'BT to play key role in nation's food security'

Bangalore, Sep 20: Biotechnology can play a major role in safeguarding the food and nutritional security of the country, Agricultural Sciences Recruitment Board Chairman Dr C D Mayee opined today.

Delivering the keynote address at a media workshop on Agricultural Biotechnology, jointly organised by the Karnataka Media Academy and The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications here, he said that to popularise the innovative technology for the human good, there was a need to remove misconceptions on concerns about health and environment.

Dr Mayee said that when the doors of biotechnology were opened, there was concern that the food and nutritional security of the country was being placed at the hands of a few multinational operators. However, it was found to be unrealistic as over 20 to 25 companies in the country had mastered the technology and offered different varieties of Bt cotton seeds.

He said Bt cotton, introduced in 2002 in an area of 30,000 hectares, had now increased to 3.5 million hectares and the yield increased from 300 kg to 475 kg lint per hectare, with the production hovering around 15 million bales to 25 million bales. The country's cotton export had increased from 0.1 million to 3.2 million bales.

Attributing the initial voice of opposition from certain sections of the society to lack of proper communication, he said the inability of the scientific community to address in a language understood by the common man might have caused the misgivings over the introduction of GE technology. ''Till the science of agri-biotechnology was in the four walls of laboratories, the common man was not much concerned. When the science became an art as Genetically Modified Organisms emerged for contained use as research material, public murmur commenced on risks and dangers,'' Dr Mayee said.

He said that with the removal of scientific concerns of health and environment, nearly 20 food crops, ten vegetables and some fruits and commercial crops, apart from cotton, were receiving attention for genetic transformation in the country. More than 30 public institutions and unviersity departments and an equal number of private R and D organisations were involved in the process. The national agriculture policy encompassed the issues of sustainable agriculture through promotion of safe use of biotechnology.

UNI