By IANS,
Mumbai : India’s leading seed company Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Co (Mahyco) has signed a multi-crop, multi-technology research and commercial license agreement with California-based agricultural technology firm Arcadia Biosciences.
Announcing the agreement Monday, the Mahyco said the deal envisages the use of Arcadia’s nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and salt tolerance technologies.
According to the Mahyco, the signing of the deal comes at a juncture when the country is in dire straits vis-à-vis the agricultural production.
“Based on the current growth rate, India is expected to overtake China in 2030 as the world’s most populated country. Concurrent with this rapid population growth, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates that 221 million people in India are undernourished. As such, there is significant pressure on Indian farmers to increase agricultural productivity,” a spokesperson of Mahyco said.
“Since agriculture is also the second leading source of global greenhouse gas and nitrogen fertiliser represents a significant cause of these emissions, the use of existing technologies may mean the use of more nitrogen fertilisers to increase higher yields,” the spokesperson pointed out.
Arcadia president and chief executive Eric Rey said: “The problem lies in nullifying the negative impacts on environment even as one increases the amount of food production. Mahyco’s expertise in developing and marketing seed technologies for South Asian farmers can play a pivotal role in feeding the growing population in the area.”
He added the farmers need to increase their produce in order to keep up the pace with population growth rate, and “this means more land would be brought under cultivation which means more greenhouse gas emission”.
“It is here that the NUE plays an important role by diminishing not just the adverse impact of nitrogen fertiliser applications but also softening the impact of abioitic stresses on Indian soils.”