National Fund for Basic, Strategic and Frontier Application
Research in Agriculture (NFBSFARA)
Strategic priority areas for the 12th Plan Period:
- Conservation agriculture and climate change
- Conservation Agriculture as a mitigation effort to counter impacts of climate change, and to conserve land & water resources with energy efficiency to sustain and improve agricultural production and productivity in diverse agro-ecologies
- Development of Decision Support Systems for advance warning of water and temperature related stresses on crop production by systems modelling and the use of Remote Sensing information and GIS & GPS tools
- Stress management in animals & fish
- Development of stress (including reduced radiation) tolerant plants, animals & fishes
- Phenomics
- Use of microbes: free living, symbiotic and endophytic, for mitigation of abiotic stresses in plant, animal and fish
- Biotic stresses
- Durable resistance breeding research in major food crops, animals and plants
- Utilisation of novel plant and animal defense mechanisms against biotic stresses as a part of IPM
- Diagnostics and vaccines for diseases of plants, animal and fish
- Use of plants, small animals and fish for production of high value biologicals
- Identification of genes and gene systems related to defense
- Isolation and characterization of biomolecules from biological sources from land and water for human, animal, plant and soil health applications
- Water quality and productivity
- Bioremediation of contaminated and low quality water
- Enhancement of water productivity
- Culture of high value and endangered marine species in inland fresh water
- Alternate energy for agriculture
- Algae as a source of energy
- Biomass and bio-waste based energy production
- Solar energy based refrigeration
- Micro-nutrients and their use efficiency
- Delivery systems for micronutrients like seed coating and foliar application of micronutrients for efficient use by plants
- Bio-fortification and bioavailability of micronutrients in plants while maintaining consumer acceptance
- Micronutrient toxicity and interaction with soil biota
- Precision and controlled-environment agriculture
- Development of machine vision technology including sensors
- Research in energy & resource efficient and, sustainable mechanical & Structural systems
- Use of Nanotechnology for agriculture and studies on environmental safety of this technology
- RNAi gene silencing technology
- Disease & insect pest resistance in plants, animals & fish
- Quality improvement of agricultural products
- Minimization of agricultural waste and maintenance of product quality
- High pressure processing (HPP)
- Micro and nano-encapsulation techniques for food processing and storage
- Application of super critical fluid technology in food processing
- Food safety, quality control, certification and eco-labeling
- Improvement of fibre quality in fibre crops
- Mechanistaion in horticulture
- Mechanisation of planting/transplanting and harvesting operations in vegetable crops
- Development of plant types suitable for mechanistaion
- Research in agricultural extension system
- Development of information into knowledge systems
- Integrated knowledge encapsulation for farmers
- Development of innovative models for agricultural growth
- Development of pod borer resistance in pulses