Transforming Indian Agriculture –
Technology Applications
Bharat Char
4th BIO-NANO Agri Summit 2015
New Delhi
3 Sept 2015
•Protecting current yields
–Insect resistance, disease tolerance
–Climate change-induced challenges: coping with abiotic stresses
–Maximizing yields while optimizing fertilizer inputs
•Deficit in pulses and oilseeds
–Key technologies that can contribute to reducing dependence onimports
•Labour availability and its impact
–Labour-saving technologies
•Subsidy issue on fertilizer
–Higher efficiency uptake of nutrients
Priority areas for India
• 68% of sown area is subject to drought in varying degrees
• Rainfall is erratic in 4 out of 10 years.
• Per capita water availability is steadily declining
increase in population, rapid industrialization, urbanization, cropping intensityand declining ground water level
• Technologies under development
- can protect crop yields by up to 60%
- maintain yields under normal conditions
- possible commercialization by 2020
Source: DAC, 2014
Water availability – a looming crisis
•Area under chickpea: 9.14 m ha
•Production: 8.49 mn tonnes (929 kg/ha)
• Current status of pulses in India is
•Production: 18-19 mt (39% being chickpea)
•Consumption: 22-23 mn tonnes.
•Imports: 3.5-4.0 mn tonnes
•Import value : 2.3 Bn US$
•Potential exists for improving yields significantly by introducingWUE as lack of irrigation is the major constraint onproductivity
•Pod borer resistance another major potential contributor foryield protection
WUE for Pulses: Chickpea
Sugarcane: constraints andpotential solutions
• High water requirement crop: 250 tonnes of water needed toproduce one tonne of sugarcane.
• Critical stages affected severely due to water stress:germination, tillering, ripening
• 30 per cent and more loss in productivity for every twodegree centigrade increase in temperature
• Weeds have been estimated to cause 12 to 72 % reduction incane yield
• An average crop of sugarcane yielding 100 t/ha removes 208kg of N, 53 kg of P, 280 kg of K
• Insect damage reduces yields by an estimated 20%
Key technologies that can be applied: WUE, heat tolerance,herbicide tolerance, NUE, IR
Fertilizer use in India
Consumption in India is 168 lakh tonnes of nitrogen fertilizer out of atotal of 255 lakh tonnes (2012-13)
To meet the food needs of the country by 2025 – 240 mn t of cerealsand 200+ mn tonnes of veg/fruits – India may have to increase its plantnutrient supply to over 400-450 lakh tonnes. (IIM-A, NAAS)
Subsidy for 2015-16 budgeted Rs 72,969 cr, soil health impacted due toskewed NPK ratio
Application of NUE technology is conservatively estimated to achieve10-20% yield gain at existing levels of N fertilizer
Looking at 2025, this translates to significant savings on N fertilizer
Source: DCI&S, DAC
Nitrogen use efficient plants
•Gene technology is available which allows cells to utilise Nefficiently in various cellular processes such as amino acidsynthesis
•This allows for increased biomass of the plant using thesame amount of input N with 15-20% gain seen in thegreenhouse
•Greenhouse trials in rice and cotton have been completed,and potential commercial lines identified.
•Permission for field trials has been sought for K-2015 withpotential commercialization in 2018-19.
An enabling environment
•Long development cycles require a predictable regulatoryprocess
•Process is robust but lack of movement on field trials is amajor hindrance to evaluation of new technologies outsidethe greenhouse
•This has made industry rethink on investments
•Science-based decisions on new technologies a must
•Aligned policy environment between Centre and States
•Harmonise regulatory environment: Seed Bill, BRAI, BDA
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