The environment for the development of crops sciences in India is very negative at the regulatory level, according to Mahyco.
The government is not encouraging innovation, therefore Mahyco has reduced its research efforts on developing genetically modified seeds, said the Chief Technology Officer of the company, Usha Zehr.
Mahyco is one of the oldest and the largest seed companies in the country. Its has a 50:50 joint venture with Monsanto Holdings Pvt Ltd called Mahyco Monsanto Biotech.
This venture has sub-licensed the Bollgard II and Bollgard technologies to around 42 Indian seed companies, each of whom has introduced the genetically modified technologies for making pest-resistant cotton seeds.
India’s massive increase in cotton production in the past 10 years is being attributed to genetically modified seeds. But experts remain divided over the efficacy of the genetically modified seeds and the underlying technology, which has resulted in ordinate delays from the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), the Indian regulatory body for bio-tech crops. GEAC operates under the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
Zehr said that due to the government’s failure to encourage innovation, the agriculture sector is facing the brunt, especially seed companies. Therefore, Mahyco has started looking for businesses in other geographies such as Africa and South Asia, she said.
“It would not be so far-fetched to say that we would stop work in India on certain things and move to other countries,” Zehr said.
The CTO pointed that a number of new technologies for plants are coming up but, in some cases, they will not provide the same protection as GM technologies did for the control of insects and pests.
It has been 11 years and three months since Bollgard II was given clearance by GEAC, but since then no new GM seeds have been given approval.