 "Use technology in agriculture, but be mindful of bio-diversity: Modi")
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday that while the agriculture sector should use technology to fight malnutrition and hunger, it should not be at the cost of sustainability and compromising the country's bio-diversity.
Addressing the International Agrobiodiversity Congress here on Sunday, Modi said the world community needs to develop a system where all rules related to agro-biodiversity is harmonised. He also called upon the scientists from the Indian Council of Agriculture Research and others to expand the ambit of their research so that plant and animal varieties, which are helpful to farmers, could be publicised across the country.
“Despite most countries accepting the international bio-diversity convention, almost 50-150 species of plants, animal and marine resources are getting extinct every day,” Modi noted.
Recently, a panel under the Genetic Engineering and Appraisal Committee had given a favourable ruling on GM mustard, opening the door for its commercialisation in the country.
The move has sparked intense debate within the country with right-wing organisations such as the Swadeshi Jagran Manch along with prominent civil society organisations criticising the approval.
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One major argument of these organisations is that once GM mustard is commercialised, it will lead to wiping off all indigenous mustard varieties. The honey bee industry has also opposed GM mustard on the ground that it would kill honeybees and also the livelihood of millions of growers as mustard is a main crop for bees.
Modi had also said in his speech that research has shown that extensive use of pesticides in crops would destroy honey-bee colonies, for which proper analysis should be done to understand which are beneficial insects and which are harmful.
“We have till now managed to register 160 animal species, but our bio-diversity reserve is much larger than this and, hence, research should be done to register more species,” the Prime Minister said.
Warning scientists against the ill-affects of global warming on agriculture bio-diversity, Modi said studies had shown that around 15% of original animal species would be wiped off in the next few years owing to climate change.
He said India with around 47,000 plant species, 89,000 animal species and 6.5% of world agro-biodiversity research should play a leading role in the world to maintain and conserve bio-diversity.
Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh and noted agriculture scientist M S Swaminathan also addressed the gathering.
Around 900 delegates from 60 countries are attending the three-day Congress, which will encourage a dialogue among relevant stakeholders to better understand everyone’s role in agro-biodiversity management and the conservation of genetic resources.
There are around 390,000 species of plant the world over, but only 5,538 plant species are known to humans. Currently, only 12 plant species and five animal species are used to produce 75% of the world’s food, according to a study by Food and Agriculture Organization.
India's bio-diversity reserves
* Home to over 45,000 plant species
* Home to over 91,000 animal species
* Global share in land is just 2.5%, but possess over 7-8% of recorded species of plants and animals.
* Home to four of the 34 designated global biodiversity hotspots
* Recognised as one of the eight Vavilovian Centres of origin of crop plants
* India's National Gene Bank is the second largest gene bank in the world storing over 0.4 million collections from 1,800 plant species and their wild relatives