Apoorva Arora
Last Activity: 11 Years ago
The correct option is 1.
In most developing countries, the majority of small-scale farmers use traditional crop varieties, which give low yields and may be vulnerable to drought, heat, diseases and other stresses. Modern improved varieties offer much higher yields, better quality and more stable production. ICARDA and its partners have developed improved varieties of a range of crops – wheat, barley, lentil, faba bean, chickpea, grasspea, field pea and forage crops. The new varieties are suitable for rainfed agriculture in areas where rainfall is low and erratic. They offer higher and more stable yields and higher tolerance/resistance to diseases, insect pests, drought, heat, cold, parasitic weeds and other stress factors. Some varieties also offer large improvements in bread-making quality, nutritional value, and other traits. More than 880 new varieties have been released for cultivation – and generate benefits worth $ 850 million every year. Technology ‘packages’ have been developed – crop management, irrigation, pest control – to maximize yields from the new varieties.
