• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager
• BL Club
• Smartbuy
• Books

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth
• Events 2007

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Our Bureau

New Delhi, Feb. 18 India has overtaken Canada to emerge as the country with the fourth largest area under genetically modified (GM) crops.

According to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Application (ISAAA), the country’s GM acreage in 2008, at 7.605 million hectares (mh), stood behind the US (62.5 mh), Argentina (21 mh) and Brazil (15.8 mh), while being ahead of Canada (7.582 mh) and China (3.8 mh).

The 7.605 mh GM area in India consisted entirely of Bt cotton. This is unlike in the US, where the total 62.5 mh was distributed among maize, soyabean, cotton, canola, sugar beet, alfalfa, papaya and squash. Of the 21 mh of GM area in Argentina, 18.1 mh was under soyabean, 2.5 mh under maize and the balance under cotton. Brazil’s 15.8 mh comprised 14.2 mh under soyabean, 1.3 mh under maize and the balance under cotton.

“The 7.6 mh of Bt cotton in India last year represents 82 per cent of its total area under the crop, the largest proportion in the world. This is higher than corresponding 68 per cent ratio for China (3.8 mh out of the total 5.7 mh),” the ISAAA Chairman, Dr Clive James, told presspersons presenting the New York-based organisation’s “Global Status of Commercialised Biotech/GM Crops: 2008” report here on Wednesday.

Dr James noted that given that only 82 per cent of the country’s cotton area is planted under hybrids, the contribution of Bt would go up even more to 96 per cent in relation to the 7.6 mh area under hybrids alone. “This is approximately the same high level of adoption for biotech cotton in the mature cotton markets of the US and Australia,” he added.

Dr James was hopeful that the release of the first publicly bred Bt cotton – Bikaneri Narma (which is an in-bred variety as opposed to hybrid) – will help extend the technology to even the remaining 18 per cent cotton area not under hybrids. The new biotech variety was cleared for commercial cultivation in 2008, but the first plantings will happen only in the ensuing kharif season.

According to the ISAAA report, a total 125 mh was planted worldwide under GM crops, as against a mere 1.7 mh in 1996.

Of the 125 mh, 65.8 mh was under herbicide-tolerant soybean, 24.5 mh under stacked traits maize, 11.9 mh under Bt cotton, 7.1 mh under Bt maize and 5.9 mh under herbicide-tolerant canola.

More Stories on : Cultivation | Bio-tech & Genetics

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Copyright © 2009, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line