GM CROPS - How to Plant the Future

C D Mayee





India faces a massive challenge to feed its growing population, particularly in the absence of sustainable agriculture solutions. According to the UN World Population Prospects: The 2015 Revision, India's population is expected to surpass China's by 2022.A combination of factors like climate change, increasing industrialisation, urbanisation and new pests and diseases coupled with regulatory challenges have connived to bring about increasing pressure on our farms over the years, limiting their capability to enhance production, especially on small land holdings as prevalent in India.
With regular droughts or floods affecting the country , productivity is taking a heavy toll and India's already bulging food import bill is likely to reach crippling proportions.
To increase farmers' income without inflationary pressure on the economy , we need to increase our productivity urgently . Technology has played a vital role in most sectors to improve quality of life, as well as the productivity of products and services. The same should apply to agriculture.
While most agriculturally advanced countries are adopting rigorously tested and proven genetically modified (GM) technology in agriculture, India has been comparatively regressive. Bangladesh has wholeheartedly embraced GM technology to resolve declining productivity by putting in place an encouraging policy environment. It has not only commercialised India's Bt Brinjal technology three years ago, but it is also at an advanced stage of field trials in other crops including Golden Rice and Late Blightresistant potato. The Philippines and Vietnam, too, are actively pursuing GM crop cultivation.
All this is possible only with government support for science and technology and free market trade. However, in India, there is a huge resistance to this technology . The furore caused by various anti-science voices have continued to discourage innovation as well as commercialisation of this promising technology . Adding to this uncertainty are the recent regulatory developments in respect of crop biotech that have the potential to stifle the flow of modern technologies to farm.
The cotton price control and compulsory licensing guidelines for GM crops proposed have already done enough damage to India's image as a technology-friendly nation. These proposals have not only discouraged R&D and innovation professionals and investors, but also the student community who want to pursue fulfilling careers in agri-biotechnology .
The Indian agri-biotech industry is suffering due to the vested interests of one influential seed industry player misusing the system. As the proposal of compulsory licensing guidelines faced stiff opposition from various corners and from key stakeholders, it appears that through the National Seed Association of India (NSAI), attempts are now being made to indirectly interfere in the intellectual property rights (IPR) regime and compulso ry licensing of GM crops through the convoluted reading of the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act (PPVFRA), 2001.
This act won't protect the interest of companies involved in R&D of modern and safe technologies like GM crops. So, they should continue to be guided by the current patent law of the country . PPVFRA is designed for an altogether different purpose: that of protecting varieties.
Hence, playing up this legislation against the Patent Act for the narrow benefit of a few seed companies to appropriate technology without the obligation of paying fees for accessing the technology is a travesty of India's innovation protection system.
The PPVFRA cannot override the Patents Act. Any contrary argument will have a severe ramification not only on Indian agriculture but also on the government's policies to encourage technology transfer and innovation in the farm sector that still employs over 50% of country's workforce.
The government must look at this Act on the basis of plant varieties and its protection for which it was framed, much before GM crops came into India. It shouldn't allow vested interests to misinterpret and misuse this Act.
No country has progressed when innovations are curbed and the free market is stifled. In today's global environment, where public-private partnerships are encouraged for achieving development goals, it is disheartening that in India, we are pursuing a regressive policy at the cost of longterm interest of our small and marginal farmers.
The government must listen to industry associations and experts who have been criticising the cotton price control and compulsory licensing notification. It must intervene to ensure its decisions are broad-based and in the long-term interest of farmers, consumers, industry and the economy .

Source: Times of India, 17-10-2016

Time we gave science its fair due when it comes to GM crops

Over the past 150 years, researchers have built on the earliest farmers’ knowledge to better understand the importance of plant genetics to develop stronger crops. By identifying crops with desired traits such as better nutritional characteristics or greater tolerance to drought and using selective breeding, they began developing improved plants that were more resilient and capable of producing greater yields.

