Chennai, Feb 16 (IANS): To commemorate the International year of Millets 2023, the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) has introduced four new varieties of millet and 23 new varieties of crop.

The four new millet varieties are Peal millet hybrid COH10, Sorghum K13, Kudiraivali ATL1 and Panivaragu ATL2.

TNAU Vice-Chancellor, Geethalakshmi, said on Wednesday that other than the four varieties of millet, the university research department has introduced 23 new crop varieties, including 16 agricultural crops, four tree varieties, and three horticultural crops.

The horticultural crops include two varieties of Ridge Gourd and a variety of Jasmine.

The university has also developed new tree varieties for supporting the afforestation programme of the state government. This includes silk cotton, red sanders, casuarina, and khaya trees which can be bought by farmers from the agricultural university.

The Vice-Chancellor said that the farm yield has to increase in accordance with the rising population of the country, without compromising on quality and nutritional value.

She also said that the changing weather patterns are becoming a threat to farming and agriculture and pointed out the loss of crops that were about to be harvested in unprecedented rainfall in the delta belt.

The United Nations has declared 2023 as the International Year of Millets at the proposal of India.