GM Mustard could open door for 100-odd crops in pipeline

Activists, others question yield and bio-safety data; GM mustard can improve yields by 25-30%

After many ifs and buts, the commercial release of genetically modified (GM) mustard seems to have reached a decisive phase after the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) recommended on Thursday that it be allowed.
 
The ministry of environment and forests will now decide on whether this herbicide-tolerant variety can become the first GM food crop to be cultivated in India. Or if it is to meet the same fate as its brinjal counterpart, whose release the ministry had stayed in 2010, on grounds of insufficient safety evidence.
 
The decisive factor in this case would be the Supreme Court's observation; it is hearing a case against commercial release of GM mustard. The central government had earlier said any decision on commercial release would depend on the directions of the Supreme Court.
 
If cleared, it would also open the door for entry of 100-odd GM food products, many in first trial stages and yet to reach GEAC. There are GM varieties of rice, wheat, okra, onion, groundnut, bamboo, tomato, apple, cucumber, sugarcane, cabbage, cauliflower, tea, coffee, corn, ginger, ragi, yam, castor, sunflower, black pepper, pea, soybean, papaya, cardamom, carrot, banana, tobacco, orange, pearl millet, potato and pulses.
 
The application for GM mustard had come from the Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants (CGMCP) of Delhi University's South Campus. It applied to GEAC for environmental release of GM mustard (Brassica juncea) hybrid DMH-11 and the use of parental events (varuna bn 3.6 and EH2 mod bs 2.99) for the development of a new generation of hybrids. The applicant named is Deepak Pental, professor from the Centre and a former vice-chancellor of the university.
 

If the claim on its behalf is true, GM mustard has the potential to increase the per-hectare yield by 25-30 per cent over the current varieties. The latter give 1,100-1,250 kg a hectare. This, if the claims are to be believed, will go up to 1,400-1,600 kg a ha. Though this is not so high a rise, with mustard being among the highest oil-bearing of oilseeds in India (over 40 per cent oil content), domestic production of edible oils could rise considerably. India annually imports more than half its edible oil requirement.  Since 2009-10, these have also risen 65 per cent, from around 8.82 million tonnes to a little over 14 mt in the 2015-16 crop marketing year that runs from November to October.
 
Mustard seed production has stayed at seven-eight mt a year. Not surprisingly, the Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA) has welcomed the approval, saying GM mustard can help raise production by 20-30 per cent.
 
“It will have impact on production, yield, help in bringing more crop area and also improve the area under irrigation. However, all these benefits of GM mustard will only accrue if the ministry of environment gives its nod, keeping aside all the political considerations,” Ashok Gulati, former chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), told this newspaper.
 
The moot question and one going in favour of GM mustard is the hope of rise in yield. However, activists argue that the claim of a significant increase here is based on comparative tests done with conventional mustard varieties, in use for 30 years.
 
“That apart, the government hasn’t shared any safety data on GM mustard with the public. Everything is being done in such a hush-hush manner that it gives rise to lot of questions,” Kavitha Kuruganti, head of the Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA), told Business Standard.
 
Vandana Shiva, noted environmentalist and activist, said multinational seed companies Bayer and Monsanto were "just hijacking our food through their products, whose only purpose is royalty collection through patents".
 
And, the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, an entity supported by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, has come down heavily against the regulator for approving GM mustard. It has called on the government to not allow the final nod.
 
This was not the first time a proposal for commercial cultivation of GM mustard came before the GEAC. In 2002, the then Union government had rejected a proposal for commercial planting of Bayer’s transgenic mustard plant. Apart from activitists, honey bee makers are against GM mustard, on the ground, that it would kill bees — mustard is an important crop for pollination. Though the government  hasn’t put out the public safety data on GM mustard in the public domain as demanded by activists and others it has issued a list of Frequently Asked Questions and their answers.