TERMINATOR TECH + Mealy Bug On BT COTTON + GLOBAL WARMING & Wheat

[Guest guest]

NEWS Bulletin from Indian Society For Sustainable Agriculture And Rural Development *********************************** 1. ICAR for terminator tech to contain weeds 2. Cotton output in Punjab set to fall - BT COTTON under mealy bug attack 3. Cotton output in Punjab set to fall - Cotton output marginally up despited increased coverage under BT COTTON GLOBAL WARMING & WHEAT- 4. Wheat production target fixed at 75.5 mt - Concerned over the possible impact of global warming, the government has fixed an “achievable” target of 75.5 million tonne for wheat production in coming winter. --- ICAR for terminator tech to contain weeds http://www.financialexpress.com/news/ICAR-for-terminator-tech-to-contain-weeds/217869/ ASHOK B SHARMAPosted online: Monday

, September 17, 2007 at 2028 hrs IST New Delhi, Sept 17 The apex agri science body in the country has come out in favour of deployment of terminator technology for control of weeds. Delivering the special address at the International Conference on Agricultural Biotechnology, in Delhi on Monday, the director-general of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Mangla Rai said : “Even the controversial terminator technology can be deployed to control dangerous weeds. We should initiate a debate on this issue and conduct necessary research.” The conference was organized by the apex industry body, FICCI in collaboration with the department of biotechnology, ICAR and co-sponsored by USDA and seed multinational Monsanto and its Indian partner Mahyco. Terminator technology has been criticised by farmers and NGOs as the seeds turn sterile after first

generation and can impact other crops in the vicinity. Rai said that acceleration of farm economy can be achieved through transgenic technology. Rice plants can be developed to produce less methane and the productivity of wheat can be enhanced. “The expectations from transgenic technology is high, while the present achievements are not to that level. This is why there is widespread criticism,” he said. He, however, favoured risk-based assessments before release of transgenic crops. He said under US-India Knowledge Initiative development of transgenic crops and bio-fuel programme would be taken up. Rai informed that 16 transgenic crops with 7 traits, were being developed by the public sector research institutes in the country. The Argentina deputy secretary for agriculture policy and food, Fernando Nebbia said that transgenic technology was no

longer a frontier science in his country. “We are well into it,” he said and added that 18 million hectare was under transgenic crops in Argentina. He said that his country was undergoing a bio-diesel revolution as opposed to bio-ethanol use in Brazil. Meanwhile Greenpeace India has criticized Bt brinjal’s field trials in the campuses of the public sector research institutes as violation of the apex court order. The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee had recently approved field trials of Bt brinjal. ------------------- Cotton output in Punjab set to fall - BT COTTON under mealy bug attack http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Cotton-output-in-Punjab-set-to-fall/218472/ ASHOK B SHARMAPosted online: Wednesday, September 19, 2007 at 0009 hrs IST New Delhi, Sep 18 Cotton output in Punjab, the major producing state of north India, is likely to fall due to the incidence of mealy bug. The Punjab state agriculture director, BS Sidhu told FE that incidence of mealy bug has occurred largely in the Malwa region consisting of Bhatinda, Muktsar, Faridkot and Ferozpur districts. “The farmers in Punjab opted for Bt cotton cultivation in a big way with the hope of earning better returns. Their hopes are belied with the largescale incidence of mealy bug, he said.” According to Sidhu, cotton output in Punjab is slated to

fall to 2.5 million bales this year despite the increase in area under Bt cotton. In the previous year the state produced 2.698 million bales of cotton. Sidhu said that the farmers took to use of chemical pesticides like organophosphates and carbamates, but the situation could not be fully controlled. According to him, the farmers incurred a loss within the range of Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,000 per hectare. Sidhu is in Delhi to attend the national conference on agriculture convened by the central government to discuss and strategies for the upcoming winter crops. The conference is deliberating on the performance of summer (kharif) crops in different states and is slated to finalise the production estimates on September 19. The director of Agro Chemicals Policy Group, RG Agarwal said, “Had the government promoted the use of pesticides in

