GM mustard crop

Two decades after the Union Government approved the commercial cultivation of Bt cotton, a genetically modified (GM) crop, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee of the Environment Ministry has recommended the environmental release of GM mustard. This green go-ahead has apparently cleared the decks for the commercial use of the country’s first GM food crop. GM crops have been the subject of an animated debate over the years. Their votaries list benefits such as higher yield, reduced input cost, greater pest resistance and lesser need for pesticides. The naysayers claim that these crops adversely impact human health and food security.

Bt cotton has played a key role in making India the world’s top cotton producer. The country is estimated to remain the leader in global cotton production during the ongoing decade. In September 2020, the Centre had told the Lok Sabha that long-term studies conducted by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research on the impact of Bt cotton had not shown ‘any adverse effect on soil, microflora and animal health’. The government would have to similarly allay fears and apprehensions regarding the indigenously-developed transgenic mustard hybrid. A data-driven, transparent approach is a must to convince the farming community that it can reap dividends from GM crops.

In its 2017 report, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science & Technology, Environment and Forests had recommended that GM crops should be introduced in the country only after critical scientific evaluation of their benefits and safety; it had also called for restructuring of the regulatory framework for these crops. The Centre has presumably ticked all the right boxes and refrained from cutting corners. With agriculture facing a persistent threat from climate change, as exemplified by the heatwave that hit India’s wheat production earlier this year, there is a dire need to maximise biotechnology’s potential to help farmers adopt sustainable practices. Developing more GM crops, provided they are subjected to stringent biosafety trials at every stage, can give Indian farming a new lease of life by increasing productivity as well as production, thus enabling foodgrain growers to spend less and earn more.