Ranchi: Eastern India’s first next-generation crop breeding facility will be established in the city, potentially reducing the time needed to develop new crop varieties from 8-12 years to about 5-6 years, ICAR-Indian Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology director Sujay Rakshit said on Tuesday.The announcement comes as ICAR-IIAB prepares to inaugurate and lay the foundation stone for several key facilities at its Ranchi campus in the presence of Union agriculture and farmers’ welfare minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday.Addressing the media on Tuesday, ahead of the institute’s programme, Rakshit said the technology would enable faster development of improved crop varieties and help breed crops that can withstand both drought and excess rainfall, a growing challenge amid increasingly erratic weather patterns.Rakshit said, “The institute’s infrastructure project has been over a decade in the making. The process began in 2012 and the foundation stone was laid in 2014. The facilities are now ready for inauguration.”Among the projects is an admin-cum-school building, which will house modern classrooms, administrative offices and multipurpose infrastructure. A Birsa Munda Multipurpose Hall is also being developed to support training and capacity-building programmes, particularly for farmers from Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities.The event will also feature a Pre-Rabi Kisan Goshti and input distribution programme, with more than 1,400 farmers expected to participate.Besides Chouhan, state agriculture minister Shilpi Neha Tirkey and Union minister of state for defence Sanjay Seth are scheduled to attend the programme.