India to wait 8 years for Bt rice commercialisation

Currently under controlled field trials - the second stage of strict examination of any transgenic seed - genetically modified (GM) drought trait rice would take at least 8 years for commercialisation in India, said

Dr Charudatta Digambarrao Mayee, chairman, Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board (ASRB).

GM rice has already completed polyhouse test - the crop grown under lock and key - successfully which is the first stage of examination.

Now the controlled field trials, under which the crop is grown in restricted area at least a kilometre away from the conventional crop sowing area, are on. By 2010-11, the test will enter into open field trials under strict government control which will run at least for two years.

Following this, commercialisation would be permitted to a limited number of large scale farmers. The government will continue to monitor the progress through all aspects including plant and stem size, salinity, seed growth, moisture content, post-harvest soil management and crop storage life.
 

PICTURE GRAINY

*The second stage of strict examination of any transgenic seed of genetically modified (GM) drought trait rice would take at least 8 years for commercialisation in India

* GM rice has already completed Poly house, the crop grown under lock and key, test successfully which is the first stage of examination

* The government will continue to monitor the progress through all aspects including plant and stem size, salinity, seed growth, moisture content, post-harvest soil management nd crop storage life

* India became the fourth largest adopter of biotech crop in the world replacing Canada in 2008

In the case of rice, the small scale commercialisation will continue for five-six years unlike two years for non-food agricultural commodities. “On being fully satisfied with the all these tests, we would grant permission for full scale commercialisation of GM rice,” Mayee said.

When asked about the delay in commercialisation of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) brinjal, Mayee said, “Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) do not want such crop (Bt brinjal) as they want trial runs to continue for an impossible period of 25 years.”

“In such a large scale examination and field trials, some issues do evolve which need to be sorted out without affecting the speed of agricultural growth. But, I am confident that the Bt brinjal will be commercialised by 2011 in India,” he said. He insisted, however, that the government is currently focusing more on rice than brinjal.

Meanwhile, India became the fourth largest adopter of biotech crop in the world replacing Canada in 2008. With a sole biotechnology seed of cotton, the country planted Bt cotton seed on 7.6 million hectare equivalent to 82 per cent of the total sowing area under cotton in 2008, 66 per cent rise from 6.2 million ha in 2007.

A record 5 million small and resource-poor farmers planted Bt cotton in 2008, which is significantly up from 3.8 million farmers in 2007, according to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA).

Significantly, India recorded 150-fold rise in the area under engineered seed as compared to 74-fold rise for global biotech crop during the last 13 years (between 1996-2008). During the period, growers’ income rose by up to $250 (Rs 10,000) or more per ha, increasing farmers income nationally by $3.2 billion in the period between 2002-07 and $2 billion in 2007 alone.