Why India

can’t afford
to ignore
GM Crops?

Rajdeep Saikia

PGPABM

National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE)

Rajendranagar, Hyderabad- 500030

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 Why India can’t afford to ignore GM crops?
With the increasing population and ever increasing demand for food, the pressure on the
agricultural farmland of India has never been as intense as today. India is home a billion people
which is about 17 % of the world population but has only 2 % of the worlds land resources and 4 %
of global water resources. The productivity of the major food crops has been far below the world
average. The green revolution which resulted in tremendous increase in yield has failed to provide a
sustainable answer to the problem of food affecting the country. With the recent debate on GM
food and the ever increasing stress on the need of an evergreen revolution the issue of food security
and what has to be done needs to be discussed in detail. This is where I thought of writing an article
to put across my ideas.

I believe that the Issue of Food security and acceptability of GM food crops is closely linked. The
productivity of the food crops depend on the quality of the agricultural inputs namely: seeds,
fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides etc. Of all the agricultural inputs it is only seeds which has unlimited
potential for providing yield. This is because the scientist and breeders can genetically modify the
crops to come up with various combinations of yield enhancing traits which never existed before.
Now instead of going too deep into the scientific aspects of GM crops let us discuss the very issues
which makes GM food crops really difficult to ignore. I would list those factors under the following
heads.

1. Ever increasing meteorological uncertainties.

2. NREGA
3. Poverty and Malnutrition
4. Productivity issues

Meteorological uncertainties: The global climatic change has unleashed havoc amongst the
agricultural community. With monsoon aberration becoming a yearly phenomenon the demand for
irrigation has grown. Findings by NASA show that 26 cubic miles of water has disappeared from
under the surface of the North Indian States of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan & the NCR (which makes
up much of the 40 % total irrigated area of the country) between 2002-08. The aquifers are
depleting by up to one foot per year in these region. This is proof enough that irrigation by exploiting
the ground water resources is no more a viable option. This makes the replacement of the varieties
with draught resistant or draught tolerant varieties the need of the hour. Now the draught tolerant
traits are found in minor millets which have limited yield potential, also it is not the staple food of
majority of the population. Develop draught tolerant varieties through traditional plant breeding will
take decades and is definitely not a solution. The emphasis should be on developing GM crops with
draught tolerant genes.

NREGA: The much hyped NREGA programme has helped create job for the poor but affected
agriculture adversely in many states. An article published in Business World states that migration
from Bihar to other states is down 35 % this year, this has resulted in acute labour shortage in states
of Punjab (30 %), Haryana (35%), UP (10 %), Maharashtra (20%) due to the implementation of
NREGA. This means the end of cheap labour for the agricultural industry whish shall push up the cost
of cultivation many folds. This shall also lead to the increased use of herbicides and mechanization of
agriculture. Chemical weed control shall become an indispensible part of modern day agriculture.

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With the increased use of herbicides there shall be a demand for herbicide resistant varieties and it
is only GM crops with herbicide resistance traits which can provide an answer.

Poverty and Malnutrition Poverty and malnutrition are acute in certain states of the country.
Around 300 million Indians are officially said to be below the poverty line. This means that about 30
crores Indians earn less than 1 $ a day. Even though the country boasts of having adequate supply of
food, the question to be asked is, ”how affordable is food in India?” How long can the government
subsidize food for the poor specially when India will soon become a net importer of food from a net
exporter? The per capita supply of the food grain fell to 436 grams a day in 2008, compared with
442.8 grams in 2007 and 445.3 grams the year before. Moreover each region of the country has its
own food habits and the vegetarian diet being deficient in the much needed proteins and vitamins
there is an ever increasing need to produce high quality food at an affordable price. GM technology
can effectively provide a solution through the development of highly nutritive varieties within a very
short period of time.

Net Availability of Foodgrains (Per Day) in India (grams per day)

Years Rice Wheat Other Cereals Gram Pulses Food-
cereals grains
2004 195.4 162.2 69.3 426.9 11.2 35.8 462.7

2005 177.3 154.3 59.4 390.9 10.6 31.5 422.4

2006 198.0 154.3 60.5 412.8 10.7 32.5 445.3

2007(P) 196.8 156.1 58.9 409.9 11.9 29.4 439.3

Source: Ministry of Agriculture, Govt of India

Productivity Issues: Before addressing this issue I would like to bring to your notice that China
produces 40 % more rice than India with 33% lower crops planted. How is this possible? The answer
is high adoption of Hybrid varieties and now a shift towards GM varieties. There has been no
significant rise in the productivity of crops (except for Bt Cotton) in India post the green revolution
era. With Increasing demand for food grains an pressure to import food grains India shall soon have
no other option but to adopt a pro GM food approach.

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The Way ahead........................................

Disclaimer: All opinion

expressed in this article
are personal. MANAGE
does not subscribe to
these views in full or
Parts.
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