January 2007
Jan 30,Business Standard	Surinder Sud: Transgenic success India in spite of being a late entrant is making rapid progress in the field of biotech and ranks fifth in its usage. The area using the biotech variety was 3.8 million hectares in 2006 and has multiplied three times as compared to 1.3 million hectares in 2005. There are 62 varieties of Bt cotton approved for commercialization and are being marketed by MAHYCO, Nath Seeds, Rasi Ankur Seeds etc. There are 15 other crops varieties being developed by private as well as public players. These varieties include rice, maize, wheat, chickpea, and black gram, pigeon pea amongst others. The total R&D investment in India is estimated at USD 25 million per annum. The investment is being used to develop stress tolerant, better quality seeds with more nutritional content and improved yields rather than focusing only on pest tolerant varieties as done in the past.
Jan 18,ISAAA Brief No. 35-2006	Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: 2006 Brief no 35-2006 outlines the position of Genetically Modified (GM) globally. The objective of the report is to consolidate information on the global trends in GM crops. The report highlights the following details. GM crops were introduced in 1996 and ever since the usage of the crop has grown in double digits each year. This has given GM crops the status of being the fastest adapted crop technology worldwide. The year 2006 was a landmark year for GM, 22 countries including 11 industrial and 11 developing countries were using it. During the year the global area under GM crops exceeded 500 million hectares and the 6 major users were USA, Argentina, Brazil, India and China in that order. India overtook China through a greater usage of GM crops in 2006. Herbicide tolerant varieties of cotton, maize, soybean, canola, alfalfa were the most used crop with 68% usage, followed by Bt insect resistant varieties at 19% and stacked traits at 13%. Stacked traits recorded a 30% growth in 2006 compared to the previous year, followed by a 17% growth for insect resistant and 10% for herbicide tolerant varieties.
Jan 14,The Week	Success Mantras of the Globally Employable Indian Ranjana Smetacek is the Director Biotech acceptance at Monsanto, USA. Monsanto has an Asia leadership programme that identifies Indian talent for global operations. As a part of the programme employees are invited for a year wherein they gain insight for broader cross border jobs.
Jan 13,The Economic Times	THE HYBRID SOLUTION A major change in the farming techniques is seen in the past 1 year in the Yavatmal district in Vidarbha, Maharashtra. Amol Malode a farmer used Bollgard I and II, varieties of Bt cotton and made a gain of 14 lakhs. Such examples have led to the increasing use of genetically modified (GM) seeds across Maharashtra. The use of GM seeds has reduced the use of pesticides by 75%. Deputy MD, Mahyco Monsanto India Biotech, Mr Bipin Solanki stated that more than 80% of cottonseeds used in Maharashtra were GM varieties. Monsanto has recorded a 5 times growth in 2006 in comparison with 2005. The large-scale change in usage of GM cotton is nothing short of a new revolution in farming.
Jan 13,The Economic Times	The Silver Lining Beneath The large-scale use of GM cotton in India has marked the beginning of a new revolution. The cotton advisory board has projected a 30% growth in the cotton output for 2006 making India the 2nd largest cotton-producing nation after China. Of the estimated output of 270-lakh bales in 2006, 45 lakh is expected from Maharashtra. The 9 million acres used for cultivating Bt cotton will increase India’s rural income by Rs 7000 crore. Scientists in India are also working on developing GM varieties. They believe that the best is yet to come.
Jan 10,AgNews	Texas A&M Chair, Fellowship Named in Honor of Norman Borlaug Monsanto and Texas A&M University Agriculture have formed the Borlaug-Monsanto Chair for the cause of international crop improvement and plant breeding. The Chair is named after Dr Norman Borlaug who won the Noble peace prize in 1970 for his achievement in plant breeding. Monsanto has contributed USD2.5 million towards the cause, of which USD 2 million will be utilized for funding the Borlaug-Monsanto Chair. The remaining USD0.5 million will be devoted towards an assistantship programme for supporting scientists working on crop improvement and production. Chief Technology Officer of Monsanto, Dr. Robert Fraley stated that plant breeding is the engine for further growth and changes in agriculture. Their partnership with Borlaug and Texas A&M University will further promote research, which will help farmer’s produce fiber, food and fuel to meet the increasing global requirements.
Monsanto.com	With biotech seeds, you may be more confident Biotechnology has helped the farmers in EU reduce crop losses caused by insects and also cut down on the use of insecticide. Spanish farmer Miguel Arazo has described his experience of using genetically modified corn as highly beneficial.
Jan 05,Business Wire	Biotechnology Will Help Meet Demand for Food and Fuel, BIO says The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) stated that biotechnology is helping farmers supply food and raw material for biofuels. Biotechnology helped increase the yield of corn as well as ethanol derived from corn. It also helped in increasing the production of ethanol from cellulose. Thus it helps to meet the global demand for food and fuel. Biotech firms are currently working on technologies that will improve the efficiency of the ethanol process and lead to the transforming of crop residue to fuel. Biofuels have the potential to contribute half of America’s fuel requirement by 2050. BIO's report, "Achieving Sustainable Production of Agricultural Biomass for Biorefinery Feedstock” addresses the topic in detail and is available at http://www.bio.org/ind/biofuel/SustainableBiomassReport.pdf
Jan 03,fibre2fashion.com	USA : Biotechnology influences cotton industry Monsanto has launched new cotton varieties based on herbicide resistant technology. Biotechnology has changed the cotton industry by introducing new varieties of cottonseed in the past few years. For further development it is essential that producers also participate in the development of new varieties.
Jan 03,You Tube	Economist Dr. Jeffrey Sachs on Biotechnology Dr Jeffery Sachs, Director of The Earth Institute and UN Millennium Project, has identified the challenges involved and the solutions for alleviating poverty faced by one sixth of the global population. The use of biotechnology in agriculture will help poor farmers get better yields. Biotechnology has the potential to convert farming from being a means of survival to a profitable alternative for farmers.
Jan 01,The Financial Express	Indian Biotech has finally arrived on the global scene The year 2006 was a landmark year for the Indian biotech industry. During the year Ernst & Young ranked India as the 3rd region after Japan and Korea having the maximum number of biotech firms. New regulations were introduced based on the recommendation of the Mashlekar committee for recombinant drugs and MS Swaminathan committee for GM crops. The agri-biotech witnessed an increase in the Bt cotton acreage. The India biotech industry comprising of 280 firms recorded revenues of USD1.5 billion as compared to USD780 million in 2005 and is expected to touch USD5 billion by 2010. The sector has been growing at around 35-40% in the last 3 years.