Abstract :
In 2009, transgenic crops were grown on 134 million hectares in 25 countries, including India, in six continents by about 14 million farmers, marking an 80-fold increase in the area since their first commercialization on 1.7 m ha in the USA and five other countries in 1996. The dominant transgenic traits were herbicide tolerance and insect resistance, deployed either alone or both stacked in the same plant. A recent survey of the global impact of biotech crops estimated that in 2008 alone, the total crop production gain globally for the 4 principal biotech crops - maize, soybean, cotton and canola - was 29.6 million metric tons while the net economic benefit to the biotech farmers was US$ 9.2 billion. The cumulative benefits for the period 1996- 2008 were yield gains of 167 million tons and economic returns of US$ 51.9 billion. In India, the area planted with Bt-cotton increased significantly from year to year since its introduction in 2002 and reached 8.4 million hectares in 2009. The overall benefits from Bt-cotton included an yield increase of up to 63% due to effective control of bollworms, pesticide reduction by 50%, net profit to farmers up to Rs.10,000/hectare and turned India from an importer to a major exporter of cotton. These indicate that biotechnology has made significant contributions to higher productivity, lower costs of production and increased economic benefits and that it has enormous potential for the future with new traits, events and crops. Over 60 countries, including India, are engaged in research on about 55 crop species to incorporate transgenes to bestow various traits such as resistance to pests, diseases or herbicides; tolerance to environmental stresses like drought, cold or salinity; enhanced crop yields, nutrition or shelf-life, etc. However, unreasonable opposition to biotechnology and undue delays in regulatory approvals are some of the major challenges that need to be addressed so as to make full use of this technology which has the potential to revolutionize agriculture.
