Experts and researchers in the field of agriculture have developed new technologies to increase yield and nutrition content of food and commercial crops. Dr N Gopalakrishnan of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi, while taking part at a session on ‘Technological Intensification of Food and Commercial Crops’ at a conference held at Gandhi Krishi Vignan Kendra recently, said, “Rice varieties rich in zinc and iron are being selected as are varieties which can utilise Nitrogen and Phosphorus efficiently or have tolerance to drought.” He added, “Nutricereals like small millets released in the last five years have caused a revolution as they are high in nutrients. There is a great thrust on higher yields and sustainable agriculture in cereals, sugarcane with high sugar content, oil seeds, cotton growing by small farmers, jute and allied fibres, biofertilisers, forage crops, use of genomics in breeding, producing transgenics etc.” Gopalakrishnan also cited the example of Sadananda, a factory worker-turnedfarmer who has added `12- 18 lakh to his annual income through integrated farming. Dr B M C Reddy, National Project Coordinator, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR), Bangalore, spoke on growing fruit crops like mango, banana, guava, chikoo, litchi etc close together to improve fruit yields. He said, “Mango varieties like Amrapali and Dasheri, when planted at a distance of five metres by four metres, yield 32 tonnes per hectare compared to normal density mango trees which yield only about 5 tonnes per ha.” He added,”Keep tree size under control for premium fruit production, it is necessary to prune trees into a particular shape and prune tips, too. New shoots give fruits.” Dr S Chaurasia from Indian Institute of Vegetable Research (IIVR), Varanasi, spoke on maximising vegetable yields by planting varieties which give high yields in short durations. He also gave some easy efficient measures to save on resources. “If seedlings are raised on trays, 30 per cent of the costs cab be saved. Planting on beds saves 40 per cent water. Cropping patterns of rice/ tomato/ cucumber are successful compared to other patterns. Mulching (covering land with agricultural waste) with paddy straw reduces 96 per cent of weed growth,” he said. Peter Kenmore, Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) Representative in India, said, “1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted every year all over the world. India has a crisis in nutrition and it must be solved.”