A key panel of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has approved a total of 28 new varieties of wheat and barley for the seed sub-committee to consider for release. This comes when the wheat sowing season is set to begin.The Varietal Identification Committee (VIC), convened in August under ICAR’s Assistant Director General SK Pradhan, reviewed requests for 46 new varieties of wheat and barley.
According to the meeting minutes, 28 were “identified” for approval by the Central Sub-Committee on Crop Standards, Notification & Release of Varieties (CSN&RV). This selection includes 23 new wheat varieties out of 41 requested and all five new varieties of barley submitted by government institutes and private sector companies. The approval process this year is reportedly under stricter scrutiny, after Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan expressed displeasure on farmers not adopting the numerous varieties released commercially. He reportedly questioned the rationale behind commercially releasing varieties that farmers ultimately do not grow.
