The document discusses the erosion of agro-biodiversity in India due to modern agriculture practices. It analyzes the impact on crops like paddy and cotton through two case studies. India once had a wide diversity of crop varieties and livestock breeds but green revolution prioritized high-yielding varieties of rice, wheat and cotton, replacing many local varieties. This has led to genetic erosion and increased vulnerabilities. The document advocates for more sustainable agriculture that protects diversity.

1. Convention on Biodiversity
Modern Agriculture and
Erosion of Agro-biodiversity
3rd October, 2012 from 13:15 - 14:45 at hall no. Room 1.06 - Level 1 at Hitex
Dr. G.V. Ramanjaneyulu
Veena V. Rao
Organized by Centre for Sustainable Agriculture

2. Objectives of the study
• This paper analyses how agro-diversity is being
eroded in the name of modernizing agriculture,
taking two case studies i.e., paddy and cotton.
• It aims to come up with a larger framework for
people and government to adopt and move
forward making agriculture sound ecologically and
economically sustainable.

7. India: The home of diversity
• India is one of the eight primary centres of origin of
cultivated plants
• Centre of crop diversity, including about 375 closely
related wild species mainly of rice, several important
pulses, millets, vegetables, fruits and fibre plants.
• Nearly 140 breeds of domesticated animals are also
found here.
• With just 2.4% of the world's land area , India accounts
for over 45,000 recorded species of plants and 91,000
recorded species of animals even while supporting
almost 18% of human population as well as a large
livestock population.

8. India one of the 12 mega biodiversity centres
S.No., Name of the Crop Number of Varieties/ Breeds
1. Rice 100,000 Varieties
2. Mango 1000 Varieties
3. Sorghum 5000 Varieties
4 Brinjal 3500 varieties
4. Cattle 27 Breeds
5. Goats 22 Varieties
6. Sheep 40 Breeds
7. Poultry 18 Breeds
8. Buffalo 8 Breeds

9. Diversity is the key for Indian Agriculture
• Array of Climatic, ecological, agro-ecological conditions
• Locally adapted crop varieties and varied agricultural practices .
• Ability to use combination of biological, social, cultural and
political forms of diversity and vis-à-vis integrated, networked
to manage risk and adapt to change;
• Agriculture practice encompassed the great flexibility and
variety of production and management technology.
• Variety of production strategies; promoting resource sharing
and other forms of reciprocity.
• Offers flexibility and resilience of advantage for farmers on
socio-economic, environmental, cultural and climate changes.

10. Pre-Green Revolution
Historical…
• In the era of kings and plenty, as late as 1700’s there were rich
agricultural deltas in prosperous parts of India namely in Bengal and
Madras.
• An array of grain crops like bajra, ragi, sorghum and other minor millet
grown in rainfed environments.
• India known for cottons from Mohanjadaro days…
• The agriculture yields in traditional India were high. A classic example
of paddy yields in Chengalpattu district in Tamil Nadu
Colonial…
• Systematic changes in land ownership and use pattern and water
supply.
• Introduction of cash crops; weaning away from food crops; infamous
Bengal Famine.
• Impact of colonial policy was highly detrimental to Indian agriculture.
• Mismanagement of food security by the imperialists.

11. Green Revolution Phase
• Largely influenced by American institutions and technologies
• In the name of advancements in the field of sciences- a technology
driven revolution in agriculture sector with public support
• Malthusianism: Widespread hunger and malnutrition witnessed in
India during 1960s.
• Government initiated a series of programs to promote intensive
agriculture.
• Key investments made in few food crops viz., rice and wheat research
few commercial crops viz., cotton
• Introduction of HYVs/Hybrids combined with use of fertilizers,
chemical inputs and irrigation.
• Green Revolution enabled the nation to increase food production.
• Skewed focus on paddy, wheat and few commercial crops grown under
high external inputs has brought in its own set of economic and
ecological problems.
• Signs of Genetic Erosion and a range of environmental problems were
observed.

