India
has less than 4% of World’s arable land but it has to feed 18% of the global
population. With Yields per hectare of food grains, fruits and vegetables far
below global averages and 80% of landholdings being less than two acres, it is
essential to find economically viable solutions to improve farmer incomes.
Agriculture has been the mainstay of the Indian economy and
during these times of recession, a concerted effort for increasing agricultural
productivity through technology infusion and market-led interventions is the
need of the hour.
Technologies for higher production and productivity, energy
saving, environment protection etc. needs to be infused into the sector.
BIOTECH CROPS
The global spread of biotech crops has been recognized as
the fastest spread agricultural technology to date (A 94-fold increase in
hectarage from 1.7m hectares in 1996 to 160m hectares in 2011 – 15% more than
area cultivated in India). Nearly 30 countries grow genetically modified crops
of soybean, cotton, maize and other crops across all continents.
So far India
has benefited only from Bt. Cotton. However, development of biotech crops for a
wide variety of crops is progressing all over the country in both public and
private sector.
COMMODITIES MARKETS
Agri-business can transform Indian agriculture, but there
are too many challenges that inhibit greater investment. The commodities market
is very volatile and is often affected by weather, local and global trade
policies and human conflicts.
We need to create a value chain for each agri-commodity. In
the context of emerging food processing and feed industries, it is essential to
consider how food and feed production can be stabilized with assured and enhanced
income to farmers without too much price rise as also through employment
generation. For this, biotech crops and their public acceptance holds the key.
Current estimate of benefit to India with a single biotech crop is
about US$ 15bn. The need is a definite change in the mind-set and greater
acceptance of technology to change the image of Indian agriculture which is
often blamed for lower growth rates.
We need more efforts to build public awareness of benefits
of such new biotech products through NGOs and other regulatory bodies and make
the public know that the regulatory system in the country is one of the most
stringent in the world and as such there is no room for undue fear.
If the policy environment is supportive, India can set
an example of new bio-economy to the rest of the world, especially to the
developing one.