In the last few decades, research conducted in the laboratory has also assisted plant breeding greatly, where agri-scientists work to identify specific genes responsible for traits that make crops tolerant to a specific category of pests, herbicides, tolerant to drought, flooding, etc. Once the genes carrying the beneficial traits have been identified, they are isolated and then inserted into the plant. The new plant undergoes years of testing and regulatory approvals before being introduced into farms.

This is the world of modern crop biotechnology, the outcome of which is commonly referred to as genetically modified (GM) crops, biotech or transgenic crops.

For the past 17 years, millions of farmers in approximately 30 countries have grown 1.7 billion hectares of GM crops. These have enabled farmers improve incomes and help meet rising food demand as populations grow. Bt technology has helped India to treble its cotton output and has generated economic benefits for farmers valued at $5.1 billion.

But should we leave it at one product? The government, the industry and agri-research institutions don’t think so. Indian scientists have been working on several crops such as brinjal, maize, rice, mustard and cotton.

The scourge of climate change is already affecting agriculture as we know it and the farmer can be fortified by agri-biotechnology. New products of GM crops can tackle a broader range of pests, prolong the life of products and manage drought or water-stressed conditions.

Sceptics often question the safety of GM crops but it is important to note that 20 years of consumption of food derived from the products of GM crops across the world has not led to a single illness anywhere.

India like most other countries follows some of the most stringent regulatory processes before licensing GM crops for cultivation. It’s about time we gave science its fair due.

(Shivendra Bajaj is executive director, ABLE-AG. The views expressed are personal)

Madhya Pradesh says ‘no’ to GM seed field trial

Madhya Pradesh government has declined to give no objection certificate for field trials of two genetically modified seeds — chick pea and mustard — in the State

The Madhya Pradesh government has declined to give no objection certificate for field trials of two genetically modified seeds — chick pea and mustard — in the State due to doubts over adverse impact of those crops on humans, animals, biodiversity and environment.

The decision over-rules the permission granted for such trials by the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee under the Central Government in August.

The trials are for testing the bio-safety of the two new crop varieties.

The new chick pea seed promises to increase productivity by preventing damage to crops by podborer pest.

Yield loss in chick pea due to this pest is estimated at 21 per cent. The seed has been developed by the Delhi University’s Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants.

The new mustard variety is the first-ever hybrid version of the crop developed indigenously. It was developed by the Delhi University’s South Campus and had been given to Delhi-based Sungro Seeds for field trial.

Expressing dismay, a senior official in the Central Government’s Department of Biotechnology said it was unfortunate as the new varieties could have helped increase the production of the two crops significantly in the country.

Aug 01 2014 : The Economic Times (Delhi)

How GM Crops can Eliminate Hunger





The government has erred in putting field trials of genetically-modified (GM) food crops on hold. The country requires genetically-engineered crops to meet the rising demand for food and non-food crops as incomes rise. Let's not forget, farm output surged after India adopted the best biotechnology in terms of high-yielding varieties in the 1960s. Apparently , opposition from two Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) outfits about the possible harm from the new technology has forced the NDA government to backtrack on field trials for 13 GM crops. The trials have been cleared by the apex body for approval of GM crops, the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC). To quell such fears, India must develop the competence to carry out independent testing for all GM crops to assess the likely negative effects. The testing facilities should be housed in universities and dedicated laboratories.Environment minister Prakash Javadekar says the recommendations of the GEAC are not binding on the governme nt. In fact, the GEAC attracted criticism after a parliamentary panel's finding that it had been pressured to approve Bt Brinjal in 2010. Rightly, a Supreme Court-appointed technical expert committee wants a robust regulatory mechanism in India.
The point is that people entrusted with regulation should not have any financial interests in the GM industry .
Therefore, the setting up of a Biotechnology Regulatory Authority makes eminent sense. The Bill has been pending for over a decade now. The government must secure Parliament's approval to set up the authority fast. However, repairing the regulatory system does not mean halting field trials. The trials will pave the way for commercialisation of GM food crops, and help usher in a second green revolution.