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| AGRICULTURE TRIBUNE |
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It’s time we had a clear biotechnology policy Bio-fertilisers for
another revolution
What is a bio-fertiliser Research project to improve willow varieties Jaitley slams developed countries on subsidies |
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It’s time we had a clear biotechnology policy THE 1953 discovery of the structure of DNA and the 1973 development of recombinant DNA (gene-splicing) techniques promise to change forever the familiar landscape of agricultural development. Biotechologies based on these insights allow scientists to identify the genes that control certain physical traits and to combine the genes of distantly related or even unrelated plants and animals—two barriers that conventional plant breeders could never overcome. Many analysts believe that agricultural application of biotechnology would mark a watershed in the effort to raise productivity. The agricultural progress that made the Green Revolution possible has not been distributed evenly. The aggregate statistics hide a large group who did not benefit from the new technologies: subsistence farmers raising food for their families on marginal, rain-fed land. A new strategy of efficiency and regeneration could help meet the needs of subsistence farmers and begin to address the environmental and economic problems linked to intensive cropping practices. Such a strategy would stress the efficient use of fertilisers, chemicals, water, and mechanised equipment. Supplementing this, farmers could blend biological technologies and traditional farm practices to increase the contribution that the land’s natural fertility makes to food production. The opportunities have never been greater for reaching the quarter of the world’s people and cropland left out of the purview of the Green Revolution. In the past few years, agriculture has been getting exposed to an entirely new set of technologies, the developments in the area of biotechnology in particular. This technology becomes particularly important in developing countries, offering higher productivity with sustainable development of agriculture. The Department of Biotechnology (DBT), under the Government of India, has adopted a very broad definition of biotechnology. According to the department, “Biotechnology is an application of recombinant and non-recombinant technologies in biological resource utilisation for product and process development aimed at commercialisation.” It is true that biotechnology is a process-driven, with far and wide applications. However, there is no agreed definition of biotechnology as yet. Limited efforts have been made by different agencies in India to collect statistics on biotechnology. The DBT Annual Report, l994, gives a detailed account of budgetary allocations. Recently, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has made an effort to evolve a consensus on the appropriate definition of biotechnology, along with identifying a set of issues for developing a conceptual framework for biotechnology. The development of regulations and guidelines for the emerging technologies has led to a contentious public debate about genetic engineering. Biotechnology has received special impetus in India because it has been thought that India could make a viable entry into cutting-edge research and tap markets for such technology. This has partly fuelled the haste, and in some ways echoes India’s response to nuclear technology in the 1950s. And just as nuclear technology received a special status and did little to produce synergies in scientific research overall, so too biotechnology is being urgently promoted without creating linkages to the existing research base in agriculture or bioscience. Without a large and well-integrated base, any attempt to leapfrog by moving in unproven directions in technological growth can lead to long-term problems, even if there are some gains in the short term. The dogmatic approach of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) has further confounded the prevailing confusion over biotechnology policy in India. Industry and investors find pragmatism coming from agencies like the Department of Biotechnology in their business and other forums while they encounter a rhetoric of “precautionary principle” at the governmental level. Actually this is nothing but a case of conflict between regulatory agencies and the promotional agencies for biotechnology. It is high time this widening gulf between the two complementary sets of agencies is bridged. Efforts have to be made to strengthen our analytical ability to assess the relative impact of biotechnology products and crops. The recent assessment of Bt cotton in India by a few economists in Germany has triggered a huge debate. This problem could have been avoided had the GEAC been following an open and transparent system of making trial data available to all those who are interested. Several international research centres have adopted a new approach to better understand the constraints faced by farmers on marginal lands. “Farming system research” involves farmers and rural households directly in the research process. But how can a handful of scientists in national and international research begin to reach a quarter of a billion households and refine technologies to match their individual circumstances? The answer would be a far more decentralised research effort that builds on farmer-scientist collaboration and equips farmers to come up with innovations for themselves. |
