The President of India, Smt. Droupadi Murmu, honored the centenary celebration of the ICAR-National Institute of Secondary Agriculture (NISA) in Ranchi, Jharkhand, today. Speaking at the event, President Murmu highlighted the critical challenges faced by the agricultural sector in the 21st century, including food and nutrition security, sustainable resource use, and climate change. She emphasized that secondary agriculture, which involves value addition to primary agricultural products and related activities such as beekeeping and poultry farming, could help address these challenges while increasing farmers’ incomes.

President Murmu praised NISA’s work in developing technologies for processing lac, a significant source of income for tribal communities. The institute’s innovations, such as lac-based natural paints and coatings to increase the shelf life of produce, were acknowledged as vital to enhancing the livelihoods of tribal farmers.

She also noted the establishment of NISA’s Automation and Plant Engineering Division, focusing on robotics, the Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence, calling for the responsible use of disruptive technologies in agriculture.

President Murmu expressed confidence that with improvements in the quality and supply chain of Indian lac, farmers could access better prices in both domestic and international markets.