Minister of State for Agriculture, Shri Sudarshan Bhagat has informed that the National Agricultural Research System comprising ICAR, central agricultural universities and SAUs are taking adequate steps continuously for developing eco-friendly flood tolerant seeds for protecting the crops in flood prone regions of the various States of the country. The concerted research efforts led to release of 49 different crop varieties tolerant to flood/water logging stresses comprising 22 of rice, 4 of maize, 10 of sugarcane, 10 of jute and 3 of soybean.
During 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16 and kharif 2016, 30.2 lakh ton, 30.4 lakh ton, 31.6 lakh ton and 12.0 lakh ton, respectively, of certified/quality seeds of improved varieties of different crops tolerant to flood/drought were made available to the farmers.
The Government of India has launched several central sector crop development schemes viz. National Food Security Mission (NFSM), Bringing Green Revolution in Eastern India (BGREI), National Mission on Oil Seeds and Oil Palm (NMOOP), Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), Sub-mission on Seeds & Planting Material under National Mission on Agricultural Extension & Technology and these schemes are under operation in all the states including flood prone states as well.