Monsanto to develop drought resistance crops

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New Delhi, Mar 16: The US seed multinational, Monsanto, will deprive China of its second generation Bt technology due to intellectual property violation. Instead, it is ready to transfer the next generation transgenic technology to India.

“We had transferred our first generation Bt cotton technology to China and had a bad experience. That country has no respect for intellectual property rights,” executive vice president, Monsanto Inc, Jerry Steiner, told FE.

“We are ready to transfer our next generation transgenic technology to India,” he added.

Steiner said that his company was concentrating on developing new transgenic traits of three key crops like corn, soybeans and cotton. These crops will be developed for drought resistance, for ensuring higher and stable yields in rainfed areas and for ensuring lesser use of nitrogenous fertilizers.

The next generation of transgenic soybeans will be producing ‘heart-healthy oils’. Transgenic fruits and vegetables would be developed for ‘increasing flavour’. These transgenic crops would be developed within a decade and a half. Steiner claimed that Bt cotton cultivation has helped farmers raise their income. “The very fact that area under Bt cotton is increasing shows the growing acceptability among farmers,” he said.

However, he admitted there were failure of Bt cotton crops in some areas of the country and attributed it to ‘weather conditions’. When asked about how much profit his company earned on account of 5 years of Bt cotton cultivation in India, he quipped, “We do not maintain country specific accounts.”

Monsanto has transferred Bt technology to the joint venture Mahyco Monsanto Biotech (MMB). MMB apart from marketing Bt cotton seeds produced by Mahyco has sub-licenced the technology to 23 Indian seed companies.

On the issue of high pricing of Bt cotton seeds, Steiner said, “It is a competitive market. Farmers buy our seeds despite the price factor.”

Steiner also interacted with the industry and exporters at luncheon session organised by the Confederation of India Industries (CII) here on Friday. Exporters raised the issue of global consumers not preferring GM food and this may come in the way of export prospects. To this Steiner replied, “Consumers preference may be different, but farmers gain through cultivation.”