80 Quotes by M. S. Swaminathan

I had the privilege of knowing and working with Norman Borlaug - who has been aptly described by the Nobel Peace Prize Committee as the greatest hunger fighter of our time - for nearly 50 years.

India unfortunately has the unenviable reputation of being the home to the largest number of undernourished children, women and men in the world.

When politicians talk of loan waiver, they are accepting that agriculture is not economically viable. They are giving a wrong signal that farming is not economically viable. It's true. That's where the loan waiver comes in.

The purpose of developing a methodology for what they call genetic control over seed, is mainly to ensure that F1 hybrids are pure and that every year you have to buy the seed.

I was chairman of the steering committee for agriculture when we set up the target of 4% growth rate. I had written that if you want to achieve 4% growth rate in agriculture, you should have 8% growth in animal husbandry and fisheries and 8% in horticulture.

The loss of land for food security has to be measured not only in quantitative terms but also in respect of land use.

Waiver of farm loans is not an ideal solution. To ensure that the situation is not repeated, the government should focus on creating a robust system to extend the necessary ingredients of farming such as water harvesting systems, seed and fertiliser supplements.

To sum up, agriculture has made important progress and our farmers have now shown that they are second to none in terms of improving production and productivity.