SEED INDUSTRY

SEED INDUSTRY

Echoing Sustainable Environment and Agriculture

AGRICULTURE

W RLDAGRICULTURE

W RLDAGRICULTURE

Volume I Issue 2 Feb-2015 `70

www.krishijagran.com

| | |

AGRICULTURE WORLDAGRICULTURE WORLD

Editorial

Seed is an embryonic plant along with its temporarily stored up food enclosed in a protecve cover called the seed coat and there was me when every farmer had his own seeds of the

crops he sowed in his eld. That was the era of preSeed

Technology when no one knew about the genes and the genec

science which gave rise to its major technical branches called

genec engineering (GE) performing genec modicaon (GM).

Simple observaons on garden pea's colour combinaons

inspired Gregor Mendel (18221884) to inscribe some surprising theories, which evolved

in the hands of commied sciensts and technicians into the present seed technology

inuencing human history beyond the imaginaon of any one.

One of the crucial aspects in seed technology is the availability of germplasm in a

country or between countries. Realizing the great worth of genec resources countries

all over the world have amassed whatever genec materials in the form of seeds and

other germplasm materials available in their own territory for future use and exchange

with other countries. Hari Har Ram an accomplished seed technologist explains in detail

the situaon of germplasm availability in India and abroad along with the policies that

govern its exchange between countries. Compared to all other countries India has

perhaps the maximum amount of germplasm in the world but may have lost many of

them due to our late entry into the germplasm collecon and storage technology.

Clive James the founder and emeritus chair ISAAA aer briey explaining the 19

year old growth, diversity and benets he goes on to emphasizes the role of public

private partnership. He further went on to present briey the impact on consumers and

farmers. The presentaon ends with enumerang the top ten facts about biotech/GM

crops in 2014.

Sixty percent of the people in India is dependent on agriculture contribung 14% to

the GDP and yet according to Arvind Kapur agriculture in India is at cross roads from the

point of view of of sustainability of crop producvity and producons. Aer surveying the

huge network of public agriculture sector in educaon, training and research the author

of Sustainability of Indian Agriculture and Seed Technology emphasized the role of

private sector in seed technology commercializaon in agriculture sector in India.

Today genec maps of all the crops, animals and humans are available at the click of

a buon. When Dolly the sheep was cloned and when the House of Commons of UK gave

its nal node to the near future three parent baby no one is sll able to grasp the far

reaching implicaons in the future, whether posive or negave, of genec engineering

and genec modicaons. Less controversial are the genec research on plants and

animals of economic importance and the seed technology is taking full advantage of the

same to evolve surprising results in the yield of crops and animals. Such are the trends

highlighted in the arcle on Vistas of Genec Engineering and Modicaons by K.T.

Chandy.

The world famous Bayer company promotes hybrid rice variees ensuring

sustainable food security for a country like India. Further he describes the need for

adopon of high yielding hybrid rice variees extensively to overcome food scarcity. The

graph showing the evoluon of hybrid rice in India is very encouraging.

Describing the role of fodder and canola oil in improving the milk producon

Venkatram Vasantavada, Chief Operang Ocer, Asia & Africa, Advanta Ltd., highlights

the in the arcle The Hidden Part of Food Security Forages and Healthy Oils, the need

for use of hybrid fodder is advocated. He further proposes a soluon for the rampant

protein deciency by suggesng the use of soybean and canola which have protein

content 46% and 36% respecvely.

Linked with hybrid seeds and other planng material Dhiraj Pant highlights the

need for up gradaon of all facets of agriculture reminding us that the Naonal security

should be given top priority. He draws our aenon to increase of agricultural

producvity through technology and knowledge.

The interviews with K.V. Prabhu on hybrid Basma rice and with V.K. Gaur on

merger of SFCI and NSC raise great hope for the people of India both in the valuable high

quality Basma rice and also new trends in the organizaonal set up in seed technology.

The interview with Bipin Solanki highlights the research versality of a Syngenta on a

variety of crop ranging from cereals, vegetables in hybrids and disease control gives a

strong sense of strength to both farmers and dealers in seeds.

India is poised for a renewed launch in hybridized seed technology and crop

producon.

M C Dominic

EditorinChief

editor@krishijagran.com

Year Rs. US$

1 700 100

2 1300 200

3 1800 300

SUBSCRIPTION

Printed and Published by : M.C. Dominic

Agriculture World, 60/9, 3rd Floor, Yusuf Sarai Market

Near Green Park Metro Station, New Delhi110016

Tel: 01126511845, 26517923, Mob: 9313301029, 9654193353

Email: info@krishijagran.com, krishijagran@gmail.com

Web: www.krishijagran.com, www.kjcommoditynews.com

Printed at : New Pushpak Prass Pvt. Ltd. 203, 204 DSIDC Complex

Okhla Industrial Area, Phase 1, New Delhi 110020

Availability of Germplasm in India and Its export................................04

INTERVIEW, V.K. Gaur ..... ................................................................09

Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: 2014...............10

INTERVIEW, Dr. Prabhu.....................................................................14

Sustainability of Indian Agriculture and Seed Technology..................16

INTERVIEW, Bipin Solanki.................................................................22

Vistas in Genetic Engineering and Genetic Modication....................26

Hybrid Rice- ensuring sustainable food security.................................32

The hidden part of food security-Forages and healthy oil...................35

Not a Zero Sum Game........................................................................37

IN THIS ISSUE

Editor M.C. Dominic

Director Shiny Emanuel

M.G. Vasan

Sr. ExecutiveEditor Dr. K.T. Chandy

R.K. Teotia

Executive Editor G.S. Saini

Associate Editor S.S. Dogra

HeadResearch Services Abhijeet Banerjee

HeadContent Development Kumud Shukla

Research Assistant Nishant Kr. Taak

Hrituparna Banerjee

Junior Research Assistant Jayanti Das

Admin Head Chetram

HeadMarketing P.S. Saini

DGMMarketing Farha Khan

Sr. ManagerMarketing K.J. Saranya

ManagerMarketing Mehak Ali

Namita Shrivastava

Pratibha Joshi Bhatt

Pratima Joshi

Ritika Kotiyal

Sara Khan

Asst. ManagerMarketing Sarla Singh

Sarita Singh

Jyoti Sharma

Megha Sharma

Sr. ExecutiveMarketing Afsana Malik

Sujata Gautam

Chunki Bhutia

Many Pradhan

Dolly Singh

Poonam Bishwakarma

HeadCirculation Sanjay Kumar

Sr. ExecutiveCirculation Rahul Singh

Harashankar Mandal

Sukumar Dalai

Abdus Samad

Head PrePress Dharmendra Kumar

Designing Yogesh Kumar

Office Assistant Devendra Singh

Perm Kumar

Raju Jana

D.D. NAIR

VP International Business

Russia & CIS Countries Off.: +7 (499) 501 99 10

117198, Moscow, Russia Mob: +7 (903) 729 98 30

Str. MikluhoMaklaya, 6 Email: ddnair@krishijagran.com

AGRICULTURE WORLDAGRICULTURE WORLD

Editorial

Seed is an embryonic plant along with its temporarily stored up food enclosed in a protecve cover called the seed coat and there was me when every farmer had his own seeds of the

crops he sowed in his eld. That was the era of preSeed

Technology when no one knew about the genes and the genec

science which gave rise to its major technical branches called

genec engineering (GE) performing genec modicaon (GM).

Simple observaons on garden pea's colour combinaons

inspired Gregor Mendel (18221884) to inscribe some surprising theories, which evolved

in the hands of commied sciensts and technicians into the present seed technology

inuencing human history beyond the imaginaon of any one.

One of the crucial aspects in seed technology is the availability of germplasm in a

country or between countries. Realizing the great worth of genec resources countries

all over the world have amassed whatever genec materials in the form of seeds and

other germplasm materials available in their own territory for future use and exchange

with other countries. Hari Har Ram an accomplished seed technologist explains in detail

the situaon of germplasm availability in India and abroad along with the policies that

govern its exchange between countries. Compared to all other countries India has

perhaps the maximum amount of germplasm in the world but may have lost many of

them due to our late entry into the germplasm collecon and storage technology.

Clive James the founder and emeritus chair ISAAA aer briey explaining the 19

year old growth, diversity and benets he goes on to emphasizes the role of public

private partnership. He further went on to present briey the impact on consumers and

farmers. The presentaon ends with enumerang the top ten facts about biotech/GM

crops in 2014.

Sixty percent of the people in India is dependent on agriculture contribung 14% to

the GDP and yet according to Arvind Kapur agriculture in India is at cross roads from the

point of view of of sustainability of crop producvity and producons. Aer surveying the

huge network of public agriculture sector in educaon, training and research the author

of Sustainability of Indian Agriculture and Seed Technology emphasized the role of

private sector in seed technology commercializaon in agriculture sector in India.

