Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Co., an Indian company backed by Monsanto Co., plans to develop the country’s first gene-modified wheat and rice in the next three to five years to help secure food supplies for the nation’s 1.2 billion people.
The company is working on various traits of genetically altered grains that can withstand drought and salinity, Usha Barwale Zehr, the chief technology officer at Mahyco, said in a telephone interview yesterday. India’s government in February rejected the nation’s first gene-modified food, brinjal, or eggplant, after protests by farmers.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called for better technology to lift farm output to feed a nation growing by 18 million people a year and to meet an election promise of giving rice and wheat to the poor at below market prices. Wheat has jumped to the highest level in almost two years as Russia, the third-biggest grower, said it will ban grain exports because of the country’s worst drought in at least a half century.
“The biggest challenge facing us going forward would be drought and salinity, which affects food productivity,” said Bharat Char, the head of biotechnology research at Mahyco. “We have projects aimed at improving tolerance.”
Record Food Costs
Global food costs reached records in 2008, led by rice, as some exporters halted shipments amid a shortage. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon warned last year the food-price crisis of 2008 will be repeated unless governments act. Prime Minister Singh said on Feb. 1 that there’s a “false sense of security” that food supplies are no longer a concern for the second-biggest producer of wheat, rice and sugar.
While the U.S. and Canada have grown genetically modified crops like corn and soybeans for years, resistance remains strong in Europe, where some nations rejected the use of crops changed to increase resistance to drought, pests or specific herbicides. China approved strains of gene-modified rice and corn last year and said mass output will be allowed after trial planting and public acceptance of the crops.
India’s Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee will take a decision on commercial cultivation of brinjal before the end of this year, Mahyco’s Barwale said. The company has data generated from over nine years’ of research and field trials, she said.
“Having a GM product in wheat and rice will highlight the bio-safety process and issues, which have been raised with BT brinjal,” she said. “As we look to bring rice and wheat, it’s very critical that we go ahead with BT brinjal and show that our systems are as good as anywhere else in the world.”
Shares Advance
Monsanto India Ltd.’s shares rose as much as 3.5 percent to 1,935 rupees, the highest intraday level in six months. Mahyco, whose shares aren’t publicly traded, is 26 percent owned by St. Louis-based Monsanto.
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, who held seven public meetings in six cities over BT brinjal with farmers, scientists and environmental groups, in February imposed a moratorium until safety studies are carried out and “public confidence and trust is restored” in the new variety.
Brinjal is a staple that India also exports to countries including the U.K., France, Germany and Hong Kong, according to the National Horticulture Board. Larvae that bore into plants wipe out as much as 70 percent of yield in existing varieties, according to Mahyco.
India has said it wants gene-modified technology to be part of efforts to raise output of staples, following the success of transgenic cotton introduced in 2002. Gene-altered cotton, including that of Monsanto’s Bollgard varieties, represents 90 percent of the nation’s planting. The country has moved from being a net buyer to the second-biggest grower and exporter.
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