India, USA and Australia joined Hands to develop Climate-resilient Crops

India, the United States and Australia in the third week of May 2013 came together to develop new climate-resilient varieties of rice and wheat, two of the major crops in the world.The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will work in collaboration with the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics (ACPFG) and India's Vibha Agrotech.This collaboration will seek to develop new rice and wheat varieties having greater tolerance to drought and salinity. Now, farmers can have more stable production in wake of sudden drought and salt water intrusion.

The new technology will be first developed in Australia and India, but it will be made available to developing countries in South Asia and at world level where adverse climate conditions impact cereal yields, so that farmers could have a good harvest, even as climate change creates more unpredictable growing environments.

The ambitious program is part of Feed the Future, the US Government's global hunger and food security initiative.