Tuesday, Jun 10, 2003
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Karnataka
By Our Special Correspondent
The Union Minister for Agriculture, Rajnath Singh (second from right), who inaugurated the World Seed Congress 2003 in Bangalore on Monday, having a word with the Chief Minister, S.M.Krishna. The President of the International Seed Federation, Christopher Ahrens (second from left), and the noted agricultural scientist, M.S.Swaminathan, are seen. — Photo: T.L.Prabhakar
Inaugurating the three-day World Seed Congress here today, Mr. Singh said India had adopted the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights Act, 2001 and it should encourage the world seed industry to invest here and enter into mutually beneficial partnerships with Indian companies. The congress organised by the International Seed Federation is being held in the country for the first time. The Indian seed industry had to play a major role in the dissemination of the latest agricultural technology to farmers by making available good quality seeds to them. As the Indian economy was changing, so also the seed industry in terms of technology, quality, innovation, and cost effectiveness. Mr. Singh observed that the export of seed from India was insignificant. The seed industry should capitalise on the available national and global opportunities. Promotion of agricultural exports, including seeds, was a thrust area for future development. The Indian seed industry was yet to emerge as a big player in the real sense despite the advantages such as agro-biodiversity, abundance of technical manpower, and attempts to adopt a conducive policy environment. The recently introduced regulatory systems concerning plant variety protection, biodiversity, biotechnology/transgenics, and geographic indications were going to influence the seed scenario the world over. A system of contracts, sharing of rights, and licensing and sub-licensing had commenced in India leading to linkages which were till now non-existent. Intellectual property rights of plant breeders were important as they provided the necessary incentive for investments in research and development of new plant varieties. The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, 2001 tried to strike a balance between the rights of farmers and plant breeders and should be of encouragement to both national and international companies to invest in the development of new varieties. The amendments to the existing seed legislation were also an attempt to promote growth and investment in the seed industry, he said. While biotechnology offered opportunities to increase the production of food staples, concerns regarding the impact of genetically modified technology on human health and the environment must be addressed, Mr. Singh said. The well-known agricultural scientist, M.S.Swaminathan, said that India was the only country which had integrated legislation to protect plant breeders and farmers. India was making the transition from Green Revolution to gene revolution. The revolution in rice was an example. Medicinal rice varieties had been evolved in Kerala, and one of them was found to be effective against arthritis. There should also be a shift from Green Revolution to evergreen revolution. Seed reserves had become as important as food reserves. Dr. Swaminathan urged the Chief Minister, S.M.Krishna, who presided over the session, to set up "low water farm parks" in the State. The country's mangroves were also providing genes for agriculture. He noted that 90 per cent of the seeds was being grown by the farmers themselves. He spoke of the pioneering efforts of the National Seed Corporation, and especially G.V.Chellam, who was associated with it in the early 1960s. Production of wheat had gone up in the country from 10 million tonnes in 1965 to 80 million tonnes in 2000. India was the largest producer of milk at 85 million tonnes. It should aim at producing 300 million tonnes of foodgrains and 200 millions tonnes of fruits and vegetables, he said. The President of the International Seed Federation, Christopher Ahrens, noted that the Green Revolution was a triumph of plant breeding and said it (plant breeding) should be compatible with the environment. The federation conferred its honorary membership on Manmohan Attavar of Indo-American Hybrid Seeds and Chairman of the organising committee of the conference.
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