Wednesday September 19, 02:24 AM
ICAR backs terminator technology to curb weeds
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By Economy Bureau
Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the apex agri science body in the country has come out in favour of deployment of terminator technology for control of weeds. Delivering the keynote address at the International Conference on Agricultural Biotechnology, here on Monday, the director-general of ICAR, Mangla Rai said: "Even the controversial terminator technology can be deployed to control dangerous weeds. We should initiate a debate on this issue and conduct necessary research." The conference was organized by the apex industry body, FICCI in collaboration with the department of biotechnology, ICAR and co-sponsored by USDA, Monsanto and Mahyco. Terminator technology has been criticized by farmers and NGOs as seeds turn sterile after first generation and can impact other crops in the vicinity. Rai said that acceleration of farm economy can be achieved through transgenic technology. Rice plants can be developed to produce less methane and the productivity of wheat can be enhanced. "The expectations from transgenic technology is high, while the achievements are not to that level. This is why there is widespread criticism," he said. He, however, favoured risk-based assessments before release of transgenic crops. He said under US-India Knowledge Initiative development of transgenic crops and bio-fuel programme would be taken up.
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