Today genec maps of all the crops, animals and humans are available at the click of

a buon. When Dolly the sheep was cloned and when the House of Commons of UK gave

its nal node to the near future three parent baby no one is sll able to grasp the far

reaching implicaons in the future, whether posive or negave, of genec engineering

and genec modicaons. Less controversial are the genec research on plants and

animals of economic importance and the seed technology is taking full advantage of the

same to evolve surprising results in the yield of crops and animals. Such are the trends

highlighted in the arcle on Vistas of Genec Engineering and Modicaons by K.T.

Chandy.

The world famous Bayer company promotes hybrid rice variees ensuring

sustainable food security for a country like India. Further he describes the need for

adopon of high yielding hybrid rice variees extensively to overcome food scarcity. The

graph showing the evoluon of hybrid rice in India is very encouraging.

Describing the role of fodder and canola oil in improving the milk producon

Venkatram Vasantavada, Chief Operang Ocer, Asia & Africa, Advanta Ltd., highlights

the in the arcle The Hidden Part of Food Security Forages and Healthy Oils, the need

for use of hybrid fodder is advocated. He further proposes a soluon for the rampant

protein deciency by suggesng the use of soybean and canola which have protein

content 46% and 36% respecvely.

Linked with hybrid seeds and other planng material Dhiraj Pant highlights the

need for up gradaon of all facets of agriculture reminding us that the Naonal security

should be given top priority. He draws our aenon to increase of agricultural

producvity through technology and knowledge.

The interviews with K.V. Prabhu on hybrid Basma rice and with V.K. Gaur on

merger of SFCI and NSC raise great hope for the people of India both in the valuable high

quality Basma rice and also new trends in the organizaonal set up in seed technology.

The interview with Bipin Solanki highlights the research versality of a Syngenta on a

variety of crop ranging from cereals, vegetables in hybrids and disease control gives a

strong sense of strength to both farmers and dealers in seeds.

India is poised for a renewed launch in hybridized seed technology and crop

producon.

M C Dominic

EditorinChief

editor@krishijagran.com

Year Rs. US$

1 700 100

2 1300 200

3 1800 300

SUBSCRIPTION

Printed and Published by : M.C. Dominic

Agriculture World, 60/9, 3rd Floor, Yusuf Sarai Market

Near Green Park Metro Station, New Delhi110016

Tel: 01126511845, 26517923, Mob: 9313301029, 9654193353

Email: info@krishijagran.com, krishijagran@gmail.com

Web: www.krishijagran.com, www.kjcommoditynews.com

Printed at : New Pushpak Prass Pvt. Ltd. 203, 204 DSIDC Complex

Okhla Industrial Area, Phase 1, New Delhi 110020

Availability of Germplasm in India and Its export................................04

INTERVIEW, V.K. Gaur ..... ................................................................09

Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: 2014...............10

INTERVIEW, Dr. Prabhu.....................................................................14

Sustainability of Indian Agriculture and Seed Technology..................16

INTERVIEW, Bipin Solanki.................................................................22

Vistas in Genetic Engineering and Genetic Modication....................26

Hybrid Rice- ensuring sustainable food security.................................32

The hidden part of food security-Forages and healthy oil...................35

Not a Zero Sum Game........................................................................37

IN THIS ISSUE

Editor M.C. Dominic

Director Shiny Emanuel

M.G. Vasan

Sr. ExecutiveEditor Dr. K.T. Chandy

R.K. Teotia

Executive Editor G.S. Saini

Associate Editor S.S. Dogra

HeadResearch Services Abhijeet Banerjee

HeadContent Development Kumud Shukla

Research Assistant Nishant Kr. Taak

Hrituparna Banerjee

Junior Research Assistant Jayanti Das

Admin Head Chetram

HeadMarketing P.S. Saini

DGMMarketing Farha Khan

Sr. ManagerMarketing K.J. Saranya

ManagerMarketing Mehak Ali

Namita Shrivastava

Pratibha Joshi Bhatt

Pratima Joshi

Ritika Kotiyal

Sara Khan

Asst. ManagerMarketing Sarla Singh

Sarita Singh

Jyoti Sharma

Megha Sharma

Sr. ExecutiveMarketing Afsana Malik

Sujata Gautam

Chunki Bhutia

Many Pradhan

Dolly Singh

Poonam Bishwakarma

HeadCirculation Sanjay Kumar

Sr. ExecutiveCirculation Rahul Singh

Harashankar Mandal

Sukumar Dalai

Abdus Samad

Head PrePress Dharmendra Kumar

Designing Yogesh Kumar

Office Assistant Devendra Singh

Perm Kumar

Raju Jana

D.D. NAIR

VP International Business

Russia & CIS Countries Off.: +7 (499) 501 99 10

117198, Moscow, Russia Mob: +7 (903) 729 98 30

Str. MikluhoMaklaya, 6 Email: ddnair@krishijagran.com

FEB 2015 | AGRICULTURE WORLD | Issue-2 04

Plant genec resources (PGR) are the genec material of plants which are of value for present and

future generaons of humankind. Oen

used as a synonym to plant germplasm,

it can be dened as a seed, a plant or

plant part including cell cultures, genes

and DNA sequences that are held in a

repository or collected from wild as the

case may be and that are useful in crop

breeding, research or conservaon

because of genec aributes. The term

is used to describe a collecon of

genec resources for an organism or

genec material which forms the

physical basis of inherited qualies. In

brief, germplasm is the sum total of the

hereditary materials in a species.

Accession is a sample of plant variety

collected at a specic locaon and me,

a disnct type or variety, but not

necessarily a variety. There is a related

term called as landrace which cannot be

included in the term culvar as the

culvar is described as a taxon that had

been selected for a parcular or

combinaon of aributes, and that is

clearly disnct, uniform and stable in its

characteriscs and that when propag

ated by appropriate means, retains

those characteriscs. No or only a

limited human selecon is carried out

to maintain a landrace. One landrace

must be clearly disnct from other

landraces. According to several views,

the landraces consist of mixtures of

genotypes all of which are reasonably

adapted to the region in which they

evolved but which dier in details as to

specic adaptaons to parcular

condions within the environment.

They dier in reacon to diseases and

pests, some lines being resistant or

tolerant to certain races of pathogens

and some to other races. Some

components of the populaon are

suscepble to the prevalent pathogenic

races, but not all, and no parcular race

of pathogen is likely to build up to

epiphytoc proporons because there

are always resistant plants in the

populaon. Landraces tend to be rather

low yielding but dependable. They are

adapted to rather crude land prepar

aons, seeding, weeding and harvest

ing procedures of tradional agricul

ture. They are also adapted to low soil

ferlity and are not very demanding,

partly because they do not produce

much.

Availability of Germplasm in India and

Abroad

Germplasm of various crops in

India are available primarily with the

following organizaons:

1. Naonal Bureau of Plant Genec

Resources (NBPGR), New Delhi:

NBPGR has the naonal mandate

to plan, organize, conduct, and

coordinate plant exploraon,

collecon of indigenous and exoc

germplasm, to undertake plant

introducon, exchange and quara

nne of plant genec resources, to

characterize, evaluate, document

and conserve plant genec resou

rces and promote their use in

collaboraon with naonal organ

izaons. NBPGR has 10 regional

staons (Akola, Bhowali, Cuack,

Hyderabad, Jodhpur, Shillong,

Ranchi, Shimla, Thrissur and

Srinagar) on specic crops/groups

of crops. Besides these 10 regional

germplasm centres under NBPGR,

there are about 59 Naonal Acve

Germplasm Sites recognized by

NBPGR and these NAGSs maintain

crop specic germplasm for

Availability of Germplasm in India and Its export

Availability of

Germplasm in

India and Its Export

Availability of

in Germplasm

India and Its Export

FEB 2015 | AGRICULTURE WORLD | Issue-2 05

supporng roune conservaon

and distribuon of germplasm.

These are located in some of the

State Agriculture Universies

(SAUs) and Indian Indian Council of

Agricultural Research ( I C A R)

Instutes but do not come under

administrave control of NBPGR.

The naonal genebank at NBPGR 0

conserves germplasm at 18 C in

form of base collecon besides

acve and working collecons.

Presently, NBPGR claims to have

3,96,189 germplasm lines in the

genebank (cereals1,56,256,

mi l lets and forages56,472,

pseudocereals 6 ,825, gra in

legumes58,160, oilseeds57,479,

bre crops11,943, vegetables

25,084, fruitscrops530, medicinal

and aromac plants6,771, spices

3,721, agroforestry species2,243,

duplicate safety samples10,235).

NBPGR has distributed more than

1,50,000 germplasm to naonal

agricultural research system

(NARS) partners, namely, SAUs

and ICARcrop based instutes for

conservaon, evaluaon and use.

2. State Agricultural Universies:

SAUs numbering over 50 have

sizable number of crop germplasm

in the departments of Genecs and

Plant Breeding/ Horculture/

Vegetable Science/Agroforestry

and some have taken iniaves to

establ ish independent plant

genec resources centres.