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Bio-fertilisers for
another revolution
WITH the advent of high-yielding, input-intensive crop varieties, the entire agriculture production system in Punjab got revolutionised. But the land has not been able to sustain this burden. The intensive cropping system has given birth to several ecological problems, including nutrient imbalance. According to Dr S. C. Jain, a former head of the Department of Food Science and Technology, Punjab Agriculture University (PAU), intensive agriculture has caused an alarming decline in crop yields and water resources and some parts of the state are close to becoming barren. Productivity of rice and wheat has approached a plateau and farm incomes are insufficient for a decent living. “These problems lead to excessive use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides. But this can be prevented. These chemicals can be replaced, at least partially if not fully, with bio inputs like bio-fertilisers and bio-pesticides, which are eco-friendly. This will not only provide a solution to the current problems, but also provide sustainability to agriculture in the years to come,” he adds. Elaborating on the advantages of bio-fertilisers, Mr Rajinder Goel, Chairman-cum-Managing Director, Hindustan Insecticides Limited (HIL), a Government of India enterprise, says, “Bio-fertilisers help in maximising the yield, enhance plant growth by release of vitamins, auxins and hormones, hasten seed germination, flowering and maturity in crops, reduce the dependence on chemical fertilisers over a period, control soil-borne microbial crop diseases and improve physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil. These bio-fertilisers also do not cause pollution and do not have any harmful effect on soil fertility and plant growth. These are required in small quantities.” HIL has recently introduced its varieties of bio-fertilisers — Premium Azospi, Premium Azoto Plus and Premium Phosphofix—for Punjab farmers. In experiments conducted by scientists and in trials organised on farmers’ fields in the paddy-wheat cropping system, Premium Azospi and Premium Azotoplus increased the yield of wheat by 8-10 per cent, meaning an additional income of Rs 1000-1500 per acre. In addition, 14 per cent increase in straw was also recorded. In another experiment, the same group of scientists found that Premium Phosphofix alone increased the grain yield of wheat by about 15 per cent. According to Dr P.S. Prasad, CEO, International Panacea Limited (IPL), “While the aim of the Green Revolution was noble, the effects on the soil have been disastrous. Farmers are now compelled to use more chemical fertilisers and other inputs to achieve the earlier level of production. This has resulted in serious environmental imbalances.” According to the available data, Punjab, having just 2.98 per cent of the cultivated area and 4.2 per cent of the cropped area, accounts for almost 10 per cent of the total fertiliser consumption in the country. There has been a meteoric rise in the consumption of fertilisers from 5,000 tonnes (1.06 kg per hectare) in 1960-61 to 12,63,000 tonnes (9,164 kg per hectare) in 1995-96 to meet the high nutrient requirements of the present production pattern. “Today India is awaiting a second Green Revolution. Punjab and Haryana farmers are trying to further increase the yield of wheat. But they are unable to do so due to two reasons. First, increase in the dose of chemical fertilisers may not result in proportionate increase in the yield, second, higher doses of chemical fertilisers may result in phyto-toxicity. But it is certain that the high-yielding varieties available at present have some unrealised potential yet to be exploited. This can be achieved only by using bio-fertilisers,” says Dr Prasad. |
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A bio-fertiliser is a large population of one or more beneficial micro-organisms. Millions or billions of them are incorporated aseptically into sterile carrier materials such as peat, lignite or charcoal. Such material is generally packed in plastic bags and sold to farmers as biofertiliser for enhancing the productivity of soil by either fixing atmospheric nitrogen or solubilising soil phosphorus or stimulating plant growth through synthesis of growth-promoting substances. Bio-fertilisers are based on Rhizobium, Azospirillium, Azotobacter, phosphate solubilisers, etc. Being based on renewable energy sources, bio-fertilisers are a cost-effective supplement to chemical fertilisers. These are eco-friendly and help economise on the high investment needed for chemical fertilisers, as far as nitrogen and phosphorus are concerned. In view of the huge area under pulses, oilseeds, cereals, millet, fibre, sugarcane and vegetable crops, there is an enormous potential for biofertiliser marketing in India. About 460 million packets of inoculate of 200 g each are required for inoculating various crops in 184 million hectares in India. Manufacturing The manufacturing process of bio-fertilisers includes the collection of bacterial strains, mother culture, multiplication, grinding and sterilisation of the carrier material (which is unique), blending of the bacterial broth culture with the carrier and packing. —
