"We should not deprive our farmers of the benefits of new technologies which are all the more relevant for India to improve yields. Any protests against scientific research will not help farmers' cause but will only damage country's image", former deputy director of International Crop Research Institute for Semi Arid Tropics (Icrisat) YL Nene said.

Dubbing as misguided and politically-motivated the protest demonstrations against field trials on bollgard-resistant cotton crop by an US multinational company, he said India should not close doors on emerging bio-technology research due to such pressures.

The genetically improved seeds and other hybrid technologies were likely to prove beneficial for farmers in the long run, Nene, whonow heads Asian Agri-History Foundation, said.

"All fears about terminator seed technology are unfounded and reflect ignorance. When best technologies are welcome in all other sectors, why not in farming?", wondered P Chengal Reddy, chairman of the Pedireddy Thimmareddy Farm Research Foundation here.

The genetically improved `bollgard' cotton crop involves usage of seeds containing a bacterium called `bacillus thuringiensis' (BT) which protects cotton from bollworm, the most common pest that attacks cotton crops.

It is claimed that this technology would not only obviate the need for applying pesticides but also helps improve yields significantly. As a result, farmers could reap rich profits.

Since pesticides account for over 60 per cent of total investments by farmers, such technologies would be useful to increase agricultural output, Chengal Reddy said.

"Even now, over 30 per cent of Indian farmers are opting for hybrid seeds and given an opportunity every farmer will like to use them for betteryields", he said.

Citing an example of the thriving poultry industry, he said India was able to excel in the international poultry market solely because it lost no time in adopting modern technologies which were similar to terminator technology.

Echoing similar views, Nene said "had India closed its doors on new seed technologies from the west a few decades ago we would not have had so many varieties of vegetables now".

Meanwhile, a group of agricultural scientists, plant breeders and geneticists who visited one of the Monsanto's field trial centre in the state concluded that there was nothing harmful in the technology being tested there.

The Monsanto, along with its Indian arm Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company (Mahyco), is in the eye of a storm over suspected terminator seed technology which involves introduction of a gene that terminates germiability of seeds after one-time usage.

Following violent protests and burning of bollgard cotton crop by farmers, Andhra Pradesh government had earlier thismonth ordered stoppage of Monsanto's field trials in the state and suggested that they be carried out in the premises of AP Agriculture University here.

The Monsanto clarified that bollgard cotton seed has nothing to do with the terminator seed technology which is only at a conceptual stage and may take another 10 years for commercial scale development.

But fears were expressed in some quarters that genetically engineered seeds might prove suicidal for farmers as multinational companies would surreptitiously try to capture Indian seed market.

The experts, however, suggested that instead of obstructing entry of new technologies the government should put in place a well-coordinated monitoring mechanism, involving national research institutions to prevent any possible deleterious impact of untested technologies on Indian farmers.

"Unfortunately, several innovative technologies are being denied entry into India. For instance, slow dissolving fertilisers which will prove a boon for farmers are not beingallowed into the country", Chengal Reddy said.