3. Crop Based ICAR Instutes: Crop

b a s e d I C A R i n s t u te s w i t h

germplasm of concerned crops

include Directorate of Groundnut,

J u n a g a r h f o r g r o u n d n u t ,

Directorate of Maize Research,

I A R I , New D e lh i fo r ma ize ,

Directorate of Rapeseed and

Mustard, Bharatpur for rapeseeds

and mustard, Central Rice Research

I n s t u t e , C u a c k f o r r i c e ,

Directorate of Rice Research,

Hyderabad for rice, Directorate for

Sorghum, Hyderabad for sorghum,

Directorate of Soybean, Indore for

soybean, Directorate of Wheat

Research, Karnal for wheat and

barley, Directorate of Onion and

Garlic Research, Pune for onion,

Centra l Instute for Coon

Research, Nagpur for coon, Indian

Instute of Pulses Research,

Kanpur for pulses, Sugarcane

Breeding Instute, Coimbatore and

Indian Instute of Sugarcane

Research, Lucknow for sugarcane,

Central Potato Research Instute,

Shimla for potato, Indian Instute

of Spices Research, Calicut for

spices, Naonal Research Centre

for Seed Spices, Ajmer for seed

spices, Indian Instute of Vegetable

Research, Varanasi and Indian

Instute of Horculture Research,

Bangalore for vegetable crops and

several other instutes on other

crops. These organizaons have

been fully supported through

several projects like Naonal

Agricultural Technology Project

(NATP), Naonal Agricultural

Innovaon Project (N A I P) to

enhance their p lant genec

resources with emphasis on infra

structure development/ medium

term storage modules and local

collecons.

4. I n t e r n a o n a l I n s t u o n s

Supported by Consultave Group

on Internaonal Agricultural

R e s e a r c h ( C G I A R ) : T h e s e

internaonal agricultural research

c e n t r e s h a v e i n d e p e n d e n t

departments/ units dedicated to

collecon, characterizaon, evalu

aon, conservaon, document

aon and distribuon of germpl

asm related to their mandate

crops. These internaonal agricult

ural centres include CIAT, Cale,

Colombia (drybeans), CIMMYT,

Mexico (wheat and maize), CIP,

Lima, Peru (potato), ICARDA,

Aleppo, (shied to Moroccolenl,

broad bean, barley, chickpea),

ICRISAT, Hyderabad, India (pigeon

pea, ch ickpea, groundnut ,

sorghum, pearlmillet), I I TA,

Ibadan, Nigeria (cowpea, soybean),

IRRI, Manila, Philippines (rice), and

AVRDC, Shanhua, Taiwan (not fully

funded by CGIAR, tomato, sweet

pepper, hotpepper, soybean).

5. Naonal Germplasm Centres of

the individual Countries: The

major germplasm storage centres,

besides NBPGR in India, include

USNaonal Plant Germplasm

System (federal, states and private

organizaons and research units)

coordinated by ARSUSDA. It has

severa l reg ional germplasm

staons in US with more than

450000 accessions (PIs) available

at Naonal Seed Storage Lab, Fort

Collins, Colorado and Naonal

G e r m p l a s m R e s e a r c h L a b ,

Beltsville, Maryland. Besides, US,

there are huge collecons of plant

germplasm at Chinese Academy of

Agricultural Sciences, Beijing,

Vavilov Instute of Plant Sciences,

Leningrad, C S I R O Austra l ia .

Besides, these every European

country has its own germplasm

centre. Same is true for few

selected countries in Middle East

and Africa.

www.krishijagran.com

FEB 2015 | AGRICULTURE WORLD | Issue-2 04

Plant genec resources (PGR) are the genec material of plants which are of value for present and

future generaons of humankind. Oen

used as a synonym to plant germplasm,

it can be dened as a seed, a plant or

plant part including cell cultures, genes

and DNA sequences that are held in a

repository or collected from wild as the

case may be and that are useful in crop

breeding, research or conservaon

because of genec aributes. The term

is used to describe a collecon of

genec resources for an organism or

genec material which forms the

physical basis of inherited qualies. In

brief, germplasm is the sum total of the

hereditary materials in a species.

Accession is a sample of plant variety

collected at a specic locaon and me,

a disnct type or variety, but not

necessarily a variety. There is a related

term called as landrace which cannot be

included in the term culvar as the

culvar is described as a taxon that had

been selected for a parcular or

combinaon of aributes, and that is

clearly disnct, uniform and stable in its

characteriscs and that when propag

ated by appropriate means, retains

those characteriscs. No or only a

limited human selecon is carried out

to maintain a landrace. One landrace

must be clearly disnct from other

landraces. According to several views,

the landraces consist of mixtures of

genotypes all of which are reasonably

adapted to the region in which they

evolved but which dier in details as to

specic adaptaons to parcular

condions within the environment.

They dier in reacon to diseases and

pests, some lines being resistant or

tolerant to certain races of pathogens

and some to other races. Some

components of the populaon are

suscepble to the prevalent pathogenic

races, but not all, and no parcular race

of pathogen is likely to build up to

epiphytoc proporons because there

are always resistant plants in the

populaon. Landraces tend to be rather

low yielding but dependable. They are

adapted to rather crude land prepar

aons, seeding, weeding and harvest

ing procedures of tradional agricul

ture. They are also adapted to low soil

ferlity and are not very demanding,

partly because they do not produce

much.

Availability of Germplasm in India and

Abroad

Germplasm of various crops in

India are available primarily with the

following organizaons:

1. Naonal Bureau of Plant Genec

Resources (NBPGR), New Delhi:

NBPGR has the naonal mandate

to plan, organize, conduct, and

coordinate plant exploraon,

collecon of indigenous and exoc

germplasm, to undertake plant

introducon, exchange and quara

nne of plant genec resources, to

characterize, evaluate, document

and conserve plant genec resou

rces and promote their use in

collaboraon with naonal organ

izaons. NBPGR has 10 regional

staons (Akola, Bhowali, Cuack,

Hyderabad, Jodhpur, Shillong,

Ranchi, Shimla, Thrissur and

Srinagar) on specic crops/groups

of crops. Besides these 10 regional

germplasm centres under NBPGR,

there are about 59 Naonal Acve

Germplasm Sites recognized by

NBPGR and these NAGSs maintain

crop specic germplasm for

Availability of Germplasm in India and Its export

Availability of

Germplasm in

India and Its Export

Availability of

in Germplasm

India and Its Export

FEB 2015 | AGRICULTURE WORLD | Issue-2 05

supporng roune conservaon

and distribuon of germplasm.

These are located in some of the

State Agriculture Universies

(SAUs) and Indian Indian Council of

Agricultural Research ( I C A R)

Instutes but do not come under

administrave control of NBPGR.

The naonal genebank at NBPGR 0

conserves germplasm at 18 C in

form of base collecon besides

acve and working collecons.

Presently, NBPGR claims to have

3,96,189 germplasm lines in the

genebank (cereals1,56,256,

mi l lets and forages56,472,

pseudocereals 6 ,825, gra in

legumes58,160, oilseeds57,479,

bre crops11,943, vegetables

25,084, fruitscrops530, medicinal

and aromac plants6,771, spices

3,721, agroforestry species2,243,

duplicate safety samples10,235).

NBPGR has distributed more than

1,50,000 germplasm to naonal

agricultural research system

(NARS) partners, namely, SAUs

and ICARcrop based instutes for

conservaon, evaluaon and use.

2. State Agricultural Universies:

SAUs numbering over 50 have

sizable number of crop germplasm

in the departments of Genecs and

Plant Breeding/ Horculture/

Vegetable Science/Agroforestry

and some have taken iniaves to

establ ish independent plant

genec resources centres.

3. Crop Based ICAR Instutes: Crop

b a s e d I C A R i n s t u te s w i t h

germplasm of concerned crops

include Directorate of Groundnut,

J u n a g a r h f o r g r o u n d n u t ,

Directorate of Maize Research,

I A R I , New D e lh i fo r ma ize ,

Directorate of Rapeseed and

Mustard, Bharatpur for rapeseeds

and mustard, Central Rice Research

I n s t u t e , C u a c k f o r r i c e ,

Directorate of Rice Research,

Hyderabad for rice, Directorate for

Sorghum, Hyderabad for sorghum,

Directorate of Soybean, Indore for

soybean, Directorate of Wheat

Research, Karnal for wheat and

barley, Directorate of Onion and

Garlic Research, Pune for onion,

Centra l Instute for Coon

Research, Nagpur for coon, Indian

Instute of Pulses Research,

Kanpur for pulses, Sugarcane

Breeding Instute, Coimbatore and

Indian Instute of Sugarcane

Research, Lucknow for sugarcane,

Central Potato Research Instute,

Shimla for potato, Indian Instute

of Spices Research, Calicut for

spices, Naonal Research Centre

for Seed Spices, Ajmer for seed

spices, Indian Instute of Vegetable

Research, Varanasi and Indian

Instute of Horculture Research,

Bangalore for vegetable crops and

several other instutes on other

crops. These organizaons have

been fully supported through

several projects like Naonal

Agricultural Technology Project

(NATP), Naonal Agricultural

Innovaon Project (N A I P) to

enhance their p lant genec

resources with emphasis on infra

structure development/ medium

term storage modules and local

collecons.

