Biotechnology for Second Green Revolution in Indian Agriculture

The tools of biotechnology present an opportunity to infuse a new round of technology into Indian agriculture, which has been going through "technology fatigue" in recent period. These technologies follow from the conventional plant breeding techniques and complement them in improving crops to resist biotic and abiotic stresses, break yield barriers, and sustain yields in the face of resource degradation and climatic change. Though India has been making rapid strides in the field of biotechnology, the progress in harnessing agricultural biotechnology is rather slow largely due to the uncertainties created by campaigns by civil society groups based on ideological grounds. However, the commercialization of biotech cotton with a gene from soil bacterium Bacillus thuriengensis is a small step taken in the right direction in 2002. That has brought about a revolution in cotton production and productivity; catapulted India to the second leading position in cotton production in the world and earned foreign exchange worth more than Rs. 60000 crores in the last decade. Most importantly, it has improved the conditions of cotton farmers and accrued additional gains worth more than Rs. 75000 crores. Now is the time to move beyond cotton and replicate the success in other crops by providing the required enabling framework for the private sector, apart from enhanced investments in the public sector and public private partnerships and industry-academia linkages.