Low-starch potatoes and tomatoes that stay fresh longer may be among a slew of genetically engineered vegetables available in India within the next year. They are among 19 farm products approved by the department of biotechnology for genetic engineering.
Vegetables are genetically engineered to introduce characteristics like pest resistance, flavour, delayed ripening and colour change. They are the subject of intense debate among environmentalists who accuse multinational companies of tampering with nature.
Prominent among Indian companies working on genetically engineered products are Rallis India, which is developing a pest-resistant chilli, and Mahyco of Mumbai, which is conducting experiments on a cotton variety resistant to lepidoptera. US gaint Monsanto owns 26 per cent of Mahyco.
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Proagro, another US firm, has received permission to test a hybrid variety of mustard that yields substantially more oil than existing seeds. The company is also working on tomatoes, brinjals, cauliflower and cabbages to increase disease resistance, pulp yield and ripening period. Proagro's experiments are at the glass-house and field-trial stages.
The Indian Agricultural Research Institute, too, is working on brinjals, tomatoes, cauliflower, mustard and rapeseed. The Central Potato Research Institute has received the department of biotechnology's permission to alter the Bt gene in potatoes to create a pest-resistant, low-starch variety. Also, three research institutes have invested in genetically altered rice and tobacco.
According to P K Ghosh, adviser, department of biotechnology, work in transgenic plants is relatively new in India. Permission to alter plant genes was first given in 1994-95.
Ghosh said given the commercial potential of genetically altered farm products, substantial private sector investment was expected in this area. The government was vetting over 100 experiment applications for conformity with bio-safety guidelines, he added.
The government has invested over Rs 670 crore in plant molecular biology between 1886 and 1997. The investment is now beginning to pay off with Indian companies and research institutions on the verge of introducing superhybrid plants.
Very few countries have approved genetic engineering of farm products. The first genetically engineered tomato introduced in the US five years ago set environmentalists up in arms.
Despite India not allowing product patents in farm products, multinationals are comfortable working on transgenic plants because genes splicing is difficult science and copying is not easy.