India must boost farm R&D to stay competitive in agriculture: RG Agarwal

RG Agarwal, Group Chairman, Dhanuka Agritech, on Monday said that India’s agriculture sector needs a decisive shift towards technology, innovation and stronger research support.

- SOURAV SHEKHAR

In an exclusive interview with UNI he advocates incentives to push agricultural science developments.

“The withdrawal of the earlier 2 per cent tax exemption on Research and Development (R&D) spending has come at a difficult time,” Aggarwal said, adding that the industry was “already struggling to invest in research due to high costs and limited institutional support. Without incentives, companies find it harder to push scientific development.”

Agarwal, who is also the Chair, Agribusiness Committee, PHDCCI highlighted that India’s R&D expenditure remains among the lowest in the world.

The country spends only 07 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on research, while nations like Israel invest more than 4 per cent. This wide gap directly affects the ability of Indian agriculture to innovate at the pace required.

One of the biggest consequences of low R&D investment is India’s dependence on imported pesticide technology. Agarwal said almost all modern pesticide molecules and formulations are developed abroad because India lacks the research ecosystem needed to build them.