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Biotechnology & Indian Agriculture:
the challenge of the next millenium
General Agriculture Scenario
The world has won the improtant battle in the area of food security, but the war is still on. A total of 800 million people, that is one out of every six persons, in the developing world do not have access to food. One-third of all pre-school children in the developing countries are food insecure. We, thus, have a big challenge ahead of us as we enter the next millenium.
It is true that the mass starvation that was predicted for Asia in seventies and eighties did not occur. It is only because Science was effectively put to work to raise agricultural productivity. In India, the ' Green Revolution' was a success due to the introduction of improved seeds, fertilizer, irrigation and plant-protection measures combined with positive policy support, liberal public funding for agricultural research and development, and dedicated work of farmers. Notwithstanding all-round achievements, the basic problems of food security, poverty, equity and sustainability, continue to be a cause of concern in India today.
The Indian Challenge.
There are several concerns about Indian agriculture that we need to address. Even in the green revolution crops, rice and wheat, the Indian average yield ranks around 50th in the world. A weak agro-based industry, the problems of weak marketing, storage, transportation, credit support, etc, haunt us. Only 0.3% of agricultural GDP is spent on agricultural R &D. The population is growing at an alarming rate of 1.8% per annum. It will be around 1.3 billion by 2020 and would require 50% additional foodgrains. A total of 200 million people are still below the poverty line and have insufficient access to food. Declining resource base, degeneration of natural resources, including soil fertility, water environment, etc, are some other concerns. Food production systems centre around a few states only. Out of 17 big states, only 7 are self-sufficient and surplus in foodgrains. There was a significant decline in per capita intake of calories and protein between 1975 and 1990.
Inspite of all these problems, there is plenty of good news. India harbors a vast diversity of basic natural resources. Tremendous bio-diversity of agriculturally important micro-organisms exists, which are not yet been harnessed. We have a variety of crops, including quality fruits, vegetables, foodgrains, and a number of plantation and commercial crops. Indian fisheries resource has spread over 8,100 km of coastline on the east and west, and provides access to marine resources and transportation.
Very large proportion of area of various food crops is under low porductivity category. It can be increased with inputs of high class science. There is a scope to cultivate sizeable portion of waste lands through soil amendment and introduction of agroforestry. Several million hectares of saturated soil can be potentially exploited from rainfed lowlands of eastern India. The India Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the marine sector, of about 2 million sq.km., has high potential harvestable yields. Only about 20% of the cultivated area is covered under tractor cultivation, great scope of making quantism quantum jump in production and productivity exists, changing consumption patterns offer scope for diversified agriculture. Trade liberalization provides opportunities to reach for outside markets, which were not accessible otherwise. Great gains are possible through agro-based industrialization and overall rural development.
The cultivators and farmers of India have a rich heritage of traditional agricultural wisdom on crop and livestock husbandry and fisheries; based on the principles of the conservation of natural resources and environment. India has an extensive network of extension channels for dissemination of technologies generated by research institutes. India has a strong manufacturing capability and a large network of about 20,000 manufacturers and nearly one million village artisans for indigeneous production of all types of agricultural machinery. Therefore, inspite of several disadvantages, we have a great chance to leap forward, if we enforce the right policy initiatives and implement them.
Biotechnology and India Agriculture
We need to recongnise that, just as the food reequirements of today's population of nearly 6
billion people could not have been met by the technologies of the 1940's, we cannot assume that current practices will feed the population of 8 billion expected by 2020. New approaches are needed in addition to the continued improvement of existing methods of crop and animal husbandry and food proceessing. The strategic integration of biotechnology tools into India agricultural systems can revolutionise Indian farming and usher in a new era. Genetic engineering is clearly the most revolutionary tool to impact agricultural research since the discovery of genetics by Mendel. Prior to genetic engineering, the exchange of DNA mateial was possible only between individual organisms of the same species. With the advent of genetic engineering in 1972, scientists have been able to dientify specific genes associated with desirable traits in one organism. For example, a gene from bacteria, virus or animals may be transfered into plants to produce genetically modified plants having changed characteristics. This method therefore allows mixing of the genetic material from species that cannot otherwise breed naturally.
Genetic engineering can be vital for an agrarian country like India. It can help in minimising the crop damage through disease and pest resistant varieties, reducing the use of chemicals, enhancing stress tolerance in crop plants, thus permitting productive farming on unproductive lands, etc. One could even extend the growing season of crops and minimise losses due to environmental factors on the one hand and increase the shelf life of fruits and vegetables, on the other, thus minimising losses due to food spoilage. We can expand the market vista and improve food quality. Biotechnology can also produce plants that possess healthy fats and oils, possess increased nutritive value, and create a whole range of higher value feeds. Biotechnology has even the power of producing biodegradable plastics, edible vaccines, etc.
