Skewing the mustard field: The Yellow Revolution's revival needed

Claims that GM mustard will lead to increased yield are incorrect; we must focus on other solutions

India is the fifth-largest producer and also the seventh-largest importer of edible oils in the world. Though significant progress has been made in the production and yield of oilseeds in India, our annual vegetable oil import has been about $10 billion in recent years. The Ministry of Environment is allowing for genetically modified (GM) mustard, stating that this will help reduce imports.

DMH-11 and parental lines’ approval deeply problematic
 

Approval for the environmental release of GM mustard is based upon weak science. It is a matter of concern that some scientists, the apex regulatory body (Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee, or GEAC), government officials and Cabinet members have welcomed the permission accorded.

It appears that decision-makers have not been told about the irreversible threat to the environment, the farming community and public health from the release of GM mustard. It is even more worrying that the Union government is being misguided to state that GM mustard will reduce the import of edible oil, that it is safe for the environment and human health, and is also safe for honeybees even though beekeepers tell us about the impact of Bt cotton on bees.

Regulatory lapses: As someone who led ICAR-DRMR (Indian Council of Agricultural Re-search-Directorate of Rapeseed-Mustard Research) in Bharatpur, I can share that the study protocols were designed by the crop developer and for most of the studies, these were done by the applicant rather than independently.

ICAR-All India Crop Research Project’s 2006-07 field trial data for GM mustard has been mischievously excluded — coincidentally, GM mustard had a much lower yield that year across locations.

If that yield data is included, GM mustard yield comes even lower at 2 tonnes per hectare, and not 2.6 tonnes/ha. DMH-11’s yield was also by a sleight of hand, compared to the 20-30-year older and lower yielding varieties and not to available higher yielding varieties and hybrids.
 

Going through the Supreme Court’s Technical Expert Committee, the negative health implications and risks of Bt cotton and Bt brinjal on cows and rats, respectively, become evident. Let alone performing multi-generational trials on these to build on the tests, many such tests were not done at all for GM mustard. That even after all this, GM mustard has been allowed to come this far speaks volumes about our regulatory process. Maybe this explains why the biosafety dossier of GM mustard has not been put out in public domain for all to review, even after the Chief Information Commissioner asked for this to be done years ago.

Mustard hybrids: Mustard does not exhibit high hybrid vigour for seed yield like maize, pearl millet, sorghum, sunflower and castor. High heterosis in any crop depends upon diverse homozygous parental lines with viable commercial hybrid seed production.

Indian mustard is already a hybrid crop gifted by B. rapa X B. nigra crossing in nature. However, if one wants to opt for hybrids, there is a natural, efficient, proven and safer way to prepare male sterile lines using cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS).

Increasing herbicide usage: Seed production of DMH 11 rests on the usage of a highly problematic herbicide glufosinate, which has not been approved for use in mustard crop. Regulators have stated that farmers are not permitted to use the weedkiller despite the fact that illegal HT cotton with its weedkiller phosphate was allowed widespread use illegally in India over 10-15 years and that regulators have been unwilling to fix liability to this day.

Even though this GM mustard is resistant to glufosinate, it was conveniently never tested as a herbicide-tolerant crop. It is clear that the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) is acting in a direction and spirit contrary to that of the Ministry of Agriculture, which is promoting organic and natural farming to reduce agrochemical usage.

The Ministry of Agriculture has also recently issued directions to curb the usage of glyphosate, whereas the MoEFCC is acting in a manner that will incentivise glufosinate, which is even more problematic than glyphosate. It is clear that GM mustard will also lead to contamination/gene flow and that too without any advantage to provide.

The way ahead
 

Though the yield potential of Indian mustard has been realised up to 4 tonne/ha at experimental fields, and many farmers are harvesting 3 tonne/ha to 3.5 tonne/ha in states like Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, the national average is still not impressive. To bridge the potential and realised yield gap, several interventions are needed.

Functional seed systems and input services to be streamlined: A holistic approach is required to harness genetic gains in oilseed mustard realised through high-quality seeds with good oil content from high-yielding released varieties/ non-GM hybrids and functional seed systems and input services. For instance, farmers in Rajasthan are growing Giriraj — a variety produced through natural hybridisation, which is giving 3-3.5 tonne/ha yield and also has high oil content (up to 42 per cent).

Promotion of more effective agronomic practices and growing mustard in rice fallows: BIRSA experiments under conservation agriculture with mustard varieties namely RH 749, RH 725 and RH 406 have harvested an average of 3.4 tonne/ha yields. Production can be increased through the horizontal expansion of area (using rice fallow, inter-cropping or diversifying crops) and simultaneously through available technology options. Technological options like right placement of seedling through efficient fertiliser-cum-seed drill, proper plant geometry, conservation agriculture, mustard transplanting, rearing a nursery and replanting the saplings at 30 X 45 cm and other spacing, System of Mustard Intensification are all recorded to have given much higher yields than GM mustard.

Yellow Revolution’s revival needed: Because of continuous supportive policies for cereal crops, India produces them in surplus quantities and has become an exporter. However, this is not the case for oilseed crops, and the “Yellow Revolution” to protect India from subsidised edible oil was unfortunately discontinued in the 1990s. We need a revival of the Yellow Revolution for oilseeds.
 

These demonstrate that India does not need GM mustard and show what would constitute a truly atmanirbhar path for India in oilseeds.

Dr Dhiraj Singh is former Director of Rapeseed-Mustard ICAR-DRMR, Bharatpur, and has been a classical mustard breeder for over four decades. He can be reached at dhirajmustard@gmail.com