Public- Private Partnership to Advance the goals of BGRI

Usha Barwale Zehr August 20, 2013

Last Visit in 2005

Then and Now

•  Appox 400 million population

•  Hunger and starvation •  No food reserves -

Imports •  Productivity challenges •  Serious commitment of

the politicians to change this

•  Private sector just beginning

•  Approx. 1.12 b population

•  Significant prevalence of poverty and malnutrition

•  Bumper production in the last few years

•  Grainaries over flowing with grain

•  Distribution challenges •  100s of companies

operating across the country

BGRI

•  systematically reducing the world’s vulnerability to stem, yellow, and leaf rusts of wheat

•  advocating/facilitating the evolution of a sustainable international system to contain the threat of wheat rusts

•  continue the enhancements in productivity required to withstand future global threats to wheat

Cereal Price Indices for India, Three Year Averages

100  

110  

120  

130  

140  

150  

160  

“Take it to the farmer” •  What does the farmer want;

–  Higher yields •  Disease resistance •  Germplasm/Genetics •  Traits

–  Higher market price •  Grain quality

–  Lowers costs •  Fertilizer •  Pesticide •  Irrigation

“Take it to the farmer” •  What do we have

–  Better germplasm, modern breeding tools –  Hybrids –  GM

•  Our challenges –  Climate change –  Water –  Inputs in general

“Take it to the farmer” •  What does the processing industry want

–  Price –  Quality –  Market

Seed cycle

Germplasm

Breeding

Product (HYV, F1, GM) Production

QA Processing

Market/Farmer

A more recent partnership example

Bt brinjal

•  Most popular vegetable in India after potato •  Meaty texture, nutritious, staple in vegetarian diets •  25 calories per serving, with no fat!

Brinjal or eggplant Common Vegetable

Major concern for brinjal cultivation: damage caused by insect pests

Shoot damage Fruit  damage  

IIVR Varanasi IIVR

Varanasi

Current status

•  Cleared all the studies •  Approved for safety •  Awaiting commercial clearance from Ministry

Wheat •  Research related

–  Rust resistance breeding (conventional and biotech), also surveillance

–  High throughput molecular breeding platforms –  GM traits (NUE, PUE, Water use, herbicide

tolerance……) –  Quality

•  Process or market related –  Production –  QA –  Marketing and extension

Before  Roundup  Spray  

10  Days  A9er  Spray  

Before  &  A1er  Roundup  Spray  

5  Days  A9er  Spray  

15  Days  A9er  Spray  

NUE Null NUE NUE

NUE Rice GH Efficacy K-12

Null NUE NUE NUE

Ø Null plants have less tillers Compared to NUE plants Ø Border effect is apparent showing more tillers in border rows

Seed requirement for the current seed replacement rate

States Acreage (m ha)

existing SRR (Qty. m t)

Uttar Pradesh 9.52 0.32 Madhya Pradesh 3.79 0.07 Punjab 3.53 0.10 Haryana 2.46 0.07 Rajasthan 2.29 0.08 Bihar 2.16 0.05 Gujarat 1.09 0.03 All India 27.75 0.77

One truck = 9 to 15 tons

Key ingredients for successful partnership

•  Desire to bring about a paradigm shift in annual growth rates

•  Common goal, research is only the beginning!! •  Adoption of resistant varieties •  Total support at the highest levels •  Comparative advantages leveraged rather than

competition •  Ownership of intellectual property •  Alignment of policies to allow transfer of

knowledge, materials and value

Partnership is essential

Thank You