Farm panel submits three reports to CM

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, DEC. 26. The Karnataka Agriculture Commission today submitted three short-term reports to the Chief Minister, Mr. S. M. Krishna, on the rationale for testing Bt. Cotton, agricultural biotechnology, and improving rice production efficiency and the role of hybrid rice.The Chief Minister, who received the report from the commission chairman, Dr. R. Dwarakinath, said that keeping in line with the Government's focus - improving the agricultural sector - the Government would ensure that the recommendations of the commission were implemented.

He said there was need to ``prepare the farmer'' to adapt himself to the changes taking place in the agricultural sector. The agricultural universities had a major role in this direction, he added.

In its report on the controversial Bt. Cotton, the commission said it had scientifically examined the evidence about the Bt.cotton hybrids and recommended that the State take up the testing under the provisions of the Department of Bio-technology. ``If the Bt.cotton is adopted by the State, an important commercial crop would be rehabilitated, production costs would be lowered and pollution problems would be fewer.''

The report said the area under cotton had come down from 12 lakh hectares to about six lakh hectares, mainly due to pest problems, plant protection costs and even crop failures. There were no pest resistant cotton varieties from conventional breeding efforts. Bio-technology, it said, provided a solution to the problem through Bt.cotton hybrids.

The commission has recommended that the two agricultural universities in the State be involved in testing the technology in their research stations and monitoring the testing elsewhere within the State.

Later, the Minister for Agriculture, Mr. T. B. Jayachandra, told presspersons that the Government would recommend to the Centre to allow commercial production of Bt.cotton next year in Karnataka. Those opposing Bt.cotton, he said, had been invited for discussion. ``We are ready for talks with them. We want to clarify to them the difference between terminator technology and transgenic technology.''

He said that as of now 50 per cent of the total pesticides consumed in the agriculture sector was accounted for by cotton and that worked out to Rs. 200 crores in the State.

With regard to its second report on bio-technology, the commission has recommended that the Government recognise biotechnology as an acceptable and powerful system of research and promote its adoption in agriculture. The other recommendations include setting up a common Agriculture Biotechnology Research Team (ABRT); setting up an Agri-Biotech Advisory Group; ensuring adherence to bio-safety measures; developing bio- technology network; establishing a biotechnology corriodor, and enlisting the support of NRIs.

On improving rice productivity and role of hybrids, the commission has said that the strategy should be to make farmers more efficient, develop wider options for diversification, and introduce greater dynamism into the farm sector. It is possible to increase rice yields by 20 to 30 per cent with the present production technologies and varieties.

The recommendations include production efficiency as the goal of extension; formulating suitable options for diversification for different agro-zones; breaking the yield barrier; ensuring hybrid seed production, and supplying parental lines to private agencies etc.

Mr. Jayachandra said that the next task of the Government would be to have a commission on minor millets. The Government was thinking of setting up a separate directorate for this, and the Indian Council for Agricultural Research had approved it.

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Section  : Southern States
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