Rural biotechnology in transforming agriculture and rural livelihood

Abstract

The twenty-first century human society is dealing with many difficulties besides climate challenge, and most of them are though diverse but highly interconnected. Transformation in agriculture and rural development are demanding urgent attention in this scenario. Human civilization is basically an agrarian one, and rural people who practice agriculture are literally the real bread earners. Neglecting agriculture and these endogenous people has visibly started to affect our ecosystem, environment, economy, and civilization. Sustainable solutions to most of these problems can be created only by combining endogenous knowledge reserve and the modern biotechnological know-how. In order to successfully carry forward this process, we first need to ensure endogenous development. Rural development is inevitably connected to several key endeavors having global impacts like food security, protection of environment, and conservation of natural resource base including local landraces, germplasm, and biodiversity. Successful application of rurally relevant biotechnology will be a necessity in transforming agriculture besides enhancing and protecting rural livelihoods as well as rural integrity.