the right time, the loss could have been avoided.” The biotech seed industry is, however, confident that the incidence of mealy bug on Bt cotton in Punjab would only marginally affect the prospects of cotton production on the national level. The executive director of All India Crop Biotechnology Association, RK Sinha said, “This year the area under Bt cotton has increased to about 550,000 hectares from 380,000 hectares in the previous year. About 17 million packets of Bt cotton seeds have been sold this year, he said. ---- Summer crops' output up with good rains - Cotton output marginally up despited increased coverage under BT COTTON http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Summer-crops-output-up-with-good-rains/218735/ ASHOK B SHARMAPosted online: Wednesday, September 19, 2007 at 2026 hrs IST New Delhi, September 19: The government has estimated the total food grain production in the current summer season at 112.24 million. This marks an increase by 1.72 million over that in the previous year. The production of four crops, namely, maize, soybean, cotton and sugarcane has at record highs. Maize production is estimated at 13.07 million tonne, that of soybean at 9.04 million tonne, that of cotton at 22.94 million bales (of 170 kg each) and that of sugarcane at 345.62 million tonne. Cotton production increased marginally from 22.70 million bales in the previous year to 22.94 million bales, this year despite 60% of the area under Bt cotton. Bt cotton has been severely attacked by mealy bug in Punjab Maize production is slated to increase further as it is grown in winter under favourable conditions in some parts of the country, particularly in Bihar, while crops like soybean, cotton are grown only in summer. Releasing the first advanced crop estimate, the Union agriculture secretary, PK Mishra attributed the prospects of good crops to the favourable monsoon rains in many parts of the country. Rice production is estimated at 80.15 million tonne as against 80.11 tonne in the previous year’s summer. The output of the coarse cereal, jowar is likely to dip from 3.68 million in previous year’s

summer to 3.60 million tonne. However the jowar crop is also grown in winter and hence there is a scope for further production. The output of another summer coarse cereal, bajra is slated to dip from 8.63 million tonne in the previous year to 7.97 million tonne, However the total output of summer coarse cereals, including jowar, bajra and maize has increased to 26.58 million tonne from 25.67 million tonne in the previous year. The output of summer pulses has increased to 5.51 million tonne from 4.74 million tonne in the previous year. The output of summer groundnut has increased from 3.28 million tonne to 5.18 million tonne. The output of jute has increased by 1.3%, while that of mesta has fallen by 9.2% --------------- Wheat production target fixed at 75.5 mt http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Wheat-production-target-fixed-at-75-5-mt/218001/ ASHOK B SHARMAPosted online: Tuesday , September 18, 2007 at 0002 hrs IST New Delhi, Sep 17 Concerned over the possible impact of global warming, the government has fixed an “achievable” target of 75.5 million tonne for wheat production in coming winter. Wheat production increased to 74.89 million tonne (mt) in the previous year with early sowing and considerable expansion of area under the

crop. According to an official document, “The rabi (winter) season gives us the opportunity to increase wheat production by way of increased area coverage and also productivity. Our main concern is for wheat which contributes over 73% of the total winter crop production.” Seed availability is another issue. At present, wheat seed production is around 456,800 tonne against a 687,500 tonne requirement. The targets for other winter crops have been also fixed—rice at 13 mt, coarse cereals at 8.8 mt, pulses at 10 mt and oilseeds at 11.4 mt A record wheat production of 76.37 million tonne (mt) achieved was in 1999-2000. Since the last five years wheat production fluctuated in the range of 65.76 mt and 74.89 mt. The sudden spurt in temperature before ripening had caused damage to the wheat crop in some years. The total domestic consumption is 60 mt. The

government wants to facilitate increase in output as the food industry is expanding its activity. In the current five-year plan period (2007-12) the government has set up a Rs 4,882.48-crore Food Security Mission (FSM) for increasing production of wheat, rice and pulses. FSM allocation for wheat is Rs 1920.33 crore, for rice Rs 1722.27 crore and that for pulses Rs 1239.88 crore. The mission will be implemented in 305 identified districts in 16 states. For wheat, 138 districts have been identified in nine states. The FSM gives flexibility to states to evolve their own plans. The Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana has also been launched to incentivise the state governments to increase the share of agriculture in their state plans. -------

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