4. I n t e r n a o n a l I n s t u o n s

Supported by Consultave Group

on Internaonal Agricultural

R e s e a r c h ( C G I A R ) : T h e s e

internaonal agricultural research

c e n t r e s h a v e i n d e p e n d e n t

departments/ units dedicated to

collecon, characterizaon, evalu

aon, conservaon, document

aon and distribuon of germpl

asm related to their mandate

crops. These internaonal agricult

ural centres include CIAT, Cale,

Colombia (drybeans), CIMMYT,

Mexico (wheat and maize), CIP,

Lima, Peru (potato), ICARDA,

Aleppo, (shied to Moroccolenl,

broad bean, barley, chickpea),

ICRISAT, Hyderabad, India (pigeon

pea, ch ickpea, groundnut ,

sorghum, pearlmillet), I I TA,

Ibadan, Nigeria (cowpea, soybean),

IRRI, Manila, Philippines (rice), and

AVRDC, Shanhua, Taiwan (not fully

funded by CGIAR, tomato, sweet

pepper, hotpepper, soybean).

5. Naonal Germplasm Centres of

the individual Countries: The

major germplasm storage centres,

besides NBPGR in India, include

USNaonal Plant Germplasm

System (federal, states and private

organizaons and research units)

coordinated by ARSUSDA. It has

severa l reg ional germplasm

staons in US with more than

450000 accessions (PIs) available

at Naonal Seed Storage Lab, Fort

Collins, Colorado and Naonal

G e r m p l a s m R e s e a r c h L a b ,

Beltsville, Maryland. Besides, US,

there are huge collecons of plant

germplasm at Chinese Academy of

Agricultural Sciences, Beijing,

Vavilov Instute of Plant Sciences,

Leningrad, C S I R O Austra l ia .

Besides, these every European

country has its own germplasm

centre. Same is true for few

selected countries in Middle East

and Africa.

www.krishijagran.com

Germplasm Access within India

1. T h r o u g h I m p o r t : H e r e t h e

user/indenter applies for issuance

of import permit to NBPGR on a

prescribed proforma with certain

prescribed nominal fees and details

of the material to be imported and

full address of the supplier. The fee

structure is slightly dierent for

public sector Instuons vs the

private sector seed companies with

slightly more charges for private

seed companies. The applicaon is

as per PQ Form 08 which can be

downloaded from NBPGR site

(www.nbpgr.ernet. in ) . The

indenter gets the import permit

and sends the same (scanned

copies are accepted) to the

supplier who in turn puts a phyto

sanitary cercate and the import

permit along with the consignment

and sends the same to NBPGR,

New Delhi. While applying for

import permit to NBPGR, the

following declaraons are mand

atory.

(i) The germplasm under import

has no commercial value/

exclusive ownership and may

be shared freely for research

purposes.

(ii) The germplasm does not

contain any terminator genes

or terminator technology (TT)

or genec usage restricve

technologies (GURTs).

(iii) The material is exclusively for

research purposes.

NBPGR on receiving the material

informs the indenter and releases the

same aer receiving certain amount as

shipment handl ing charges and

quaranne fee applicable to each

sample.

Export of Germplasm from India

India has been the huge beneciary

of open germplasm access policy in

vogue in past where it got wealth of

valuable germplasm/ breeding lines

from CIMMYTMexico for wheat and

from IRRIManila, Philippines for rice

and this germplasm sharing and

ulizaon without any restricon

heralded in Green Revoluon in India.

Now the germplasm movement has

become very rigid and subject to several

compl iances as required under

Biodiversity Act2002 as enacted in

India. For sending any germplasm from

India, the germplasm supplier has to

seek prior wrien approval of Naonal

Biodiversity Authority who in turn

refers the case to ICAR/DARE and ICAR

constutes a special commiee consist

ing members from NBPGR, concerned

crop based Instute and few others.

This commiee sends the recomm

endaons to ICAR and ICAR send the

informaon to NBA for further needful

acon. This process has no meframe

and usually ends up at dead end leading

to lot of frustraon for supplier and the

recipient. This process needs to be

streamlined, and put in a meframe for

quickest poss ib le movement of

germplasm from India to abroad.

In nutshell:

Accessing germplasm from CGIAR

fully funded/partly funded Interna

onal Agricultural Centres is simple,

straighorward and hassle free

subject to geng import permit

from NBPGR (which is quite easy

and quick) and signing of Standard

Materia l Transfer Agreement

(SMTA) as per provisions of Interna

onal Treaty on Plant Genec

Resources for Food and Agriculture.

The germplasm thus accessed can

be freely used for research and even

can be commercialized and released

to the farmers without any restri

con. However, in case the recipient

commercializes a product and

where such product is not available

without restricon to others for

further research and breeding, the

recipient shall pay a xed perce

ntage (usually 1.1 %) of sales of the

commercialized product into the

system. It is made clear that the

recipient cannot claim any IPR on

such germplasm lines.

The Material shall be used or

conserved only for the purposes of

research, breeding and training for

food and agriculture. Such purposes

s h a l l n o t i n c l u d e c h e m i c a l ,

pharmaceucal and/or other non

food/feed industrial uses.

Movement of germplasm from

N B P G R to state agr icu l tura l

un ivers ies/ I C A R instutes

(Naonal Agricultural Research

System) i s happening rather

sporadically and at a slow space.

However, germplasm exchange

between NARS and private sector

seed companies in India is almost

not happening despite stated

philosophy that the germplasm

should be shared freely. A lot needs

o be done on this front. However, a

few Instuons (for example IIHR,

Bangalore, IARI, New Delhi, IIVR,

FEB 2015 | AGRICULTURE WORLD | Issue-2 06

Varanasi, DOGR, Pune, CRRI,

Cuack, etc have lately realized

that their technology cannot reach

to farmers in abundance unless

they involve private sector whose

mulplicaon and markeng

network is strong. Accordingly, they

have put their advanced breeding

lines/released products for sale to

p r i va te s e e d c o m p a n i e s o n

exclus ive bas is with certain

payment (usually one me xed

amount on breeding lines and one

me lumpsum payment plus

regular royalty payment @ about 3

6 % of the sales proceeds, as per

mutually agreed MoU). This is most

welcome step.

Accessing germplasm from NBPGR

and its ulizaon has become rather

tedious and complex due to

enforcement of certain provisions of

Biodiversity Act2002 where use of

germplasm for commercializaon

and prot making needs cumber

some process of approval from

NBA/MoEF/DARE/ICAR, GoI. The

approval process needs to be put in

a meframe.

Exporng germplasm from India to

any end user has also become very

dicult due to seeking prior wrien

approval from NBA/ MoEF/ DARE//

ICAR, GoI. The provision of process

is welcome but it must be putin a

meframe for quick decision and

implementaon of the process.

Further, there is need of single

window clearance for germplasm

access and ulizaon by one

authority that can coordinate

among subgroups in a meframe

mode. This nodal authority could be

NBPGR.

Dr. Hari Har Ram

FormerProfessor and Head,

Vegetable Science, GBPUAT,

Pantnagar

FormerVP, R&D, Krishidhan

Vegetable Seeds, Pune

FormerConsultant (Breeding

and Seed Producon)FAO

FEB 2015 | AGRICULTURE WORLD | Issue-2 07

www.krishijagran.comAvailability of Germplasm in India and Its export

Germplasm Access within India

1. T h r o u g h I m p o r t : H e r e t h e

user/indenter applies for issuance

of import permit to NBPGR on a

prescribed proforma with certain

prescribed nominal fees and details

of the material to be imported and

full address of the supplier. The fee

structure is slightly dierent for

public sector Instuons vs the

private sector seed companies with

slightly more charges for private

seed companies. The applicaon is

as per PQ Form 08 which can be

downloaded from NBPGR site

(www.nbpgr.ernet. in ) . The

indenter gets the import permit

and sends the same (scanned

copies are accepted) to the

supplier who in turn puts a phyto

sanitary cercate and the import

permit along with the consignment

and sends the same to NBPGR,

New Delhi. While applying for

import permit to NBPGR, the

following declaraons are mand

atory.

(i) The germplasm under import

has no commercial value/

exclusive ownership and may

be shared freely for research

purposes.

(ii) The germplasm does not

contain any terminator genes

or terminator technology (TT)

or genec usage restricve

technologies (GURTs).

(iii) The material is exclusively for

research purposes.

NBPGR on receiving the material

informs the indenter and releases the

same aer receiving certain amount as

shipment handl ing charges and

quaranne fee applicable to each

sample.

Export of Germplasm from India

India has been the huge beneciary

of open germplasm access policy in

vogue in past where it got wealth of

valuable germplasm/ breeding lines

from CIMMYTMexico for wheat and

from IRRIManila, Philippines for rice

and this germplasm sharing and

ulizaon without any restricon

heralded in Green Revoluon in India.

Now the germplasm movement has

become very rigid and subject to several

compl iances as required under

Biodiversity Act2002 as enacted in

India. For sending any germplasm from

India, the germplasm supplier has to

seek prior wrien approval of Naonal

Biodiversity Authority who in turn

refers the case to ICAR/DARE and ICAR

constutes a special commiee consist

ing members from NBPGR, concerned

crop based Instute and few others.

