Back To The Future

ICAR is open to collaborative research with agri-biotech MNCs, says Director-General Trilochan Mohapatra

- Vivian Fernandes

THE INDIAN COUNCIL of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is open to private partnerships for agri-biotech research, big data analytics and production of seeds with novel traits, says Director General Trilochan Mohapatra.

With a total budget of less than $850 million last year, including for research, the institution which led India into the Green Revolution will be a bit player in the Gene Revolution unless it finds creative ways of collaboration and also trains its money on those projects which have the highest payback for the nation.

“Gone are the days when the public system could meet all the seed needs of the country,” Mohapatra said in an interview to this correspondent. Today, the National Seed Corporation and state seed corporations cannot supply enough because the seed replacement rates are increasing. Some farmers want to change them every year, he said.

“A second area of collaboration is GM (genetic modification) research... partnering with multinationals, if they can put in money and we can do research together to solve a particular problem.”

Early in September, the German agrochemicals company, Bayer, announced it would spend 2.5 billion euros ($2.82 billion) to create infrastructure for innovation over the next three years. This excludes 1 billion euros ($1.13 billion) it will spend annually on R&D.

A wave of consolidation has hit agribusinesses, following the global downturn in commodity prices. Companies are trying to ride the current lean patch by cutting costs and combining strengths. Dow Chemicals and DuPont have merged, ChinaChem has acquired Syngenta, Monsanto was said to be talking to BASF for a merger of their agrichemicals businesses; now it is set to be merged with Bayer, if regulators approve.