It is only through the blending of the 'gene revolution' with our experience in the 'geen revolution' that we can reach our goal of 'evergreen revolution' and also 'nutritional revolution' The advantage of the gene revolution is that it is relatively scale neutral, benefiting big and small farmers alike, It is also environment friendly. Thus, it can be of great help to the smallest farmer with limited resources in increasing farm productivity through the availability of improved but powerful seed. It can also reduce a farmer's dependency on chemical inputs such as pesticides and fertilisers.
Modern biotechnology offers unlimited opportunity for enhancing genetic potential of crops and other commodities, management of biotic and abiotic stresses, bio-remediation and organic recycling. India is one of the main centres of agricultural biodiversity and its gene richness can greatly complement the developments in modern biotechnology. Likewise, new developments in GIS, remote sensing, and crop modelling, provide new opportunities for integrated management of natural resources. The revolution in informatics provides opportunities for sharing latest information for research and planning in a highly organised and efficient manner. With the globalisation of economy, the opportunities for value addition and post harvest management are also immense. With clever blending of technologies, the India farmer can usher in new era of confidence and performance.
Sir Francis Bacon had once said: 'It would be an unsound fancy to expect that things which have never yet been done, can be done except by methods which have never been tried' In the new context, we have to review the new role of biotechnology. Also, it is in this context that we have to view the reapid advances that modern biotechnology is making, including the area of transgenics. Let us focus on some of the developments in this area, since considerable interest and controversy has been created around the world today in this exciting area.
Movement in transgenics
The advent of genetic modification over the last two decades has enabled plant breeders to develop new varieties of crops at a faster rate than was possible using traditional methods, with huge potential for further beneficial development. Tobacco was the first plant to be genetically transformed\, in 1983, with cereals beginning in 1990, but it is only recently that products such as GM soya have reached the market place in Europe, and, for a variety of reasons, given rise to concern & controversy. The concern must be addressed seriously if society is to exploit the new technologies appropriately. We will address this issue rather extensively a little later. Whereas in India, we have been discussing and debating the issues, the rest of the world is galloping ahead. See
how the agro biotech product sales, includes transgenic seeds, is increasing around the world (table 1). The global area of cultivation for transgenics increased 4-5 fold from 7 million acres in 1996, to 31.5 million acres in 1997, for just 7 crops in 6 countries.
Table (1)
Ag biotech product sales
| $ MILLIONS |
SALES |
ANNUAL GROWTH RATE |
| |
1994 |
1997 |
2002 |
1994-97 |
1997-02 |
| Transgenic seeds and plants |
20 |
405 |
2,030 |
173% |
38% |
| Animal growth horomes |
80 |
225 |
405 |
31 |
12 |
| Biopesticides |
35 |
65 |
110 |
23 |
11 |
| Other |
107 |
180 |
340 |
19 |
14 |
| Total U.S. Sales |
$242 |
$875 |
$2,885 |
53% |
27% |
Development, field testing, and commercialisation fo transgenic crops, is now recongnized by the international scientific community to be an essential strategy for food security. Fortyfive countries, including India, have conducted transgenic crop field trials up to 1997. The activity in the developing countries has been shown in Table 2.
Table 2
Releases of transgenic plants in developing countries (by species and introduced trait)
|
SPECIES |
INTRODUCED TRAIT |
|
TOTAL FIED
RELEASES |
HERBICIDE
RESISTANCE |
INSECT
RESISTANCE |
VIRUS
RESISTANCE |
PRODUCT
QUALITY |
OTHERS |
| Maize |
46 |
29 |
16 |
1 |
3 |
5 |
| Soya bean |
27 |
25 |
-- |
1 |
1 |
-- |
| Cotton |
24 |
16 |
15 |
-- |
-- |
-- |
| Tomato |
19 |
-- |
2 |
1 |
16 |
-- |
| Potato |
13 |
-- |
1 |
6 |
-- |
6 |
| Subtotal |
129 |
70 |
34 |
9 |
20 |
11 |
| Other species |
30 |
|
|
|
|
|
| Total |
159 |
|
|
|
|
|
The emphasis has been mainly on traits for herbicide, insect, virus & fungal resistance, and on product quality with a limited number of genes. Out of a total 159 releases. Argentina leads the way with 43, followed by chile, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the Republic of South Africa, with 17-20 each. India is far behind with just a few releases.
There are fears relating to transgenic plants in society. These need to be addressed, not by brushing them aside, but by careful scientific analysis and educational programmes. All biosafety protocols must be followed rigidly. Let us deal with this issue more exhaustively now.
Public Concerns
The potential of biotechnology as a method to enhance agriculture productivity in the future has been accepted globally. However, because of its revolutionary nature, risk and uncertainty may be created by the process of genetic engineering and by the resulting genetically modified products. This may result from the introduction of a new unrelated DNA sequence into a recipient organisam. The introduced DNA may have some unexpected effects on the cellular processes of the recipient organism. In addition to this, introduction of antibiotic resistance genes, as selection markers, pose serious implications in public health especially in genetically modified plants that are directly used for food purposes.