This commiee sends the recomm

endaons to ICAR and ICAR send the

informaon to NBA for further needful

acon. This process has no meframe

and usually ends up at dead end leading

to lot of frustraon for supplier and the

recipient. This process needs to be

streamlined, and put in a meframe for

quickest poss ib le movement of

germplasm from India to abroad.

In nutshell:

Accessing germplasm from CGIAR

fully funded/partly funded Interna

onal Agricultural Centres is simple,

straighorward and hassle free

subject to geng import permit

from NBPGR (which is quite easy

and quick) and signing of Standard

Materia l Transfer Agreement

(SMTA) as per provisions of Interna

onal Treaty on Plant Genec

Resources for Food and Agriculture.

The germplasm thus accessed can

be freely used for research and even

can be commercialized and released

to the farmers without any restri

con. However, in case the recipient

commercializes a product and

where such product is not available

without restricon to others for

further research and breeding, the

recipient shall pay a xed perce

ntage (usually 1.1 %) of sales of the

commercialized product into the

system. It is made clear that the

recipient cannot claim any IPR on

such germplasm lines.

The Material shall be used or

conserved only for the purposes of

research, breeding and training for

food and agriculture. Such purposes

s h a l l n o t i n c l u d e c h e m i c a l ,

pharmaceucal and/or other non

food/feed industrial uses.

Movement of germplasm from

N B P G R to state agr icu l tura l

un ivers ies/ I C A R instutes

(Naonal Agricultural Research

System) i s happening rather

sporadically and at a slow space.

However, germplasm exchange

between NARS and private sector

seed companies in India is almost

not happening despite stated

philosophy that the germplasm

should be shared freely. A lot needs

o be done on this front. However, a

few Instuons (for example IIHR,

Bangalore, IARI, New Delhi, IIVR,

FEB 2015 | AGRICULTURE WORLD | Issue-2 06

Varanasi, DOGR, Pune, CRRI,

Cuack, etc have lately realized

that their technology cannot reach

to farmers in abundance unless

they involve private sector whose

mulplicaon and markeng

network is strong. Accordingly, they

have put their advanced breeding

lines/released products for sale to

p r i va te s e e d c o m p a n i e s o n

exclus ive bas is with certain

payment (usually one me xed

amount on breeding lines and one

me lumpsum payment plus

regular royalty payment @ about 3

6 % of the sales proceeds, as per

mutually agreed MoU). This is most

welcome step.

Accessing germplasm from NBPGR

and its ulizaon has become rather

tedious and complex due to

enforcement of certain provisions of

Biodiversity Act2002 where use of

germplasm for commercializaon

and prot making needs cumber

some process of approval from

NBA/MoEF/DARE/ICAR, GoI. The

approval process needs to be put in

a meframe.

Exporng germplasm from India to

any end user has also become very

dicult due to seeking prior wrien

approval from NBA/ MoEF/ DARE//

ICAR, GoI. The provision of process

is welcome but it must be putin a

meframe for quick decision and

implementaon of the process.

Further, there is need of single

window clearance for germplasm

access and ulizaon by one

authority that can coordinate

among subgroups in a meframe

mode. This nodal authority could be

NBPGR.

Dr. Hari Har Ram

FormerProfessor and Head,

Vegetable Science, GBPUAT,

Pantnagar

FormerVP, R&D, Krishidhan

Vegetable Seeds, Pune

FormerConsultant (Breeding

and Seed Producon)FAO

FEB 2015 | AGRICULTURE WORLD | Issue-2 07

www.krishijagran.comAvailability of Germplasm in India and Its export

Recently our Senior Execuve Editor

Mr. Ravinder Kumar Teoa interacted

with Mr. Vinod Kumar Gaur Chairman

& Managing Director of Naonal Seed

Corporaon. Mr. Gaur share a lot of

ideas in the eld of Seed Industry. Let's

check it out:

Q. What is the role of NSC in India?

Ans. NSC is working naonwide for

the development of seed infrastructure

in the country. The role of NSC is very

important because it is the only nodal

agency authorised by Government of

India.

Q. What are the main funcons of

NSC?

Ans. NSC is working as seed bank

agency for storage of seed. It also

ensures the availability of seed under

various Govt. schemes namely NFSM,

BGREI, NMOOP, etc. It has dierent

seed divisions in all the states of the

country. The development of seed

infrastructure like construcon of

godown, installaon of processing

plant, seed tesng labs, packaging units

are set up naonwide under the

supervision of NSC.

Q. With the presence of cered hybrid

seeds from several MNCs, how NSC is

able to maintain its monopoly in

India?

Ans. NSC provides seeds to farmers

at very reasonable rates. It is the sole

supplier of quality seeds, in high

volume at low value playing a vital role

in mulplicaon of hybrid seeds of

Public Sector. NSC is also the major

supplier of staple crop seeds such as

cereals, pulses, oilseeds etc.NSC has

maximum share in majority of the State

Seeds Corporaon. So there is no

comparison of NSC with other MNCs.

Q. How NSC has build up the trust

among the farmers?

Merger of SFCI & NSC

Good for Seed Industry V.K. Gaur

Ans. It is the only company where

quality is trusted through the Seed

Tesng Labs of state and NSC. The

reasonable rates of NSC seeds always

aracts the whole farming community

of the country.

Q. How do NSC maintain its reputaon

in the Seed Industry?

Ans. Quality is NSC's major

concern, it ensures tesng of seed at

state quality control labs besides our

labs located in 7 places across India

where DNA and nger prinng lab, the

eld inspecons. We always encourage

to adopt latest technology

happening around the agriculture

world. We also conduct training

programmes for farmers & seed

industry ocials on regular basis.

Q. What is the network NSC has to

cater the farmers' need?

Ans. NSC have a huge network of

NSC ocers all over India with 22000

ha. of land for producon of Test Stock,

with 12.60 lac quintals of processing

capacity, 10.5 lack quintals of seed

storage plants for Breeder, Foundaon

Cered seeds. We have more than

3000 dealers across India to cater the

farmers' need at large.

Q. What are your future plans ?

Ans. Now, we are planning to give

complete soluon to farmers i.e. farm

equipments on hiring basis, fodder

blocks as cale feed and procurement

of commercial crop from farmers. We

are also seriously considering the

development of seed infrastructure for

other companies in our own country as

well as abroad.

Q. How do you see the merger of SFCI

with NSC?

Ans. Merger of SFCI & NSC, is a

good sign for the development of Seed

Industry in India. Moreover, we got

strength with this alliance because SFCI

has large acreage of farms and NSC has

the ecient distribuon network. So,

it helps to cut down the unnecessary

monetary burden. Thus the best

ulizaon of resources are giving beer

result for our organizaon as a whole.

FEB 2015 | AGRICULTURE WORLD | Issue-2 09

www.krishijagran.comINTERVIEW

Recently our Senior Execuve Editor

Mr. Ravinder Kumar Teoa interacted

with Mr. Vinod Kumar Gaur Chairman

& Managing Director of Naonal Seed

Corporaon. Mr. Gaur share a lot of

ideas in the eld of Seed Industry. Let's

check it out:

Q. What is the role of NSC in India?

Ans. NSC is working naonwide for

the development of seed infrastructure

in the country. The role of NSC is very

important because it is the only nodal

agency authorised by Government of

India.

Q. What are the main funcons of

NSC?

Ans. NSC is working as seed bank

agency for storage of seed. It also

ensures the availability of seed under

various Govt. schemes namely NFSM,

BGREI, NMOOP, etc. It has dierent

seed divisions in all the states of the

country. The development of seed

infrastructure like construcon of

godown, installaon of processing

plant, seed tesng labs, packaging units

are set up naonwide under the

supervision of NSC.

Q. With the presence of cered hybrid

seeds from several MNCs, how NSC is

able to maintain its monopoly in

India?

Ans. NSC provides seeds to farmers

at very reasonable rates. It is the sole

supplier of quality seeds, in high

volume at low value playing a vital role

in mulplicaon of hybrid seeds of

Public Sector. NSC is also the major

supplier of staple crop seeds such as

cereals, pulses, oilseeds etc.NSC has

maximum share in majority of the State

Seeds Corporaon. So there is no

comparison of NSC with other MNCs.

Q. How NSC has build up the trust

among the farmers?

Merger of SFCI & NSC

Good for Seed Industry V.K. Gaur

Ans. It is the only company where

quality is trusted through the Seed

Tesng Labs of state and NSC. The

reasonable rates of NSC seeds always

aracts the whole farming community

of the country.

Q. How do NSC maintain its reputaon

in the Seed Industry?

Ans. Quality is NSC's major

concern, it ensures tesng of seed at

state quality control labs besides our

labs located in 7 places across India

where DNA and nger prinng lab, the

eld inspecons. We always encourage

to adopt latest technology

happening around the agriculture

world. We also conduct training

programmes for farmers & seed

industry ocials on regular basis.

Q. What is the network NSC has to

cater the farmers' need?

Ans. NSC have a huge network of

NSC ocers all over India with 22000

ha. of land for producon of Test Stock,

with 12.60 lac quintals of processing

capacity, 10.5 lack quintals of seed

storage plants for Breeder, Foundaon

Cered seeds. We have more than

3000 dealers across India to cater the

farmers' need at large.

Q. What are your future plans ?

Ans. Now, we are planning to give

complete soluon to farmers i.e. farm

equipments on hiring basis, fodder

blocks as cale feed and procurement

of commercial crop from farmers. We

are also seriously considering the

development of seed infrastructure for

other companies in our own country as

well as abroad.

Q. How do you see the merger of SFCI

with NSC?

Ans. Merger of SFCI & NSC, is a

good sign for the development of Seed

Industry in India. Moreover, we got

strength with this alliance because SFCI

has large acreage of farms and NSC has

the ecient distribuon network. So,

it helps to cut down the unnecessary

monetary burden. Thus the best

ulizaon of resources are giving beer

result for our organizaon as a whole.

FEB 2015 | AGRICULTURE WORLD | Issue-2 09

www.krishijagran.comINTERVIEW

FEB 2015 | AGRICULTURE WORLD | Issue-2 10

19 YEARS CONTINUED GROWTH,

DIVERSITY AND BENEFITS:

Growth

In 2014, a record 181.5 million hectares of biotech crops were

grown globally an increase of 6

million hectares from 2013 and

more than 100fold gain since 1.7

million hectares were planted in

1996.

More than 60 percent of the world's populaon resides in the 28

countries planng biotech crops.

Of these countries, 20 are develo

ping and eight industrial.

Eighteen million farmers planted biotech crops in 2014, 90 percent

of whom were small, resource

poor farmers, represenng some

of the poorest people in the world.

The United States connued to lead biotech crop producon with

73.1 million hectares, an increase

of 3 million hectares over 2013.

This surpassed the growth rate of

Brazil, which had recorded the

highest yeartoyear increase for

the past ve years and added 1.9

million hectares in 2014.

Diversity

More than 10 food and ber crops are approved for commercial

planng, ranging from major

commodies like maize, soybean,

and coon, to fruits and vegetables

such as papaya, eggplant and

squash.

Newlyapproved crops in 2014 included food crops such as the

Innate potato in the United

States, vegetable Bt brinjal/

eggplant in Bangladesh, and

biotech sugarcane in Indonesia.

Not only are the crops themselves diverse, but so are the issues they

address. United in their ability to

boost benets to the consumer and

increase crop producvity for

farmers, traits include drought

tolerance, insect and disease

resistance, herbicide tolerance,

increased nutrion and food

quality.

Benets

The latest provisional informaon for the period 1996 to 2013,

provided by Brookes and Barfoot of

Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: 2014

Global Status of

Commercialized

Biotech/GM Crops: 2014

Global Status of

Commercialized

Biotech/GM Crops: 2014

PG Economics, indicates biotech

crops connue to have a signi

cant, posive impact on food

security, sustainability and climate

change by:

o Increasing crop producon

valued at US$133 billion

o Saving approximately 500

million kg a.i. (acve ingred

ient) of pescides

o In 2013 alone, reducing CO 2

emissions by 28 billion kg,

equivalent to taking 12.4

million cars o the road for

one year; compared to CO 2

www.krishijagran.com

FEB 2015 | AGRICULTURE WORLD | Issue-2 11

biotech crops, just as they are for

convenonal crops.

KEY FACTS & FINDINGS : 2014

The Integral Role Of Publicprivate

Partnerships:

Increased Crop Producvity and

Expedited Delivery

Aid agencies and foundaons have established projects to donate and

transfer biotech crop applicaons

from the private and public sector

in industrial countries for the

benet of small, resourcepoor

farmers in developing countries for

the past decade. A few examples:

o One of the smallest and

povertystricken countries in

t h e w o r l d , B a n g l a d e s h ,

approved Bt brinjal/eggplant

for planng in October 2013.

Less than 100 days aer

approval, commercializaon

of the crop was iniated and

1 2 0 fa r m e rs p l a nte d 1 2

hectares of Bt brinjal in 2014.

The strong polical will and

support from the government

observed in this model sets the

stage for other developing

countries to follow suit.

o The Water Ecient Maize for

Africa (WEMA) Project aims to

deliver biotechbased drought

to lerant maize to select

African countries as early as

2017. Made possible by a

publicprivate partnership, the

technology is rst targeted at

South Africa, followed by

Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique

and Tanzania.

The donated technology, Drought

Gard saw a 5.5fold yeartoyear

increase in planted hectares in the

United States in 2014. This represe

nts strong farmer acceptance of the

drought tolerant maize.

Takeaway. Publicprivate partner

ships connue to be successful for

increasing crop producvity by develo

ping and delivering approved products

to the farmer. As evident in the success

story of Bangladesh, polical will and

emission reducons equal to

removing 11.8 million cars in

2012

o Helping to alleviate poverty for

more than 16.5 million small

farmers and their families,

totaling 65 million people

some of the poorest in the

world.

A rigorous metaanalysis conducted by Klumper and Qaim (2014)

from Europe analyzed nearly 150

published biotech crop studies

using primary data from farm

surveys or eld trials worldwide

and reconrmed the environ

mental benets of biotech crops.

The analysis noted that, since 1995,

GM technology has:

o Reduced chemical pescide

use 37 percent

o Increased crop yields 22

percento Increased farmer prots 68

percent

Takeaway. The growth, diversity

and benets of biotech crops connue

to evolve and they can make a

signicant contribuon to feeding a

growing populaon. As the fastest

adopted crop technology in recent

mes, biotech crops are part of the

soluon to food security and climate

change very real problems both

consumers and farmers face around the

world. Whereas biotech crops are

essenal for global food security, they

are not a panacea. Adherence to good

farming pracces such as rotaons and

resistance management are a must for

government support are essenal to

ensure ava i lab le and approved

FEB 2015 | AGRICULTURE WORLD | Issue-2 10

Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: 2014

Global Status of

Commercialized

Biotech/GM Crops: 2014

Global Status of

Commercialized

Biotech/GM Crops: 2014

www.krishijagran.com

FEB 2015 | AGRICULTURE WORLD | Issue-2 11

million hectares of Bt coon in 2014

because of the signicant benets it

oers. Similarly in 2014, 415,000 small

farmers in the Philippines beneted

from biotech maize.

FACT # 3. Strong polical will

allowed Bangladesh to commercialize

Bt brinjal (eggplant) for the rst me.

Notably, Bangladesh, a small poor

country with 150 million people,

approved the prized vegetable Bt

brinjal/eggplant on 30 October 2013,

and in record me less than 100 days

aer approval small farmers planted

Bt brinjal on 22 January 2014. This feat

could not have been achieved without

strong Government support and

polical will, parcularly from the

M i n i s t e r o f A g r i c u l t u r e M a a

Chowdhury the experience is

exemplary for small poor countries.

Bangladesh is already eld tesng

biotech potatoes and exploring biotech

coon and rice.

FACT # 4. Some of the new

biotech crops, recently approved for

planng, include food staples potato

in the US and the vegetable brinjal

(eggplant) in Bangladesh. In 2014, the

US approved two new biotech crops

for culvaon: Innate potato, a food

staple with lower levels of acrylamide, a

potenal carcinogen, and less wastage

due to bruising; and a reduced lignin

Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: 2014

alfalfa event KK179 (HarvXtra) with

higher digesbility and yield (alfalfa is

#1 forage crop in the world). Indonesia

approved a drought tolerant sugarcane.

Brazil approved Culvance, a HT

soybean, and a homegrown virus

resistant bean, ready for planng in

2016. Vietnam approved biotech maize

(HT and IR) for the rst me in 2014. In

addion to the current biotech food

crops which directly benet consumers

(white maize in South Africa, sugar beet

and sweet corn in the US and Canada,

and papaya and squash in the US) new

biotech food crops include the queen of

the vegetables (brinjal) in Bangladesh

and potato in the US potato is the

fourth most important food staple

globally and can contribute to food

security in countries like China (6 million

hectares of potato), India (2 million) and

the EU (~2 million).

FACT # 5. The top 5 countries

planng biotech crops. The U S

connued to be the lead country with

73.1 million hectares (40% of global)

with over 90% adopon for the

principal crops of maize (93% adopon)

soybean (94%) and coon (96%).

Whereas Brazil has been #1 in yearto

year hectare growth for the last ve

years, the US ranked #1 in 2014, with 3

million hectares, compared to 1.9

million hectares for Brazil. Notably,

Brazil planted the stacked HT/IR

soybean on a record 5.2 million

hectares in its second year aer the

launch. Argenna retained third place,

down marginally with 24.3 million

hectares, from 24.4 million in 2013.

India ranked fourth, had a record 11.6

million hectares of Bt coon (11.0 in

2013), and 95% adopon. Canada was

h at 11.6 million hectares also, with

more canola and a high 95% adopon.

In 2014, each of the top 5 countries

planted more than 10 million hectares

providing a broad, solid foundaon for

future sustained growth.

