Transforming Indian Agriculture – Technology Applications Bharat Char 4 th 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 on imports 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 intensity and 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: mt (39% being chickpea) Consumption: mn tonnes. Imports: mn tonnes Import value : 2.3 Bn US$ Potential exists for improving yields significantly by introducing WUE as lack of irrigation is the major constraint on productivity Pod borer resistance another major potential contributor for yield protection WUE for Pulses: Chickpea

Sugarcane: constraints and potential solutions High water requirement crop: 250 tonnes of water needed to produce 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 two degree centigrade increase in temperature Weeds have been estimated to cause 12 to 72 % reduction in cane yield An average crop of sugarcane yielding 100 t/ha removes 208 kg 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 a total of 255 lakh tonnes ( )  To meet the food needs of the country by 2025 – 240 mn t of cereals and 200+ mn tonnes of veg/fruits – India may have to increase its plant nutrient supply to over lakh tonnes. (IIM-A, NAAS)  Subsidy for budgeted Rs 72,969 cr, soil health impacted due to skewed NPK ratio  Application of NUE technology is conservatively estimated to achieve 10-20% 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 N efficiently in various cellular processes such as amino acid synthesis This allows for increased biomass of the plant using the same amount of input N with 15-20% gain seen in the greenhouse Greenhouse trials in rice and cotton have been completed, and potential commercial lines identified. Permission for field trials has been sought for K-2015 with potential commercialization in

An enabling environment Long development cycles require a predictable regulatory process Process is robust but lack of movement on field trials is a major hindrance to evaluation of new technologies outside the 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 ~***~