|
 The GM mustard planted in the half-acre field in the grounds of the
Indian Agricultural Research Institute in New Delhi is in the final
stage of trials before the variety is allowed to be sold
commercially, and that could come within two years, scientists
associated with the project say.
India placed a moratorium on GM eggplant in 2010 fearing the effect
on food safety and biodiversity. Field trials of other GM crops were
not formally halted, but the regulatory system was brought to a
deadlock.
But allowing GM crops is critical to Modi's goal of boosting dismal
farm productivity in India, where urbanization is devouring arable
land and population growth will mean there are 1.5 billion mouths to
feed by 2030 - more even than China.
Starting in August last year, his government resumed the field
trials for selected crops with little publicity.
"Field trials are already on because our mandate is to find out a
scientific review, a scientific evaluation," Environment Minister
Prakash Javadekar told Reuters last week.
"Confined, safe field trials are on. It's a long process to find out
whether it is fully safe or not."
Modi was a supporter of GM crops when he was chief minister of
Gujarat state over a decade ago, the time when GM cotton was
introduced in the country and became a huge success. Launched in
2002, Bt cotton, which produces its own pesticide, is the country's
only GM crop and covers 95 percent of India's cotton cultivation of
11.6 million hectares (28.7 million acres).
From being a net importer, India has become the world's
second-largest producer and exporter of the fiber.
However, grassroots groups associated with Modi's Hindu nationalist
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have opposed GM crops because of the
reliance on seeds patented by multinationals. The Swadeshi Jagran
Manch, a nationalist group which promotes self-reliance, has vowed
to hold protests if GM food crops are made commercially available.
"There is no scientific evidence that GM enhances productivity,"
said Pradeep, a spokesman for the group. "And in any case, why
should we hand over our agriculture to some foreign companies?"
A handful of agrichemical and seeds companies dominate the global
market for GM crops, including Monsanto Co., DuPont Pioneer, a unit
of DuPont, Dow AgroSciences, a unit of Dow Chemical , and Syngenta.
SECOND GREEN REVOLUTION
Largely agricultural India became self-sufficient in foodgrains
after the launch of the Green Revolution in the 1960s, when it
introduced high-yielding seed varieties and the use of fertilizer
and irrigation.
The challenge now is to replicate that success in edible oils and
vegetables, which are increasingly in demand.
India imports about 60 percent of its edible oil needs at an annual
cost of up to $10 billion - its third-biggest import item after
crude oil and gold.
[to top of second column] |
The trials of the mustard plant, which provides the highest yield of
all oilseeds, are being led by Delhi University researchers headed
by Deepak Pental, a scientist who returned to India in 1985 from
Britain. He has said that he has developed a transgenic mustard
strain that raises output by up to 30 percent but that further
trials were halted after the moratorium.
The federal environment ministry began approving GM field trials in
August, although applicants need to seek no-objection certificates
from states where the trials are to be conducted.
States ruled by the BJP are spearheading the trials: Last month,
Maharashtra gave the all-clear to open field trials of rice,
chickpeas, corn and aubergine, as well as new varieties of cotton.
Punjab, ruled jointly by the BJP and a local party, gave the
go-ahead for mustard in October followed next month by Delhi, then
indirectly run by the federal government in the absence of a local
government.
"The (federal) government is, for a change, being decisive," Pental
said, adding his mustard strain could be ready to be released for
commercial farming in a year or two.
Environmental group Greenpeace however remains opposed.
"The current government's rush with open field trials without
addressing the fundamental loopholes in the regulatory mechanism is
a matter for serious concern," said Manvendra Singh Inaniya, a
campaigner for Greenpeace India.
"This leaves us vulnerable to contamination with untested and
potentially hazardous GM food. We urge the Union Government to roll
back approvals given to open air field trials of GM crops."
But the environment ministry official said studies have found no ill
effects from GM foods and that local firms should partner with
multinationals like Monsanto, which has already licensed its Bt
Cotton product to several Indian companies.
"Farmers are smart and deserve wider choices," a spokesman for
Monsanto in India said. "They will only reward products, practices
and partnerships which create value on their farms."
(Additional reporting by Rupam Jain Nair and Meenakshi Sharma;
Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
