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SEZs should not be an ad hoc exercise

Special Correspondent

It calls for mapping of area through remote sensing: Swaminathan

CHIDAMBARAM: Special Economic Zones (SEZs) should not be set up in an ad hoc manner; the exercise calls for mapping of the chosen area through remote sensing, agricultural scientist M.S. Swaminathan told a press conference here on Thursday.

Mapping would help in finding the true biological potential of the area, and based on that development process could be taken up.

He said farmers with little land holdings were struggling for lack of advice. However, the need arose for diversification of employment opportunities through both on-farm and non-farm sectors, and this called for judicious utilisation of land.

As the Minimum Support Price offered only a low margin, farmers seemed to be in perennial debt, thanks to the vagaries of weather. The MSP should provide for at least a 50 per cent margin over and above the cost of production, and a farmer-centric marketing approach should be adopted.

About genetically modified (GM) crops, Dr. Swaminathan said that in India, the Government had approved only Bt cotton. While the European Union insisted that GM crops would not be allowed, American consumers did not seem concerned because they had confidence in their regulatory mechanism, which would impose heavy penalty on those raising harmful crops. Such a thing was yet to happen in India.

Dr. Swaminathan called for setting up `village knowledge centres' to educate farmers on biotechnology and GM crops.

Climate change

Later, delivering a lecture on `Climate change and food security' in connection with the 94th Indian Science Congress, he cautioned that an increase in temperature by four degree Celsius or more was likely to affect global food production and displace hundreds of millions of people. He suggested raising bioshields against natural disasters, and cited the instance of mangroves lessening the impact of the December 2004 tsunami.

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