Opinion Farmers must reap fruits of genetic engineering
India, unlike countries of the developed West and East Asia, has a huge challenge of feeding a projected 1.7 billion human mouths by 2060 — with less land and water, more nutrient and energy use efficiency, and increased climate uncertainty.
The Indian farmer should have access to the fruits of genetic engineering and precision breeding. 
India missed the Genetic Modification (GM) revolution bus, except in cotton. Even there, no new technology was allowed to be commercialised after Bollgard-II Bt in 2006, thanks to opposition from so-called swadeshi and green groups. It shouldn’t succumb to similar Luddite pressures in Genome-Edited (GE) crop breeding. The news is encouraging so far. In May, two GE rice lines — improved mutants of the popular Samba Mahsuri and MTU-1010 varieties — were identified for release as a precursor to commercial cultivation. Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) scientists targeted genes in the two varieties. These were “edited” using CRISPR-Cas enzyme-guide RNA tools for enhancing grain yields and tolerance to drought and salinity stress. Field trials are now on of a low-pungent canola-quality mustard variety that is also pest- and disease-resistant, again developed through CRISPR-Cas GE technology.
But it’s not just breeding. ICAR scientists, as reported in this newspaper, have patented a new Transposon-associated protein or TnpB-based GE tool that is claimed to be an alternative to the dominant CRISPR-Cas9 and Cas12a systems. The latter technologies are largely controlled by the US-based Broad Institute and Corteva Agriscience. The indigenous tool to precisely cut and tweak the DNA of plants should address a key concern of activists — about surrendering the interests of Indian farmers to global agritech monopolies. That argument was deployed particularly in GM, where Bollgard Bt was a proprietary technology of Monsanto/Bayer. It’s another thing that the same activists blocked the commercial release of the GM hybrid mustard that was developed by Indian scientists led by former Delhi University V-C Deepak Pental. The collateral damage, of demoralising the country’s agricultural science community, cannot be overestimated.
India, unlike countries of the developed West and East Asia, has a huge challenge of feeding a projected 1.7 billion human mouths by 2060 — with less land and water, more nutrient and energy use efficiency, and increased climate uncertainty. This cannot happen without improved breeding, whether through conventional crossing-cum-selection or GM and GE. Ignoring that reality has a price, which the country is already paying by importing nearly $20 billion worth of vegetable oils annually and turning from a net exporter to an importer of cotton. The last thing India needs today is Luddism masquerading as swadeshi and environmentalism. The answer to tech monopolies cannot be science denial. The Indian farmer should have access to the fruits of genetic engineering and precision breeding.
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