FACT # 6. The rst biotech drought

tolerant maize planted in the US in

2013 increased more than 5fold in

2014. Biotech DroughtGard tolerant

maize, rst planted in the US in 2013,

increased 5.5fold from 50,000 hectares

in 2013 to 275,000 hectares in 2014

reecng farmer acceptance the

same event was donated to the public

private partnership, Water Ecient

Maize for Africa (WEMA) aimed at

delivering biotech drought tolerant

maize to selected countries in Africa by

2017.

FACT # 7. Status of biotech crops in

Africa. The connent connued to

make progress with South Africa,

marginally lower at 2.7 million hectares

mainly due to drought. Sudan increased

Bt coon hectarage by almost 50%,

whilst drought precluded a potenally

higher hectarage than 0.5 million

hectares in Burkina Faso. An addional

seven countries (Cameroon, Egypt,

Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria and

Uganda) conducted eld trials on pro

poor crops, the penulmate step prior

to approval. Importantly, the WEMA

project is scheduled to deliver the rst

stacked biotech drought tolerant (DT)

maize with insect control (Bt) in South

Africa in 2017. Lack of sciencebased

and cost/meeecve regulatory

systems is the major constraint to

adopon. Responsible, rigorous but not

onerous, regulaon is urgently needed

to suit the needs of small famers and

poor developing countries.

FACT # 8. Status of biotech crops in

FEB 2015 | AGRICULTURE WORLD | Issue-2 12

the EU. Five EU countries connued to

p l a n t 1 4 3 , 0 1 6 h e c t a r e s d o w n

marginally by 3% from 2013. Spain led

with 131,538 hectares of Bt maize,

down 3% from 2013, but with a record

31.6% adopon. In summary, there

were modest increases in three EU

countries and slight decreases in two

countries, due mainly to less planng of

maize and bureaucracy.

FACT # 9. Benets oered by

biotech crops. A new 2014 global meta

analysis conrmed signicant mulple

benets, during the last 20 years. A

global metaanalysis of 147 studies in

the last 20 years, conrmed that on

average GM technology adopon has

reduced chemical pescide use by 37%,

increased crop yields by 22%, and

increased farmer prots by 68%. These

ndings corroborate earl ier and

consistent results from other annual

global studies. The latest provisional

data for 1996 to 2013, showed that

biotech crops contributed to Food

Security, Sustainability and Environ

ment/Climate Change by: increasing

crop producon valued at US$133

billion; providing a beer environment,

by saving ~500 million kg a.i. of

pescides from 1996 to 2012; in 2013

alone reducing CO2 emissions by 28

billion kg, equivalent to taking 12.4

million cars o the road for one year;

conserving biodiversity by saving 132

million hectares of land from 1996

2013; and helped alleviate poverty for

>16.5 million small farmers and their

families totaling >65 million people,

who are some of the poorest people in

the world. Biotech crops are essenal

but are not a panacea adherence to

good farming pracces such as

rotaons and resistance management,

are a must for biotech crops as they are

for convenonal crops.

FACT # 10. Future Prospects.

Cauously opmisc with modest

annual gains expected due to the

already high rates of adopon (90% to

100%) in the current principal biotech

crops, leaving lile room for expansion

in mature markets in both developing

and industrial countries. The pipeline is

full of new biotech crop products which

could (subject to regulatory approval

for planng and import) be available

during the next 5 years or so a list of

over 70 potenal products are listed in

the full Brief. They include, a broad

range of new crops and traits as well as

products with mulple modes of

resistance to pests/diseases and

tolerance to herbicides; Golden Rice is

progressing with eld tesng and late

blight resistant potatoes are being eld

tested in Bangladesh, Indonesia, and

India. In the US, Simplot has already

requested approval for an enhanced

Innate potato with latebl ight

resistance and lowered reducing sugars;

propoor crops, parcularly in Africa,

such as fored bananas and pest

resistant cowpea, look promising;

publicprivate partnerships (PPP) have

been relavely successful in developing

and delivering approved products four

PPP case studies, featuring a broad

range of dierent crops and traits in all

three connents of the South, are

reviewed in the full Brief.

By Clive James

Founder and Emeritus

Chair of ISAAA

FEB 2015 | AGRICULTURE WORLD | Issue-2 13

www.krishijagran.com

Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: 2014

FEB 2015 | AGRICULTURE WORLD | Issue-2 12

By Clive James

Founder and Emeritus

Chair of ISAAA

FEB 2015 | AGRICULTURE WORLD | Issue-2 13

www.krishijagran.com

FEB 2015 | AGRICULTURE WORLD | Issue-2 14

Presently, Dr. K.V. Prabhu is the Joint Director (Research) of IARI. He is instrumental in taking the issue of

redening basma rice in India. He has

made valuable contribuon in the

development of high yielding variees

of basma rice so that farmers in India

can compete eecvely with the

internaonal market under value added

basma rice segment. Our Senior

Execuve Editor Mr R.K. Teoa

conducted his exclusive interview at

IARI and discussed about the current

issues of basma rice and other crops in

India.

Q. What are the main objecves of

IARI for village adopon and how

many villages have you adopted?

Ans. We have adopted 4 villages

nearby Delhi/NCR within 50 km range.

Sudana village, Hapur is one of the IARI

adopted village and nowadays, it is

known as carrot village with high

adopon of Pusa Rudhir variety of

carrot. IAR I is giving agriculture

extension services through Kisan

Goshes , farmer's eld visits etc., to the

farmers of these villages.

Q. What is the basic problem with

Basma Rice 1509? Farmers of

Western UP had faced heavy loss by

growing this variety. What is new in

Basma segment?

Ans. The major problem is blast

disease in this variety which ulmately

reduces yield of crop. Currently there is

no blast resistant basma variety, but

within next 2 years, we will release blast

resistant basma rice by incorporang

gene in to the variees Pusa 1509, Pusa

1121 and Pusa 1401 . Farmers who

adopted plant protecon measures

from the me of sowing, are successful

to control this disease. This year high

yielding extralong slender grain

aromac rice variety Pusa 1612, a near

isogenic line of Pusa Sugandh5

pyramided with blast resistant genes

through molecular breeding, was

released for culvaon in Punjab,

GI Protection of

Basmati Rice is Needed

Haryana, Delhi and Jammu & Kashmir. It

is expected to revoluonize in rice

potato cropping system in future.

Nowadays, Basma variety Pusa 1401

is very popular among traders and has

good demand in the market. This

variety has extraordinary grain quality

and fragrance.

Q . What is the reason behind farmers

geng low prices in the Mandi this

year?

Ans. In 2013, the farmers received

good return from rice. Due to this

reason they grew plenty of rice which

was 40 % more than 2012 and this

created a glut in the market, eventually

exerng pressure on the price levels.

Q. Sample quality of rice is below

internaonal standard, Is it right or

wrong? What is the real picture?

Ans. This is not new thing. India's

basma rice is dominang all over the

world. Demand for basma rice will

always remain high, especially in Gulf

and Arab countries. It is important that

the Government should x MSP for

Basma rice. It is very necessary from

farmer's point of view, because MSP

could movate them to grow more

Basma. Now we are planning to give

proposal to the Government to x MSP

of Basma. If we talk about below

Internaonal standard of rice, it is all

rumours only. This is because aer

harvesng of paddy when the crop is

arrived in Mandis, rumours are created

by traders in order to push down the

prices lower. However, next year when

farmers are not willing to grow they

again create nuisance. If we see the

wheat market, it is a very stable market,

because farmers know that they can get

price at least the MSP level. There

should be a plan to solve this problem,

and involvement of PPP model could be

a n a l t e r n a v e i n t h i s r e g a r d .

Government should plan to develop a

Basma Development Fund, and beer

storage system.

Q. Currently, which is the best high

yielding variety of wheat?

Ans. IARI released three bread

wheat var iees H D 3086 (Pusa

Gautami), HD 3090 (Pusa Amulya) and

HS 542 (Pusa Kiran) and a durum wheat

FEB 2015 | AGRICULTURE WORLD | Issue-2 15

variety HI 8713 (Pusa Mangal) during

this year for culvaon in dierent agro

climac condions of wheat growing

zones. Presently, HD 2967 is the most

popular variety, released only three

years ago for NorthWestern Plains

Zone to replace the dominant PBW 343,

occupied about 6 mha of area during

this year. HD 2967 has an average yield

of 5.56.0 t/ha with excellent chapa

making quality, in addion to high iron

and zinc content. Farmers are all

sased with the yield of HD 2967 and

also claim that it is free from most of the

diseases.

Q. Is there any plan for organic seed

producon?

Ans. I would state that the concept

of organic is foreign. In India 60 % of

total produce is organic. If we compare

g l o b a l c o n s u m p o n t r e n d o f

agrochemicals, India uses lesser

quanty comparavely. The main

reason for degradaon of soil is lack of

www.krishijagran.com

an integrated approach in agrochemical

use. Therefore, it is important to

incorporate green manure, compost

etc. in soil for maintaining texture of

soil. Plant always take nutrients from

soil in inorganic form and nutrients like

Phosphorus, Potash and Zinc always

remain in soil. It will be dicult to

achieve the target of food grain

producon from 250 million ton to 350

million ton in country, only by organic

and we have to adopt the integrated

approach.

