'Commercialisation of technology helped in creating awareness'

The success in the commercialisation of Bt-cotton technology can be gauged from the over-whelming response from the farmers, said R P Sharma of the National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology.

Speaking at the three-day South Asia media workshop on agricultural biotechnology organised by International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat), on Monday, he said, "Apart from the above, the commercialisation of the technology has helped in creating awareness."

He said that though the industry had initially complained about the delay in approval of genetically modified crops, the regulatory authority had followed necessary procedures while approving the country's first transgenic crop.

"Monsanto India imported Bt cotton seeds in 1995. The Bt gene had to be inserted into locally grown cotton varieties. Thereafter the seeds had to be multiplied for both contained and large-scale field trials. The process was completed in time and the first transgenic crop got the approval for commercial cultivation in March 2002." Sharma said.

According to him indigenously isolated modified genes were now being increasingly used in transgenic development. He said that though the regeneration and transformation protocols in some of the recombinant crops have been perfected, most of the studies were academic in nature and not directed towards product development.

"Most of the studies are handling a small number of transgenic events which limits the efforts towards selection of elite events. Involvement of transgenics in back-cross breeding for agronomic superiority has not been initiated," Sharma said.

According to F Waliyar, global team leader Bio Technology, Icrisat, the outcome of the biotech research at the institute enhanced drought tolerance for the mandate crops (sorghum, pearl millet, pigeonpea, chickpea and groundnut) through biotechnology assisted germplasm enhancement.

"The research also has improved resistance to pests through biotechnology assisted germplasm enhancement. Research has also helped in more efficient utilisation and conservation of germplasm resources," he said.

Kiran K Sharma, principal scientist genetic transformation laboratory, Icrisat, said that by 2025 the agriculture and global food security will double with a global population of eight billion.

"The number of malnourished people will be over one billion and around 85 per cent of the global population will be in the developing countries and in this context the role of genetically modified crops will become important."

"The genetically modified crops will increase the crop productivity and also help in conservation of bio-diversity as a land saving technology will be capable of higher productivity," he said.

According to Sharma the bottlenecks which need to be addressed are the lack of efficient protocols for the transformation and genomics of important food crops, availability of novel genes and effective promoters and IP issues.

"Apart from this lack of trained scientists in use of biotechnology, lack of research facilities and lack of proper biosafety regulations in most of the developing countries of Asia and Africa need to addressed for the growth of the sector," he said.

The seminar was jointly organised by UNESCO, Asian Media Information and Communication Centre of India (AMIC) and International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA).