Bejo Sheetal and Vibha Agrotech to Support Biotech Knowledge Sharing in India

The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) has two new donors from India, Vibha Agrotech Pvt. Ltd. and Bejo Sheetal Seeds Pvt. Ltd. The donors will support ISAAA in its knowledge sharing activities and in disseminating scientific knowledge to the Indian community. Dr. Clive James, ISAAA Founder and Chairman, met with Mr. Suresh Agarwal, CMD of Bejo Sheetal and Dr. P. Vidya Sagar, CMD of Vibha Agrotech during his recent visit to India to launch ISAAA Brief 39 on the Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops in 2008.

Bejo Sheetal Seeds Pvt. Ltd is a joint venture with Bejo Zaden B.V., Holland and Sheetal Seeds in India based at Jalna, Maharashtra. Bejo Sheetal has excellent breeding programs in tropical vegetable crops such as tomato, hot pepper, eggplant, sweet pepper, short day onion, okra, bottle gourd, bitter gourd, ridge gourd, pumpkin, cucumber, and true potato seeds. Vibha Agrotech is the fastest growing crop genetics and hybrid seeds company based at Hyderabad, India and is a leading producer of cotton, sunflower, rice, mustard, corn, pearl millets, sorghum, wheat and pulses. Since its founding, ISAAA has been principally sponsored by philanthropic foundations, and cosponsored by a donor support group consisting of public and private institutions.

For more information about the new donors, visit http://www.vibhaseeds.com/ and http://www.bejosheetalseeds.com/.  For more information about biotech development in India contact b.choudhary@cgiar.org and k.gaur@cgiar.org of the ISAAA South Asia Center.