The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : GM crops essential, but need monitoring: William Dar

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Tuesday, Jun 28, 2011
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

GM crops essential, but need monitoring: William Dar

Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD: Director-General, ICRISAT (International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics) William D. Dar, called for strict monitoring of genetically-engineered crops without losing sight of the fact that they are essential for increasing food production.

He said it was imperative that everyone think of how poverty of a billion hungry people could be reduced, if not eradicated. “By the year 2050, there will be about 9.2 billion people to be fed globally and food production has to be increased accordingly,” he said, while addressing scientists at the ICRISAT campus here on Monday.

Dr. Dar said it was time to apply new products being developed and added that this is possible only with political will. “We have to use genetically-engineered products but it goes without saying that a fool-proof monitoring mechanism has to be in place”, he said.

In just 15 years after commercialization, accumulated biotech crops exceeded 1 billion hectares in 2010, a milestone that signifies biotech crops are here to stay, said the Chair of International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), Clive James, who authored ISAAA's annual report for 2010.

He said it was indeed a challenge, but the private and public sector had to be brought in to work together, adding that there was a need to change people's perception too.

A balanced approach between conventional farming practices and bio-technology was the way forward to feed the millions, he stated.

Kiran K. Sharma, principal scientist (Cell Biology), Pooja Bhatnagar Mathur, scientist (Cell/Molecular Biology), Genetic Transformation Laboratory took the participants around ICRISAT at the four-day Media Colloquium on ‘Demystifying Crop Biotechnology: Issues and Concepts for the Asian Media'.

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