Barwale spoke to The Financial Express at length on various issues that hamper India's agriculture growth. Excerpts:

On the World Food Prize award

Great, though I consider myself to be a mere symbolic person in improving the country's planting seed sector (which is not supplied to theoilseed crushing industry for edible and industrial oils and de-oiled cakes). Our research has led to development of more than 300 hybrid varieties of rice, wheat, corn, shorghum, oilseeds, fruits and vegetables.

On whether Mahyco is developing other hybrid seed varieties

Yes, we are continuously developing number of high yielding seed varieties for soyabean, rapeseed mustard, rice, wheat, sunflower, millet (bajra), vegetables. We are also working on developing pest-resistant high-yielding cottonseed variety.

Of late, soyabean has assumed renewed importance in the country and given its delicate nature, the commercial application could be only after couple of years. Monsanto has big interest in soyabean's growth in the country. We are aggressively surveying area that could be used for improving soyabean crop. The research is being conducted jointly with our partners Monsanto and Asgrow of USA (owned by Monsanto). Once available, it could improve soyabean seeds availability by around 20 per cent--abig quantity.

On specific goal in improving seed availability

Farmers these days grow any crop that would be profitable to them.

Therefore, our goal is very clear: Prosperity for the farmers, for, if the farmers prosper, by using our high-yielding variety seeds, only then can we make profits. And we are here to make profits. And it is only through our profits, we'll be able to provide better, high-yielding seed varieties necessary for increasing population both within and outside the country.

Technological developments in both genetic engineering and biotechnology will be very important in the future which will help bring revolution in agriculture for getting additional yield on the same available land.

On government's delays in passing legislations to attain this goal

Government has proposed the Plant Varieties Protection Act. It's unfortunate that there is a delay. There is a collective political will at the government level. It has recently written to the Geneva-based Union forProtection of (Plant) Varieties (UPOV) whereby Indian government can be covered under the renewed provisions of 1993 amendments that offer wider area for plant protection. Till recently India was covered under the 1978 treaty, the provisions of which were said to be restrictive. Now that the provisions of UPOV have been expanded, India wants to be covered by these provisions under a renewed treaty. Till India is a party to the renewed treaty, it cannot pass the necessary Plant Varieties Protection Act.

All these delays cost the country dear. There is an urgent need to hasten the process of enacting all such possible legislations that are aimed at improving the lot of farmers. If quick decisions are made, the resultant benefits too could be faster for all those concerned, including industry and government. So, with Indian Council for Agricultural Research (Icar) and Department of Agriculture we are all keen to see that the necessary legislation is passed at the earliest. We will continue to persuade allconcerned authorities to hasten the process aimed at benefiting the farmers.

It is only after these legislations that the plant breeding activity will get the necessary phillip, the recognition and protection even to the Icar-bred varieties in the country.

On the recent oilseed shortage and the demand for imports

Oilseeds availability as a whole has improved a lot over the past few years. The government's technology mission on oilseeds too has been active. All this has increased the role of private seed industry in the market. However, there still is more opportunity in improving oilseed availability by using hybrid seeds yielding higher seed crop per acre of land. It is rather unfortunate that the private sector oilseed crushing industry is demanding imports, for, imports disrupts the delicate price balance prevailing in the subsidised seed (through state seed corporations) sector and open market.

This goes against the interest of the farmers who then are disinclined to sow seeds for thenext season, thereby further reducing the seed availability, and forcing the industry to remain dependent on imported seeds. What the industry needs to do is to see that more oilseeds are available from the domestic market.

On whether there is any oilseed shortages and whether this is linked to the low support prices

There surely is shortage of oilseeds in the country. However, given the current level of prices for edible oils in the country, it could not be said that seed prices are low by any standards. The shortage of oilseeds and oils therefore, is perceived and better understood in the light of the increasing population, the pace of which is faster than the supply of oilseeds in the country.

On the `terminator gene' variety of seeds, the patents for which Monsanto got recently in the US

This is for Monsanto to clarify. However, I'll say that the reality is totally different from what has been published so far. It's only the concept and not real seeds which has got patent rights.Also, it is not Monsanto which has received the patent, but Delta & Pineland (engaged in developing cotton seed varieties with US Department of Agriculture), one of the companies that was intended to be taken over by Monsanto. The deal is not through as yet, it may not even go through. Also, it will take more than 10 years before such terminator genes can be marketed commercially. Currently, there is no such terminator gene in existence. So, all I can say is that it is too premature to raise objections in this regard.

On the escalating cost of vegetables, especially onions

Extended rains in October has been one of the major reasons for damaging the crops, including onions. In times of technological advancement, it is unfortunate that we are increasingly dependent on fresh vegetables. The solution of meeting shortages is to create a system whereby there is continuous availability of products, may be frozen or debydrated fruits and vegetables. There has to be mechanism that store processed productsin times of surplus to keep the supply chain uninterrupted. But here, in times of surplus we don't process and in times of shortages we rush to import. The solution is to improve availability of vegetables, by say importing dehydrated vegetables (including onions) which are cheaper than the fresh hydrated onions. The dehydrated onions will be not only cheaper but even will give almost similar taste once dipped in water to give the natural water content. Import of 200 tonnes of dehydrated onions equals 2000 tonnes of hydrated onions.