing huge losses to farmers. The PM was addressing farmers and other stakeholders through video conferencing after launching 35 new crop varieties with special traits to address climate change and malnutrition. In the last sixseven years, science and technology are being used on a priority basis to solve the challenges related to agriculture, he said, adding that the joint efforts of farmers and scientists will give better results. Modi also said that modern technology and new farming tools are at the core of future farming and stressed on use of drones and sensors to collect high-quality farm data and real-time solutions. Modi also inaugurated the newly-constructed campus of the National Institute of Biotic Stress Tolerance, Raipur.