12. Shifts in cropping patterns
Million ha
Sl. Crop 1970-71 1980-81 1990-91 2000-01 2010-11
No
1Rice 37.6 40.1 42.7 44.7 42.1
2Wheat 18.2 22.3 24.2 25.7 29.2
3Jowar 17.4 15.8 14.4 9.9 7.1
4Bajra 12.9 11.7 10.5 9.8 9.4
5Maize 5.8 6 5.9 6.6 8.5
6Other cereals 9.9 8.3 5.5 3.3 2.1
7Gram 7.8 6.6 7.5 5.2 9.2
8Tur 2.7 2.8 3.6 3.6 4.4
9Cotton 7.6 7.8 7.4 8.6 11.1

13. Post Green Revolution phase
 Proprietary technologies
 GM intensive
 Monoculture-monopoly
 Decreasing role of public research and extension
 Realignment of links in the trade
 Contract farming-Preference for limited crops
 Long distance trade
 Retail chains

14. 5000 years ago cotton was grown in India & textile technology was
only with the Indus Valley
3000 BC
A little bit of cotton was also grown in Egypt, but it never became important there
cotton was being cultivated on the Pacific coast of Chile and Peru. From India it spread
west to Egypt and Turkey; from the Pacific north to Central America and the Caribbean.

15. • Arboriums were
– suitable for rainfed conditions
– intercropped with various crops
– ripened over a period of time, suiting the harvesting
patterns of small growers
• Hirsutums
– need irrigation
– dampness causes fungal diseases
– Irrigation increases soil salinity and
– Monocropping increases pest attack

16. Staple wise production of cotton %
1947-48
Short
Medium
33%
Long
Extra long
67%
2002-03 2010-11
3% 2% 1%
7%
20%
37%
53%
77%

17. Changes in area under the four Gossypium species
1947
2000 2009

18. 2002 onwards Bt cotton in India:
Non-comprehensive, Unscientific assessment and hasty approvals
• Genetic determinism
• Varied performance: CICR study
• Data falsification
• High cost
• Monoculture of gene
• Monopoly of market
• Genetic pollution
• Resistant development
• RMPs ineffective
• Reduced choices

19. Increase in Cotton Yield: The Full Picture
700
Pre-Bt Cotton Period During Bt Cotton Period 140%
600
70% Increase Only 2% Increase
554
521 524 517 120%
503
500 470 472 481
90% 100%
399 84% 85% 85%
400
80%
308 302 62%
300 278
60%
41%
200 40%
18%
100 20%
6%
0% 0% 0% 1%
0 0%
Data for % area under BT for 2010-11 and 2011-12 are estimates
and for 2005-06 is interpolated Yield in kgs per hectare % area under BT

20. Pesticide usage remains high

21. Politics of cotton seed
• Government of India withdraws 99
var/hybrids in 2003
• AP govt moves to MRTP commission to reduce
seed prices
• GoI withdraws cotton from essential
commodities
• Studies show that farmers are deskilled

22. Bt Bikeneri Narma and Bt NH 44
• 2001: Bt bikeneri narma using event BNLA-601 jointly
developed by UAS, Dharwar and NRCPB, New Delhi
• 2005: Confined Strip Trials
• 2006: multi location field trails in kharif at four
locations each in the Central, South and North Zones
• 2007: GEAC refused permission for LSTs citing Supreme
Court orders.
• 2008: Commercial Approval
• 2009: temporary ban
• 2011: with drawl from commercial cultivation

23. Questions to be answered
• Why it was released in spite of knowing about presence of Mon-531
• if it is a false claim how come it was not detected during the regulatory
testing and approval process
• if contamination is a problem what happend to the originally developed
variety Bt BN-1 and hybrid Bt NHH-44?
• instead of withdrawing these varieties/hybrids why didn’t ICAR freshly
multiply and supply the same varieties/hybrids?
• if contamination has happened and there is no mechanism of reviving
these varieties/hybrids the following two questions need to be answered
– If contamination has happened and is inevitable, how come the two
other events of Bt cotton (one by JK Seeds and another by Nath seeds)
are still in market? And why MON-531 and other events are not yet
contaminated
– The argument that contamination in hybrids can be avoided as seed is
freshly produced every year also do not stand as Bt NH-44 is a hybrid.
– If contamination is inevitable then how ICAR and SAUs working on the
GM crops are going to market their GM crop varieties/hybrids in
future?

24. Not just this….
• CAG report 2004 says NBPGR was not handling the collected
germplasm properly
• In 2000 SRC expressed its specific concern about non-
regeneration of cotton germplasm samples as they were
losing germination viability
• In three out of five cases (test check of 35 import permits
included five cases of cotton import), the applications were
not routed through the Director, CICR, Nagpur, by the
indenters which includes transgenic cotton germplasm in
2003
• Till 2003 ICAR has released 226 varieties (including 43
hybrids). In 2003 CAB recommended to denotify all except
33. Government has denotified more than 100 since then
• In 2005 several cases of non bt cotton getting contaminated
with Bt were reported..

25. Paddy Case
• Over a 100,000 land races in India, near about 50,000 varieties
under cultivation
• Chhattisgarh alone housed over 22,000 Rice landraces.
• West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha had over 15,500 Rice
landraces until 1975.
• Over 14,200 of these varieties were shipped to IRRI between
1965-75.
• The extant varieties include: FLOOD-TOLERANT, DROUGHT-
TOLERANT, SALTTOLERANT, AROMATIC AND MEDICINAL
VARIETIES
• Today we have 85% of rice coming from 10 varieties
• Wide diverse growing conditions changed to ponding conditions

26. Diversity in shape, size, color and content
Jugal
Satheen

28. Yield myth
Vareity Modal no. of grains/panicle 1000 grain wt Yield (t/ha)
(g)
IR 36* 89 20.9 6.68
IR 72* 88 22.5 7.46
IR66160-121-4-5-3# 112 22.6 7.8
Bahurupi 248 20.2 7.60
NAGRA 207 17.2 7.12
* Peng et.al 2000. Crop Science 40: 307-314
# IRRI 1997. IRRI program report Los Banos

29. Hybrid Rice
• AP first state to release hybrid seeds and produces
80 % of hybrid rice seed
• Area under hybrid rice gradually increasing in the
country
• Collaborative projects under PPP
• Chinese Super Rice Hybrid
• Public supported projects

30. GM Rice –the major threat
• Directorate of rice research
– Golden Rice
– Iron-dense rice
– Bt Rice
• Hyderabad University
– Flavanoid rich rice (to boost antioxidant levels) using Nootripathu
traditional variety from Tamil nadu
• Osmania University
– Bt rice
• Mahyco
– Bt rice
• Liberty link rice contamination in US
• GM Basmati rice research and trials stopped for trade security
reasons
• What about GM rice trails in centres of diversity and non
basmati growing areas?

31. High Micro Nutrient Contents in Rice
Folk variety Fe (mg/kg) Zn (mg/kg)
Kelas 13.8 35.5
Noichi 8.0 46.0
Parmai-sal 15.0 42.5
Kabiraj-sal 9.5 36.8
Kalabhat 39.3 26.8
IET 7029 1.9 31.4
MS13 7.0 34
Source: anandan (2011); Anandan & Debal Deb

32. Alternative Cereals for iron
Millet Fe content (mg/100 g)
Pearl Millet 16.9
Barnyard Millet 15.2
Little Millet 9.3
Foxtail Millet 2.8
MS13 Rice 3.0

33. Β-Carotene in various plants
Species Edible part Β-Carotene (µg/100 g)
Indian Mustard (Brassica Flower 16000
compestris)
Kanta note (Amaranthus Leaf 10900
spinosus)
Edible Jute (Corchorus Leaf 10200
capsularis)
Drumstick (Moringa Leaf 7500
oleifera)
Red Amaranth Leaf 5100
(Amaranthus gangeticus)
Golden rice Grain 160

34. Millet Diversity

35. Attractive research hybrid seed segments
Marketshare by value of Key Key Hybrid Crops: Sales
Hybrid Crops
70,000 140
12% 6%
Production (MT)
Sorghum 8% 120
60,000 Value (US $ Mn.)
Bajra 50,000 100
8%
40,000 80
Maize
(
6% 30,000 60
Sunflower
20,000 40
Cotton
10,000 20
Vegetables
60% 0 0
Cotton Maize Sorghum Bajra Sunflower
Cotton is the most important segment because of a high percentage of
cultivated area under research hybrids.

36. Industry driven technology and cropping pattern
In terms of value, vegetables is the largest segment, accounting for 17% of
the total market.
Realisations as against average market prices of seeds of key crops are as
under,
Crop Average market price Estimates- % Net Realization*
GM Hybrid cotton 650 Rs/packet (450 g) 120
Hybrid Maize 450 Rs/bag (5 Kg) 125
Hybrid Cotton 350 Rs/packet (450g) 30
Hybrid Bajra 110 Rs/bag(1.5 Kg) 15
Hybrid Jowar 120 Rs/bag (3 Kg) 15
Wheat 400 Rs/bag (40 Kg) <5
Research wheat 1400 Rs/bag (20 Kg) 25
•After deducting all costs except interest, depreciation, overheads

37. Public sector no different
• 5 NRCs, 42 CRIs, 4 national bureaus, 10 project
directorates, 28 NRCs, and 82 AICRPs, 31 SAUs
• Only few crops
– Paddy, Wheat, Maize, Cotton, Soybean,Vegetables
• Large chunk of money on Hybrid research and
Genetic engineering

38. Biodiversity under threat

39. Recommendations
• Increase Public Investments on Sustainable
Agriculture
• Strengthen Public Institutions of Research,
Extension and Marketing Mechanisms
• Protecting Communities’ Agro-biodiversity
Rights

40. Increase Public Investments on
Sustainable Agriculture
• Pro-farmer agriculture crop research in Public Sector undertakings with
accountability systems in place.
• Integrate Economic and Environmental Costs of Agro-technologies into
various agricultural research establishments.
• Investments in promotion of agro-biodiversity by way of popularizing,
promoting open source model and boost community grain and seed bank
models for revitalizing agro-biodiversity.
• Promote Agro-ecological approaches in agriculture.

41. Strengthen Public Institutions of Research,
Extension and Marketing Mechanisms
• Develop comprehensive policy on cropping pattern and crop improvement
at the state level and carve out agro-ecological policy for entire nation.
• Promulgate and advocate in-situ conservation and participatory gene
banks with integrated management systems.
• Develop and chalk out clearer guidelines for Public-Private Partnership for
agriculture sector under Section (7) of National Biodiversity Act with
clearer accountability systems.
• Institutionalize agro-biodiversity use through integration into various
government schemes i.e, Mid-day meals, ICDS and PDS.
• Initiate and Integrate agro-biodiversity conservation as part of the school
curriculum across country.
• Create market demand for native land race varieties through institutional
mechanisms and develop structures and mechanisms to integrate
producers and consumers.

42. Protecting Communities’ Agro-
biodiversity Rights
• Maintain register on National Biodiversity and ensure community rights.
• Restore, promote and protect natural rights of communities over seeds and
biodiversity and not as residual rights which are currently mentioned under Plant
Variety Protection and Farmers Rights Act
• Declare all the germplasm material in custody of National Bureau of Plant
Genetic Resources (NBPGR) and other National Bureaus, Agricultural Research
stations, and other public gene banks as ‘Open Source’ and use legal instruments
to keep further derivatives ‘open sourced’
• Formulate National Access Policy on genetic resources and protect them from
being appropriated for private gains.
• Implement Recommendations of M.S. Swaminathan Task Force on Biotechnology
and Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel to keep biodiversity hotspots GM free.
• Ban patents on any living forms including genes.
• Replace Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India Bill with National Biosafety
policy with a clearer Liability and Redress mechanisms.