The importance of agriculture to India needs no mention. Although
not the number one revenue generator for the country but more people in India depend on
agriculture than any other sectors. The uniqueness of the region lies in
agriculture being more than just a profession, it provides sustenance and
livelihood and is entwined with social and cultural beliefs. Ironically,
agriculture has seen the least modernization in India than any other sector. There
are many aspects that can be modernized in India and be up to date with the
rest of world such as mechanization, post-harvest, logistics but everything
starts with a better seed.
Plant breeders in India have been improving crops
and keeping up with the demand by developing new varieties either with the
existing gene pool within the country or by bringing new germplasm from across
the world and testing its suitability for India either as such or by crossing
with existing Indian germplasm. The later part is very important to understand
that we are constantly bringing new germplasm from outside India to
improve our existing varieties. The breeding tools available to scientists have
also undergone a major overhaul over the last few years with some tools only
being available to Indian scientists. However, we must acknowledge and accept
that developed countries are developing new and better tools that will
accelerate their plant breeding process by leaps and bounds.
It is also important to note that the regulators in
these countries are also keeping up pace with the developments to make the
latest products available to the farmers. Among the new major breakthroughs,
gene editing is very promising new plant breeding method that allows the
breeders to make specific, precise modifications without the need for several
generations of backcrossing, in contrast to conventional breeding in which
modifications are achieved with crossing of two plants and then undergoing
multiple generations of backcrossing to clean the undesired genes.
The precision and ease of the technology saves on
time, labour and cost of introgressing multiple traits together. Since the
costs associated with gene editing is low, several smaller companies will be
able to invest in this breeding tool and develop varieties with new traits.
However, the success of gene editing lies in the hands of the regulators, if
the traits developed involvement of gene editing are heavily regulated, then
the costs and time associated with de-regulation will make the development of
new varieties through gene editing unaffordable to smaller companies. A
practical approach by regulators such as determination that if the product
developed through gene editing which is nearly indistinguishable to those
developed through conventional or mutation breeding will not be regulated will
highly encourage the investments in research.
Another aspect that needs some attention is the
seed trade, Indian government has been taking several steps to make India a global
seed hub. However, if Indian policies on gene editing are not aligned with the
rest of the world, seed production and movement will happen through the
countries which have similar policies on seeds produced through gene editing
and India will miss out on a major source of employment and revenue generation.
Policies aligned with rest of the world will not
only enable Indian plant breeders to develop new varieties and enable farmers
to increase production, it will also establish India ’s leadership in innovation in
the region.