Argentine Food Officer Says GM Crops to Raise Farm Income in India

Mr. Fernando Nebbia, Argentina's Undersecretary of Food and Agriculture Policies, stressed the importance of agricultural biotechnology in transforming Indian agriculture and raising the income levels of small farmers in the same way that it did to farmers in Argentina. As the second largest grower of GM crops in the world, Argentina planted 18 million hectares of GM soybean, maize and cotton in 2006. The country increased its farm income by $5.4 billion in the last ten years and created thousands of job opportunities for Argentineans, said Nebbia during an international conference on agricultural biotechnology (AgriBio2007) in New Delhi.

In line with the Argentinean experience, India should accept that genetically modified seeds can be a part of the solution to feed the growing population and reduce the pressure on land. "If we like it or not, transgenics are the order of the day," said Mangala Rai, Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, in collaboration with the Department of Biotechnology and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, organized the two-day conference. The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) and the US Department of Agriculture were also partners in this endeavor.

For details on the conference, visit http://www.ficci.com/press/release.asp or http://www.agribio2007.com. More news on agri-biotech information in India from Bhagirath Choudhary at b.choudhary@isaaa.org.