Source: National Research Development Corporation. |
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Research
project to improve willow varieties Giving details of the project, Dr N.B. Singh, who is guiding the project, says that during the past two years around 70 clones from seven countries, including Italy, Croatia, Hungary, the USA, Japan and Belgium were procured. These were screened in the nursery on the basis of their growth, wood traits and eco-physiological characteristics. Of these 21 clones were further studied so that a few could be selected for field trials. Clones from China showed excellent growth, registering a height of 3-5 m in six months. Twelve clones of different species and hybrids outperformed the rest of the species. Work on about 100 clones of willow from 15 different countries is being done. The university will receive these during February next year for evaluation and breeding to develop its own clones. The Ministry of Rural Development has sanctioned a project under which clonal testing for willow will be done in several districts of Himachal Pradesh. The new willow germplasm from abroad and the new clones developed at the university are expected not only to be more productive but also more resistant to biotic and abiotic factors, says Dr N.B. Singh. Emphasising the need for undertaking more research in this field, he says new hybrid clones and species of willow will broaden the genetic base as well as diversify plantation forestry. In India there are about 33 species of willow, but none is suitable for industrial use or has high bio-mass, except S. tetrasperma. Even this does not form a good clear bole. Not many efforts had been made so far to procure hybrid clones developed by other countries. Hybrid clones of willow yield 44 cubic meters/hectare/ year in 4m x 4m spacing in six-year rotation in several countries. Such a growth rate is comparable with poplar clones in Europe and China. To diversify short-rotation forestry, willow is a substitute for areas from subtropical to temperate and even in cold desert/ dry temperate areas. Willow is the lifeline in the tribal belt of Lahaul Spiti and the dry temperate region of Kinnaur. However, willow trees are drying in the Lahaul valley. On request from the Forest Department, Himachal, the Himalayan Forest Research Institute, Shimla, under the ICFRE, conducted field visits and submitted its report. Among its recommendations are the introduction of fresh and superior plant stocks. This led to the import of new germplasm to replace the genetically degraded clones and to widen the genetic base. Willow is also suitable for checking erosion, nutrient re-cycling, carbon sequestration and filtrating sewage and polluted water. In India this clone was first introduced by the British in the Kashmir valley and the same has been multiplied over the years. |
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Jaitley slams developed countries on subsidies EXPRESSING
concern over the appreciating rupee affecting exports, the government last week slammed developed countries for distorting global trade by highly subsiding their farm produce. “The weakening of dollar is creating a challenging situation in which exporters are trying to cope. Indian farmers are victims of trade distortions by developed countries,” Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley said in New Delhi. In view of the high subsidies being given by developed nations, agriculture produce got dumped in the domestic market, which resulted in price depression, he said at an export award function. The WTO agreement had opened new vistas of trade opportunity for developing countries like India. Removal of distortions in agri-trade was likely to provide a level playing field for all. It would also provide access to hitherto protected markets, Mr Jaitley said. Indian agriculture had come a long way from shortages to surplus, he said, adding, “now, our challenge is how to manage that surplus.” Exporters could play a crucial role in managing the surplus. Through export farmers would be connected to the global markets, the minister said.
PTI |
THE demand from the sports goods industry and artificial limb manufacturers for willow wood has increased manifold over the years. With this has come the need for undertaking research in this field. In view of this, the Department of Tree Improvement and Genetic Resources at the Dr Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, has initiated work on genetic improvement of this wood.