CNN Central News & Network–ITDC India Epress/ITDC News Bhopal: Chambal Fertilisers and Chemicals Limited (CFCL) and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) signed an Agreement for research today, to establish the “CFCL-TERI Centre of Excellence for Advanced and Sustainable Agriculture Solutions.” The Agreement was signed by Mr Abhay Baijal, Managing Director, CFCL and Dr Vibha Dhawan, Director General, TERI.

The joint initiative of CFCL and TERI aims to address the pressing challenges in the Indian agriculture sector, such as stagnating agricultural productivity, soil health degradation, poor nutrient use efficiency, reduced response (resistance) to chemicals and negative impact of excessive synthetic inputs on environment and human health, by developing innovative biogenic solutions, such as nano biotechnology based alternative fertilisers, bio-fertilisers, bio-stimulants, and biological control agents and biopesticides which would have no negative impact on environment and human health and provide improved benefit to cost ratio to farmers.

With the grant-in-aid from CFCL over a period of 5 years, TERI will carry out end-to-end research, and products will be jointly developed to provide biological solutions as a complement to chemical agri-inputs.

Dr Vibha Dhawan, Director General, TERI, emphasized the significance of this initiative, saying, “The ever-increasing population poses food-security challenges, and by 2050 the world needs to increase food production by 70 percent. Traditional chemicals alone cannot increase food production and protect crops from pathogens. The Indian Government under the PM PRANAAM scheme is continuously promoting alternative fertilisers and biogenic agri-inputs. TERI is one of the pioneers in this arena, and in collaboration with robust industry partners like CFCL, holds the potential to bring cutting-edge biological solutions to the market to address multiple issues related to food security, human health, and impact on environment and climate.”

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