Q. Why has Madhya Pradesh led

a g a i n st A p e d a ' s G e o g r a p h i ca l

Indicaon applicaon? What is the

role of GI protecon for basma rice?

Ans. As many as 215 products were

registered as geographical indicaon

( G I ) l l D e c e m b e r 1 5 , 2 0 1 4 .

Geographical indicaon idenes a

product whose quality, reputaon and

other characteriscs are aributed to

its geographical origin. In 1997, US

company Rice Tec was granted a patent

on 'basma rice grains and lines.' India

opposed it , and RiceTec had to

eventually surrender four claims and

withdraw 11 out of a total of 20 claims.

Therefore , G O I int roduced G I

protecon in 2004 to control this illegal

patent.

Apeda's Geographical Indicaon

applicaon for Indian basma rice, led

six years back, with an objecve to

cover just Punjab, Haryana, Delhi,

Himachal Pradesh, Uarakhand and

parts of Uar Pradesh and Jammu &

Kashmir. However, this state led an

opposion and directed Apeda's

applicaon to include MP because MP

located in the IndoGangec plains, and

parts of the state are suitable for

culvaon of Basma. GI is needed for

beer quality of grains and to retain

fragrance in Basma as temperature

plays an important role for fragrance

retenon.

INTERVIEW

Dr. Prabhu

FEB 2015 | AGRICULTURE WORLD | Issue-2 14

Presently, Dr. K.V. Prabhu is the Joint Director (Research) of IARI. He is instrumental in taking the issue of

redening basma rice in India. He has

made valuable contribuon in the

development of high yielding variees

of basma rice so that farmers in India

can compete eecvely with the

internaonal market under value added

basma rice segment. Our Senior

Execuve Editor Mr R.K. Teoa

conducted his exclusive interview at

IARI and discussed about the current

issues of basma rice and other crops in

India.

Q. What are the main objecves of

IARI for village adopon and how

many villages have you adopted?

Ans. We have adopted 4 villages

nearby Delhi/NCR within 50 km range.

Sudana village, Hapur is one of the IARI

adopted village and nowadays, it is

known as carrot village with high

adopon of Pusa Rudhir variety of

carrot. IAR I is giving agriculture

extension services through Kisan

Goshes , farmer's eld visits etc., to the

farmers of these villages.

Q. What is the basic problem with

Basma Rice 1509? Farmers of

Western UP had faced heavy loss by

growing this variety. What is new in

Basma segment?

Ans. The major problem is blast

disease in this variety which ulmately

reduces yield of crop. Currently there is

no blast resistant basma variety, but

within next 2 years, we will release blast

resistant basma rice by incorporang

gene in to the variees Pusa 1509, Pusa

1121 and Pusa 1401 . Farmers who

adopted plant protecon measures

from the me of sowing, are successful

to control this disease. This year high

yielding extralong slender grain

aromac rice variety Pusa 1612, a near

isogenic line of Pusa Sugandh5

pyramided with blast resistant genes

through molecular breeding, was

released for culvaon in Punjab,

GI Protection of

Basmati Rice is Needed

Haryana, Delhi and Jammu & Kashmir. It

is expected to revoluonize in rice

potato cropping system in future.

Nowadays, Basma variety Pusa 1401

is very popular among traders and has

good demand in the market. This

variety has extraordinary grain quality

and fragrance.

Q . What is the reason behind farmers

geng low prices in the Mandi this

year?

Ans. In 2013, the farmers received

good return from rice. Due to this

reason they grew plenty of rice which

was 40 % more than 2012 and this

created a glut in the market, eventually

exerng pressure on the price levels.

Q. Sample quality of rice is below

internaonal standard, Is it right or

wrong? What is the real picture?

Ans. This is not new thing. India's

basma rice is dominang all over the

world. Demand for basma rice will

always remain high, especially in Gulf

and Arab countries. It is important that

the Government should x MSP for

Basma rice. It is very necessary from

farmer's point of view, because MSP

could movate them to grow more

Basma. Now we are planning to give

proposal to the Government to x MSP

of Basma. If we talk about below

Internaonal standard of rice, it is all

rumours only. This is because aer

harvesng of paddy when the crop is

arrived in Mandis, rumours are created

by traders in order to push down the

prices lower. However, next year when

farmers are not willing to grow they

again create nuisance. If we see the

wheat market, it is a very stable market,

because farmers know that they can get

price at least the MSP level. There

should be a plan to solve this problem,

and involvement of PPP model could be

a n a l t e r n a v e i n t h i s r e g a r d .

Government should plan to develop a

Basma Development Fund, and beer

storage system.

Q. Currently, which is the best high

yielding variety of wheat?

Ans. IARI released three bread

wheat var iees H D 3086 (Pusa

Gautami), HD 3090 (Pusa Amulya) and

HS 542 (Pusa Kiran) and a durum wheat

FEB 2015 | AGRICULTURE WORLD | Issue-2 15

variety HI 8713 (Pusa Mangal) during

this year for culvaon in dierent agro

climac condions of wheat growing

zones. Presently, HD 2967 is the most

popular variety, released only three

years ago for NorthWestern Plains

Zone to replace the dominant PBW 343,

occupied about 6 mha of area during

this year. HD 2967 has an average yield

of 5.56.0 t/ha with excellent chapa

making quality, in addion to high iron

and zinc content. Farmers are all

sased with the yield of HD 2967 and

also claim that it is free from most of the

diseases.

Q. Is there any plan for organic seed

producon?

Ans. I would state that the concept

of organic is foreign. In India 60 % of

total produce is organic. If we compare

g l o b a l c o n s u m p o n t r e n d o f

agrochemicals, India uses lesser

quanty comparavely. The main

reason for degradaon of soil is lack of

www.krishijagran.com

an integrated approach in agrochemical

use. Therefore, it is important to

incorporate green manure, compost

etc. in soil for maintaining texture of

soil. Plant always take nutrients from

soil in inorganic form and nutrients like

Phosphorus, Potash and Zinc always

remain in soil. It will be dicult to

achieve the target of food grain

producon from 250 million ton to 350

million ton in country, only by organic

and we have to adopt the integrated

approach.

Q. Why has Madhya Pradesh led

a g a i n st A p e d a ' s G e o g r a p h i ca l

Indicaon applicaon? What is the

role of GI protecon for basma rice?

Ans. As many as 215 products were

registered as geographical indicaon

( G I ) l l D e c e m b e r 1 5 , 2 0 1 4 .

Geographical indicaon idenes a

product whose quality, reputaon and

other characteriscs are aributed to

its geographical origin. In 1997, US

company Rice Tec was granted a patent

on 'basma rice grains and lines.' India

opposed it , and RiceTec had to

eventually surrender four claims and

withdraw 11 out of a total of 20 claims.

Therefore , G O I int roduced G I

protecon in 2004 to control this illegal

patent.

Apeda's Geographical Indicaon

applicaon for Indian basma rice, led

six years back, with an objecve to

cover just Punjab, Haryana, Delhi,

Himachal Pradesh, Uarakhand and

parts of Uar Pradesh and Jammu &

Kashmir. However, this state led an

opposion and directed Apeda's

applicaon to include MP because MP

located in the IndoGangec plains, and

parts of the state are suitable for

culvaon of Basma. GI is needed for

beer quality of grains and to retain

fragrance in Basma as temperature

plays an important role for fragrance

retenon.

INTERVIEW

Dr. Prabhu

FEB 2015 | AGRICULTURE WORLD | Issue-2 16

INTRODUCTION

Indian society is agrarian as 60% of

the populaon is directly engaged in

agriculture. This huge populaon is

contribung only 13.9% to the GDP.

Ave ra g e a n n u a l g ro w t h o f t h e

agriculture and allied sector during the

Eleventh Five year Plan was 3.6% as

against the 4% growth target. The Gross

Capital Formaon (G C F) almost

doubled in the last 10 years. The

average land holding is connuously

decreasing and presently stood at 0.6

ha which will decrease to 0.3 ha by

2030. In last two decades, the culvable

land decreased by more than 3 million

h a d u e t o u r b a n i s a o n a n d

degradaon. According to Naonal

Bureau of Soil Survey & Land Use

Planning (NBSS&LUP), most of the

culvated lands in India are degraded.

Indian agriculture is mainly monsoon

dependent as 60% of the area is under

rain fed agriculture. The post rainy

season is also aected by errac rainfall.

All these factors will shape the

future of research and technology

infusion to develop sustainable food

producon for the growing populaon.

India is producing at present about 260

million ton food. The demand for food is

increasing due to increasing populaon

and rising per capita income. By 2030

India will needs around 350 million ton.

So almost 6 million tons more food is to

be produced every year to reach that

target. The demand for high value

commodies such as vegetables, fruits,

milk, sh, meat and eggs is increasing

faster than food grains. The demand for

these commodies will increase more

than 100% by 2030. These commodies