He opened the discussion by remarking that the real challenge India is facing today is feeding lots of people with lesser land and man power. Plus, what is required is not just quantity, but also quality nutrition. Pests and diseases are a major area of concern, especially since these pests travel from one nation to another. As a result, new ways of combating them have to be discovered. As environmentalists keep stressing, we need to re-tune our agricultural practices to suit changing environmental conditions.
Coming to Biotechnology, Prof Ramamurthy said that BT can help in increasing both quantitative and qualitative requirements of food crops. He said that assessment of new technologies is a pain point, for the public never reaches a consensus (considering that we live in a democracy). What is needed is a public platform wherein views and methods are shared with the public, in order to convince them of the positive effects of the said technology.
The first speaker of the discussion was Gyanendra Shukla, Director, Cotton Traits, Monsanto. He said that farmers need to produce more, to get higher income, in order to live a better life, and give their family a better lifestyle. He stated that India’s food requirement was likely to go up from 440 metric tons to about 850 metric tons in the next 10 years. What is worrying is that India is below average in crop production.
He said that land and water are a scarcity now; productivity has no meaning without either. He was of the opinion that farmers should be given a choice. They are smart enough to know what works for their land. Let them decide whether they want to use GM crops or not. They should be provided with the right tools to make farming better.
He then commented on environmentalists asking farmers to go “organic”. What they don’t know is that “93% of Indian farms don’t have enough organic manure”. It is high time that they opened their minds to BT and GM crops. Farmers should be allowed to make informed decisions for themselves.
Next to speak was Madhavi Char, legal consultant, Mahyco. She spoke of the role of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in the field of BT. She said that it has been assumed that India’s population will be greater than China’s by the middle of the Century. Along with a growing population, we also have to deal with low productivity, pollution, and scarcity of resources. Innovation in agriculture is needed to feed people, which requires time and money; by money she meant investments.
These investments, she said, need to have a high Return on Investment (ROI) in the private sector. This is where IPR comes to the rescue, as it gives a high ROI and hence an incentive to continue with R&D. She noted that private sector tends to concentrate more on hybrids, while the public sector is more into varietals.
She clarified the misconception that IPR results in increased costs for the farmers, as it increases the cost of the seed. She said that a farmer spends only 5% of the cost on seeds, while the rest is spent on pesticides, fertilizers etc. she maintained that ABT is the need of the hour.
Ajay Jagar, farmer leader, Chairman, Bharat Krishak Samajh, spoke next. He started off by saying that we have enough food to feed ourselves; in fact we have a surplus as of now. Why do we need BT then? “For the future,” he said. “As the population grows, so will the consumption. We have to be prepared through ABT. Other countries may be able to feed their people without ABT, but we might not be able to do so.”
He said that we have not really seen a shortage of food in our lifetime, so we believe that BT isn’t required. But when there is a real shortage, BT will prove to be beneficial. Every new idea faces opposition. The same is happening to BT and GM crops. He also felt that scientists are not doing enough for farmers.
Ajay said, “Bt cotton has proven safe and has given demonstrable sustainable benefits for the farmers, environment and the nation since its launch. Encouraging research in insect, disease and climate resilient technologies are a must to increasing productivity. If India has to increase crop yields sustainably and substantially to feed its ever-growing population, it needs to adopt the latest technologies like ABT in combination with traditional practices for input optimization and thereby bolster productivity”.
Chengal Reddy, farmer leader, Secretary general- CIFA, said, “There is no culture in agriculture”. It is a science, enterprise, and related to investment. It is not done by illiterate farmers anymore; PHDs and MBAs are required. Sadly, they don’t stay in India, let alone a remote village. He criticized several politicians and environmentalists for commenting on agriculture, without having any knowledge of the field. He wants people to communicate to the policy makers that they have to do something for the farmers. He demanded GM crops for the farmers. “We want economic equity, stability and respect,” he added.
Bhagirath Choudhary, national coordinator, ISAAA, the last speaker of the discussion, said that policy makers, scientists etc are not lobbying for GM crops aggressively. His company says GM is excellent, from personal experience. They promote GM technology, and understand that farmers definitely need it, and will benefit from it greatly.
He said that out of 36 million hectares of BT maize being grown worldwide, only 7-7 hectares exist in India. This is one of the reasons why he doesn’t see a very bright future for BT in India. Also, people oppose BT without really knowing what it can do.
As a concluding remark Prof Ramamurthy said that in the past few months, food inflation was around 15%. But farmer’s profit increased only by 5%. “Who pocketed the remaining 10%?”
