Faced with the enigma of rising salinity ingress on their farmlands, farmers can now look forward to transgenic crops. A central research institute is developing ”salt-tolerant” varieties of crops like groundnut, tobacco, cumin and banana that aim at revolutionising the food-basket in 6.7 million hectares of ”salinity-affected” farmland in the country, most of which is in Gujarat. The Bhavnagar-based Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI) is in the advanced stages of developing salt-tolerant varieties of groundnut and tobacco.