With a projected population of 1.4 billion by 2020, India knows a thing or two about big numbers.
The country has 141 million hectares of cultivated land, second only to the U.S. with its 185 million hectares.
India also has 126 million farm families.
But the country also has one very small number. Its average farm size is 1.41 hectares.
Ag biotechnology must be part of India’s future, Dr. S. A. Patil, director of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute. To make that happen, the country is throwing more resources into developing ag biotech solutions for its looming problems, and it’s doing that in a big way.
India began ag biotech research in 1990 and licensed Bt cotton in 2002, Patil said. Bt varieties now account for 41 per cent of the country’s cotton crop. They’ve reduced pesticide sprays by 39 per cent, improved net returns by 88 per cent, with an overall $225/ha benefit to the farmer.
Now India wants to see similarly impressive gains with input and output traits for a range of crops. To help achieve that, the country has created biotech programs at 25 universities and 40 research institutes, led by 170 senior scientists.
The country has graduated 12,000 PhD’s, plus 120,000 plant science graduates, of whom 40,000 have specific training in ag biotechnology.
Five multinationals and 10 smaller companies are working on a total nine crops, ranging from brinjal and okra to corn and tomatoes.
In total, the country is investing $250 million a year in biotech research, and has created an effective regulatory system for gene licensing, Patil said.
Now, India is seeking more international partnerships to join its search for biotech solutions.
India has made huge strides in luring computer companies to the country, and Patil said the same science skills will help it win in biotechnology too, in part because of another small number.
Cost of research in India, Patil said, is 80 per cent cheaper than in North America.