Icrisat honours MS, Saina

Hyderabad: Eminent agriculture scientist M S Swaminathan and ace shuttler Saina Nehwal were on Monday presented with the 'Ambassadors of Goodwill' award by International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat) here.

Icrisat Director General William D Dar presented the award to Swaminathan and Saina at an event organised at the agriculture institute. Describing the award as an honour, Saina said she would promote the cause of agriculture in whichever way she can.

Swaminathan has been instrumental in setting up the reputed institute in Hyderabad. With prestigious tournaments like Commonwealth Games and badminton world championship scheduled to take place this year, Saina said she would like to keep herself fit and strong for putting up a competitive show.

On the occasion, Swaminathan talked about the 'Zero Hunger Challenge' being encouraged by United Nations. The Challenge has five components which include Zero stunted children less than two years (of age), 100 per cent access to adequate food all year round, all food system should be sustainable, 100 per cent increase in smallholders' productivity and income and zero wastage of food.
He expressed happiness over a 'protein revolution' being talked about in the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley last week.

He felt that drain water harvesting should be made mandatory and cited the success of rain water harvesting programmes in Tamil Nadu about which doubts were expressed initially. Expressing grief over reports of farmers' suicides in Telangana and elsewhere in recent times, he said it is sad that farmers, who are in a "life giving" profession, take their lives.

He wished that the best of modern science goes to the farmers without ecology being damaged. Later, replying to a query on the farm loan waivers announced in Andhra Pradesh, he said loan waiver should help the farmers "re-launch" them into agriculture and not as a patronage.