By IANS
New Delhi : Biotechnology presents a good opportunity for public and private sector institutions to work together and bring about a major change in India’s agriculture, said Mangala Rai, director general of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) here Monday.
“Currently, public sector institutions are working on 16 varieties of genetically modified (GM) crops in India,” said Rai, who is also secretary of the department of agriculture research and education, ministry of agriculture.
These crops include brinjal, paddy and okra.
Rai underlined the importance of risk assessment of GM crops through biotechnology.
He was speaking at an international conference on agricultural biotechnology organised by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
Krishna M. Ella, chairman, national biotech committee, FICCI, said the challenge in India is to “produce more food on less land with less water, fertilisers, pesticides, labour and other resources”.
Speaking on the occasion, Fernando Nebbia, undersecretary of food and agriculture policies of Argentina, said that their country has profited from the use of GM crops.
He said although the profit was widely distributed among farmers, small farmers with land less than 100 hectares were the largest group.
India will benefit from GM crops, Nebbia said, since large numbers of Indian farmers are engaged in subsistence farming.