Fragile food security: modern technologies have much to offer

 

 

May 2022

Just some years ago, I visited the seed company in Aurangabad and was surprised to know that they are developing GM crops. I felt a bit odd that there were hardly any visible signs on revival of this technology by the Government. Yet, I popped up to sound optimistic of their move and hoped that the Government will play all along. Later, I learnt that many state Governments did not give no-objection certificate to carry out open field trials as per regulatory needs. And hence, field testing of the GM crops had come to standstill.

Biotech activities have come to standstill after a moratorium on the development of GM crops by the then Minister of Environment and Forests, Mr Jairam Ramesh in 2010. And these have been sparingly and half-heartedly done for the last more than 10 years.

This May, Asia Pacific Seed Association (APSA) organised the Asian Solanaceous Crops Roundtable conference from 11^th to 13^th and had many sessions ranging from breeding to biotechnology and information technology aimed at crop improvement. It had a session fully devoted to Bt solanaceous crop, Brinjal, rightly so because it is India which had developed Bt brinjal and received GEAC approval for cultivation more than a decade ago. Mahyco Pvt Ltd. Jalna had develped Bt CryAc brinjal. But, its commercialization was put off. Dr N K Kunchge of Kalash Seeds Pvt Ltd, Jalna talked about Bt brinjal development and their company’s efforts to develop Bt cry1F brinjal and field trials in recent years. Dr Desiree Hautea of the University of Philippines, Los Banos shared her experience of working on Bt brinjal as they completed all studies required for its commercialization. Philippines has recently approved Bt brinjal (Bt talong) for food and feed purpose and is likely to allow cultivation. Bt Brinjal has been in cultivation since 2014 in Bangladesh. And most of Bt brinjal cultivation is limited, thanks to efforts of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute. Mr Mahbub Alam of Lal Teer Seed Ltd., Bangladesh talked about the problems in developing GM seeds of brinjal in the private sector. He also credited Mahyco Pvt Ltd for their collaboration in introgressing Bt event in to Bangladeshi varieties. I presented a talk on ‘Lessons to be learnt for insect resistance management in Bt brinjal’. Our studies on Bt toxins against brinjal shoot and fruit borer (BSFB) have come handy for me. It was a bit odd presenting more than ten-year old data on baseline susceptibility of BSFB and talking about resistance monitoring. However, it was an experience calculating resistance allele and genotype frequencies of BSFB using an indirect method, based upon the efficacy of Bt brinjal in the field trials in terms of % damaged fruits in Bt brinjal and non-Bt brinjal as well as learning bootstrapping method to estimate 95% confidence interval for the mean time for development of practical resistance as reported for as many as seven cases. Further, I found that need for refuge has to be based upon the number of resistant genotypes per acre and the recommended ratio of resistant to susceptible moths of 1:100. I therefore proposed 6% refuge for Bt Cry1Ac brinjal and 12% for Bt Cry1F brinjal. However, refuge needs in Bangladesh and Philippines are just 3 and 2% for Bt Cry1Ac brinjal. Since brinjal is cultivated over limited area, 22,000 hectares in Philippines and 51,000 hectares in Bangladesh, resistance evolution is likely to be least cause of concern for the first few years, as compared to India, where brinjal is cultivated over about 700,000 hectares. Brinjal yields have been almost static at about 17 tons/hectare over the past 20 years largely due to BSFB and local varieties dominating in view of taste preferences.

It is foresight, optimism and ever-ready preparedness of the seed industry to look forward to the opportunities that led to the crop improvement, despite the challenges it has faced in the past. Besides, genetic modification of crops; genomic/gene editing were reportedly found to help in crop improvement. Talks on various aspects of genome editing were delivered by Dr Roland Schafleitner of World Vegetable Center in Taiwan, Dr Eswarayya Ramireddy of IISER, Tirupati, Dr Manamohan Malligeppagol of ICAR-IIHR and Dr D C Lakshmana Reddy of ICAR-IIHR.

Use of artificial intelligence for high throughput phenotyping for identifying drought tolerance and improving germination quality of seeds was explored and showed their commercial prospects.

It is heartening to know that despite the regulatory hurdles and reluctance of the Governmental institutions, there remains optimism to extend use of these technologies until time, they are commercialised.

It is time that the Government harnesses this potential for crop improvement. Recent ban on the export of wheat after a brief enthusiasm in view of global foodgrain shortage due to Ukraine-Russia war, shows as to how fragile is our food security. Climate change is becoming unpredictable and its impact frightening in almost all aspects of life. Despite laudable goals, not much progress is made in reducing greenhouse gases. As far as farming is concerned, it is only modern technology that will help in enhancing yields, as land, water and many other natural resources are limited in many aspects. APSA and our own seed industry have been in the forefront in enhancing crop productivity.