Risks are also associated with the genetically modified plants that are released into the environment. The nature of interactions with other organisms of the natural ecosystems cannot be anticipated without proper scientific testing. For example, modified plants with enhanced
resistance to pests or disease threaten to transfer resistance to the wild relatives, which will have implications for biodiversity and ecosystem integrity. These, and many more, doubts plague the minds of common people. Therefore, it is very clear that if the biotechnology potential has to be completely realized, it has to be done in an extremely responsible manner. At each step, proper testing and scientific data have to provided. Not only this, proper regulatory and policy mechanisms have to be put into place. It is therefore, absolutely essential, that conscious efforts be made especially by the developing countries to initiate well-defined programmes for the development and regulations of genetically modified plants. To make this possible and to benefically, ethically and sustainably reap the benefits of biotechnology, there is a pressing need for scientists, researchers, policy makers, NGOS, progressive farmers, industrialists, and representatives of the government, to come together on a common forum in order to discuss the common concerns and find solutions to them.
Will modified plants transfer their introduced genes into wild relatives growing nearby?
Will modified plants that produce new compounds disrupt the 'balance of nature' in some way?
Could the planting of a restricted number of cultivators leave crop plants more susceptible to disease?
Could the planting of a restricted number of cultivators lead to a reduction in biodiversity (of crop plants, weed species, insects and microflora in the fields in question)?
Will genetically modified plants be able to avoid the factors that regulate natural populations and threreby change the usual ' balance' between populations?
Similarly, there are concerns about the social and economic effects. For example, some of these concerns are :
How will the structure of farming (particularly in developing countries) be affected by biotechnology?
How will patent laws affect traditional breeders 'rights (e.g. the right to save seed from one year to the next)?
Will plant bredding be left increasingly in hands of a few companies, and if so, what effects might this have?
Will some countries be 'plundered' for their genetic resources?
We also have a set of ethical and moral issues that need addressing. In particular,
The consumer has the right. What will consumers be told about the new food products?
Is it acceptable to 'interfere' with nature through genetic engineering?
Do we have the right not to use all means available to improve crop plants, especially when so many people are under or malnourished?
Then there are several regulatory issues. Among these, the three key issues are:
Do current regulations give sufficient protection to farmers, consumers, those who have invested in, and those engaged in research?
Is there sufficient international legislation to ensure environmental protection?
Do current regulations compromise the competitiveness of biotechnology companies by being excessively restrictive?
The Royal society of London had appointed a group of experts to examine various aspects including the scientific evidence concerning the risk of transfer of genes from Genetically Modified (GM) crop plants to wild species and non-GM crops, the uptake of genes from GM food by the digestive system, and the current state of the regulatory system. The experts concluded that the chances of gene transfer happening are slight, provided the regulatory processes are followed, but that this must be kept under consideration.
The experts also concluded that the uptake of genes via the food chain is niot a new issue because genes (i.e. DNA) are normal constituents of the human diet. Many products from GM
plants, such as sugar prepared from GM tomato paste, are so similar that they are regarded as 'substantially equivalent' others, for example flour from GM soya, may contain a new gene or its product, although many of the purification processes involved in food prodution will destroy and DNA present in the raw material.
Some GM foods have been produced using an antibiotic resistance 'market' gene, which is a laboratory device designed to identify genetically transformed platns. The Royal Society has shown concern about the use of such genes in food products and it suggested that any further increase in the use of such markers in the human ir animal food chain would be undersirable. Gm crop plants have been produced to improve insect tolerance and virus resistance, and to include herbicide tolerance, so that transferred to non-target species of plants, and that the development of resistance by target pests is minimised, the regulatory authorities must be assurd that any negative effects would be no greater than those resulting from conventional procedures; and that any long term effects on the environment and ecology would be clsoely monitored, with statutory restrictions in place to control marketing; and also that best practice advice was adopted by growers.
The reliance on a case by case approach to the legislation, may result in lack of analysis of the overall impact of the technology on agriculture and the environment, and of the long term effects of gmoS. aLTHOUGH MECHANISMS ARE ALREADY IN place to regulate many individual aspects of GM technology, there is no means for looking at GM technology as a whole. As independent, overarching, regulatory body is needed to span departmental responsibilties, monitor the enforcement of existing or future regulations, and strengthen the guidelines to growers of GM crops, such as those specifying the isolation distances between Gm and non-GM crops. The body should also review and monitor the membership of advisory committees and regulatory bodies.
The Indian Effort in R & D
Indian has set up a large network of reasearch institutions and agricultural universities located in dirrerent regions and states of the county.
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