The Hindu Business Line : GM groundnut from Icrisat likely soon

THE International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat) here is currently working on a transgenic groundnut crop that is resistant to peanut clump virus, which is stated to be widely prevalent in the groundnut crop in India.

``The transgenic is being tested in a greenhouse at present. We will possibly be conducting field trials by next year and are looking forward to commercialise it in a span of three years,'' Dr William D. Dar, Director General of Icrisat, told newspersons here on Tuesday.

Emphasising that Icrisat was looking to harness biotechnology for the benefit of the poor, Dr Dar said the institute also proposed to come out with the transgenics for pigeon pea and sorghum during the next five years. ``Icrisat believes that even poor farmers require transgenic seeds as they are resistant to pests and enhance crop productivity'', he said.

In order to develop agriculture as an engine of growth and to raise the incomes of farmers, Icrisat proposes to assess commodity and market trends and evaluate the prospects for diversification into higher value crops including fruits and vegetables. Icrisat would facilitate access to small farmers with regard to such commercial crops.

Dr Dar said Icrisat was launching a movement, ``Team Icrisat'', on Wednesday for infusing a new spirit to the organisation and its latest research agenda. ``It is a moral boosting programme'' aimed at enhancing efficiency especially in the light of a decline in international funding to the institution on account of global economic slowdown after the September 11 attack on the World Trade Centre.

The total funds received by Icrisat this year accounted for $22.3 million as against $23.4 million last year. The institution's expenditure on salaries to its staff has declined from 60 per cent of its total funding to 50 per cent this year following the introduction of a voluntary separation scheme which was opted by 205 people.

Last December, Dr Dar said, Icrisat got approval for a five-year ``Desert Margins programme'' for which Global Environment Facility had granted $16 million. Similarly, Suri Sehgal Foundation had agreed to give $3 lakh for a research project on pearl millet. The Andhra Pradesh Government had also committed $4.25 lakhs for undertaking rural livelihood development programme through watershed development.

This apart, the institution had also got indications that the Tata Trust Foundation was interested in granting it $1 million for taking up a three-year watershed management programme. While the UK had set aside £5 lakh, another donor country agreed to $5 lakh for taking up livestock development projects in India and Nigeria.

As a part of its vision and strategy, Icrisat has founded six global research themes. These are harnessing biotechnology for the poor, crop management and utilisation for food security and health, water, soil and agro-biodiversity management for ecosystem health, sustainable seed supply systems for productivity, enhancing crop-livestock productivity and systems diversification and semi-arid tropics and development pathways.

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