IN AN unprecedented step, Rajasthan has entered into memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with seven biotech seed firms, two of them among the largest in the world, to tone up its agriculture. It signals a fundamental shift in the way farming operates in India by giving private companies access to the state’s research facilities to test and market their hybrid seeds and other technologies.
The agreements cover almost the entire gamut of agricultural crops from maize, mustard, bajra or pearl millet, Rajasthan’s main crop, and vegetables to cotton and forage crops. Going by the memorandums, it means cultivation of everything from cauliflower, hot peppers tomato and watermelon to cereals would willy-nilly shift to hybrids developed by the multinationals and Indian biotech companies. At the same time, the companies have been given the option to license the varieties and hybrids developed by state agriculture universities and the Rajasthan State Seed Corporation (RSSC), and use their facilities to run trial production of private seeds.
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MONSANTO INDIA LTD & MONSANTO HOLDINGS PVT LTD (Mumbai), Subsidiary and majorityowned firms of Monsanto, USA
Date of MoU: July 27
Crops: Hybrid maize, cotton, vegetables
Main features: Production of hybrid cotton seeds on farmers’ fields and scale up as feasible; fair chance for partnership in government’s seed distribution schemes; evaluate feasibility of company’s protected culture seeds; participation in state’s centre of excellence at Bassi; to get land and facilities from government as per activities |
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PHI SEEDS LTD (Hyderabad) Part of DuPont business
Date of MoU: July 20
Crops: Maize, bajra, mustard, soybean and sorghum
Main features: Establish DNA fingerprinting facilities for testing varietal identity; post-harvest training in fodder banking; company to provide cash funding and access to certain resources and technology |
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ADVANTA INDIA LTD (Hyderabad) Associate company of UPL
Date of MoU: September
23
Crops: Mustard, maize and bajra; fodder crops, vegetables
Main features: Breeding, development of hybrids with improved agronomic parameters; company to provide cash funding and access to certain resources, technology |
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J K AGRI GENETICS LTD
(Hyderabad), Part of JK Organisation
Date of MoU: August 17
Crops: Maize,bajra, sorghum, cotton, fodder beet and vegetables
Main features: Training in DNA fingerprinting for testing varietal purity; company to provide cash funding and access to certain resources and technology |
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KRISHIDHAN SEEDS LTD
(Pune) Part of Karwa group of Industries
Date of MoU: September 1
Crops: Maize, wheat, bajra, castor, mustard, legumes, soybean and sorghum
Main features: Company to provide cash funding and access to certain resources and technology |
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Why the haste?