The importance of agro biotechnology in transforming Indian agriculture and raising the income levels of small farmers was spotlighted here today by Mr. Fernando Nebbia, Under Secretary of Food and Agriculture Policies of Argentina.

The Centre has informed the Supreme Court that state governments and UTs have been instructed to constitute state biotechnology co-ordination committees (SBCC) and district level committees (DLC) to ensure safe field trials of genetically modified (GM) crops.

In an affidavit filed in the apex court, the ministry of environment and forests said the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee chairman has, on September 3, instructed the concerned chief secretaries to constitute SBCCs and DLCs.

Cornell researchers and Sathguru Management Consultants of India have successfully led an international consortium through the first phase of developing a pest-resistant eggplant. By about 2009 this eggplant is expected to be the first genetically engineered food crop in South Asia. Farmers have grown genetically altered cotton in India since 2002.

The government is considering a proposal that says genetically modified (GM) crops, apart from passing several other field trials, also have to prove that they are nutritionally superior to their ”natural” counterparts before they can be cultivated in any scale and, consequently, sold commercially. The Supreme Court may have lifted an eight-month ban on field trials of generically modified or GM food crops (albeit with some riders) in May, but if the government decides to go ahead with this proposal, it will make it tougher for any GM crop to make the grade. Companies and research bodies developing GM eggplant, for instance, must, in addition to passing toxicity and allerginicity tests, show that this is nutritionally superior to ordinary eggplant. GM crops are usually cultivated because they promise high yields, good-looking vegetables and fruits, and are pest-resistant.

As agrarian crisis-ridden farmers continued to commit suicide in Maharashtra others burnt effigies of Union Textiles Minister, Shankersinh Vaghela, a trade association came out with a survey claiming that farmers had earned an additional income of Rs. 4,086 crore with the adoption of Bt cotton technology. [...] “These claims are ridiculous,” the Vidarbha Jan Andholan Samiti leader, Kishore Tiwari told The Hindu in a telephonic interview from Yavatmal. He said that the Bt cotton had worked only in irrigated areas and not the rain-fed region of Vidharbha. “Actually the cost has doubled and the yield has halved,” he said.

Advances in the area of bio-nanotechnology would go a long way in helping India’s food security, Minister for Food and Agriculture Sharad Pawar said here Wednesday.

”Bio-nanotechnology takes agriculture from the era of genetically modified (GM) crops to the brave new world of atomically modified organisms,” Pawar said, speaking at the inaugural session of the three-day Fifth Knowledge Millennium Summit on ”B2B Bio and Nanotechnology” organised by industry body Assocham.

Cotton output in Punjab, the major producing state of north India, is likely to fall due to the incidence of mealy bug. The Punjab state agriculture director, BS Sidhu told FE that incidence of mealy bug has occurred largely in the Malwa region consisting of Bhatinda, Muktsar, Faridkot and Ferozpur districts. ”The farmers in Punjab opted for Bt cotton cultivation in a big way with the hope of earning better returns. Their hopes are belied with the largescale incidence of mealy bug, he said.”

The centre on Thursday moved the Supreme Court seeking modifications in its order on filed trials of genetically modified (GM) crops. The ministry of environment and forests in its application said the isolation distance of such crops during the course of their field trials should be in harmony with the Indian minimum seed certification standard. The apex court in its May 8 order had permitted filed trials of GM crops approved by the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) subject to the condition that their field should be at least 200 metres away from normal crops.

The apex agri science body in the country has come out in favour of deployment of terminator technology for control of weeds. Delivering the special address at the International Conference on Agricultural Biotechnology, in Delhi on Monday, the director-general of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Mangla Rai said : ”Even the controversial terminator technology can be deployed to control dangerous weeds. We should initiate a debate on this issue and conduct necessary research.”

Highlighting the imminent threat of genetically engineered food crops making its run through India’s food chain, Greenpeace today slammed the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) for its scruffy act in collaborating in the large scale field trials of GE brinjal. Making a dig at babus and their political bosses, who have thrown all cautions to wind by allowing large scale field trials of GE food crops, Greenpeace activists, dressed like politicians were seen at Krishi Bhawan force-feeding genetically engineered brinjal to common men, who remain largely unaware about the dangerous implications of genetically modified food.