June 26, 2013

Former Indian president supports biotech crops

A former leader and renowned scientist has renewed support for the development of transgenic crops not only in India but in other countries such as the Philippines as one of the ways to help help solve food crises confronting many parts of the world.

India's former president Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam backed the high-yielding, disease-resistant biotechnology crops which was welcomed by Dr. William Dar, the Filipino director general of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat) based in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India.

The former Indian president visited the Icrisat headquarters on June 20 to inaugurate the newly constructed greenhouse containment facility of the Platform for Translational Research on Transgenic Crops (PTTC).

Kalam said research breakthroughs in agricultural biotechnology hold the potential for increasing crop productivity and the resistance of food crops to pests and diseases, thereby helping solve the food crisis.

He said the year 2013 marks the 30th anniversary of the first successful introduction of a foreign gene into a plant.

There is clear evidence that the use of genetically modified [GM] crops has resulted in significant benefits like higher crop yields, reduced farm costs, increased farm profit and improvement in health and the environment, said Kalam.

Yet there is a heated debate over GM crops. Kalam states that no illusionary fears can stop the advancement of what is rational and logical and the solution lies in developing beneficial transgenic crops locally.

The PTTC will be the birthplace of a new generation of transgenic crops, he added.

The former Indian president cited Dar's book titled "Feeding the Forgotten Poor where a map was drawn for "second-generation" GM crops.

He also proposed a list of research missions for Icrisat, starting with the development of nutritionally enhanced goods and getting approval for them.

Kalam also pushed for the conduct of an analysis of barren lands in India to retrieve at lesat 50 % of it in the next 10 years, and a study of water bodies with the view of rejuvenating them by 2020.

The PTTC, headed by Dr. Kiran Sharma, was established jointly by the Indian government and Icrisat in 2009.

The facility costs US$6.2 million and was launched to "translate transgenic technology and harness its products to meet the needs of agricultural growth, strengthening national, regional and international linkages in transgenic R&D."

Dar, for his part, said agricultural biotechnology has huge potential to increase the incomes of small farmers and improve their "nutritional security."

Icrisat honored Kalam as its "Ambassador of Goodwill" in recognition of "his foresight, his support of science-based solutions, and his championing of the mission of the institute."