September 29, 2010

Hybrid technology to boost Indian corn yields by 250%

India's multinational seed companies are helping farmers to push up corn yields by almost threefold with hybrid technology.

The productivity push will help farmers profit from escalating demand for corn from the animal feed and starch industries. India is Asia's second largest corn grower and it is the country's third major cereal.

"With the way the consumption of maize increasing, we are looking to maximise production and profitability for farmers by developing newer hybrids," said Dr K V Subba Rao, managing director of PHI Seeds, the Indian subsidiary of Pioneer Hi-bred International (PHI), the oldest corn company in US.

This year, PHI Seeds has introduced P3501 hybrid for high management area, and P4094, a downy mildew-tolerant hybrid, specifically for parts of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. It has come out with P3441 for areas which did not receive good rainfall.

Corn hybrids are Monsanto India's single biggest focus in seed business. Through its Project Golden Rays project, it has signed a public-private partnership with Rajasthan for doubling corn yields in its five districts. The project involves 7.8 lakh tribal farmers.

"We are focused on increasing farmer yields through superior understanding of grower needs and breeding R&D of region-specific Dekalb high-yielding hybrids," said Mr Amitabh Jaipuria, managing director, Monsanto India.

The size of hybrid seed market in India is pegged at 90,000 tonne this year. Dr ML Jat, senior scientist, cropping system agronomy, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre, said only around 30% of corn area in India is under hybrid seeds. "The rise in area will be gradual but the productivity levels will be more," he explained.

India's corn production has grown 60% in the last one decade. The area under corn cultivation has not kept pace, though.

Poultry companies (50%) are the single largest consumer, and cattle feed is at 12%. Last year, the demand from the poultry sector and livestock was 17 million tonne, whereas the production was 16 million tonne.

"The single-cross hybrid has proved to be good and we could see a 100% jump in yield where farmers have used it along with best management practices," Dr G Nallathambi, professor of corn research at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, said.

A decade ago, the average productivity was one tonne per hectare but it has now crossed two tonne per hectare. In Punjab, large corn areas changed to rice but they are slowly coming back to corn. Likewise, corn replaces winter rice in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu due to water scarcity. Areas in West Bengal, Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are also under corn now replacing either rice or wheat.

As per statistics with Indian Council of Agricultural Research, the area under corn has come down by 10% in this kharif season (till August first week) compared with the same period last year. "But yield will not be affected. Due to good precipitation during flowering, a 2.25 tonne per hectare yield can be expected from one hectare this season," said Dr R Sai Kumar, project director, directorate of corn research.