Upscaling Genetic Enhancement Technologies to Accomplish SDG's

1. Upscaling Genetic Enhancement
Technologies to Accomplish SDGs
H. S. Gupta
Former Director General
Borlaug Institute for
South Asia

2. Monumental Challenge
• Providing enough healthy food for the people
everywhere is a daunting challenge.
• But there is a reason for optimism. History
shows that human ingenuity powered by
science can greatly expand our ability to
provide adequate food.
• India imported 10 MT of wheat in 1965 to
feed 1/3rd of its today’s population

3. India today….
• A country with right to food enacted
by the Parliament
• 4.2% of the world’s water
• 2.4% of the world’s land
• 17% of the world’s human & 11%
livestock population
• 142 m ha cultivated & 45% net
irrigated
• Exporter of rice, wheat, cotton
• Importer of pulses & edible oil
• 16% earning of total exports (₹ 2.4
lakh crores) is from agriculture
• 13.7% contribution to GDP
• 61.7 Million children are stunted
• 70% of the population is protein
deficient
Commodity
Groups
India’s position in
World Food
Basket (2016-17)
(Production (MT)
and world rank)
Food Grain 273.38 (III)
- Rice
- Wheat
- Maize
Coarse cereals
Pulses
109.15 (II)
97.44(II)
26.14
44.39
22.4 (I)
Oilseeds 33.2 (V)
Hort . Produce
- Fruits
-Vegetables
Milk
285.8
91.3 (II)
167.2 (II)
140 (I)

4. Food Production & Requirement
Production 2016-17
(Million tonnes)
• Rice 109.1 120 47
• Wheat 97.4 100 25 122
• Coarse cer 44.4 40
• Pulses 22.4 25
• Total 273.38 285 82 355
Vegetables 167 127
Fruits 91 86
Demand 2030
(Million tonnes)
156
47
30
Rice
Wheat
Coarse
cereals
Pulses
Total
180
110
Demand 2020
(Million tonnes)
Can we meet the demand or India has to import food grains in
2023?

5. Trend in yield of major crops in India (Kg/ha)
Rice Wheat Pegion-
pea
Chick-
pea
1950-51 668 663 788 482
1960-61 1013 851 849 674
1970-71 1123 1307 709 663
1980-81 1336 1630 689 657
1990-91 1740 2281 673 712
2000-01 1901 2708 618 744
2010-11 2239 2988 654 894
2016-17 2480 2851 716 813
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
YIELD(KG/HA)
Yield of major crops
(Kg/ha)
Rice Wheat Pegionpea Chickpea
Policy aberration?
Intensity and investment in pulse crops has been low

6. Source – FAO Stat.
Crop yields measured as weighted averages of
Yields for wheat-rice-and-coarse-crop

7. Highest Yield of Major Crops in World
(t/ha)
Crop India World Highest USA
Paddy 3.82 4.37 11.32 Aus 7.53
Wheat 3.22 3.01 11.20 Egypt 3.11
Maize
2.7* 5.19 9.59 USA 9.59
Pulses 0.65 0.87 3.80 France 1.84
Vegetables 13.84 18.98 36.9 (Spain) 31.79
Fruits 11.73 10.92 23.9 (USA) 23.9
Groundnut 1.14 1.58 3.5 (USA) 3.5
*Maize productivity and area can be increased to produce 50 MT

8. Upscalable Technologies / Innovations
• Accelerated breeding of self-pollinated crops with
wider gene pool and high throughput phenotyping
• Developing and deploying high yielding nutrient-
rich hybrids in field and vegetable crops
• Deployment of Genetically Modified Crops (GM)
with proven potential around the globe
• Promotion of Biofortified crops
• Genome Engineering (CRISPER/Cas9)

9. Self Pollinated Crops

10. 0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Yield(kg/ha)
Area(mha)andProduction(mt)
Area(mha) Production(mt) Yield (kg/ha)
1970 as base year
Prodn.x 4.5
Yield x 2.5
Area x 2
1970-71: 23.8 MT-1307 kg/ha
2016-17: 97.4 MT.-3200 kg/ha
Area, Production and Yield of wheat in India

11. Semi-dwarf Landmark Varieties of Wheat
90% gain in 45 yrs
72 kg/ha/yr gain
.
HD2967-Resistant
to all 3 rusts
HD3086- Replacement
of HD2967
>400 varieties developed
• Mostly selection from
introduced segregating lines
• CGIAR’s limitation in
utilizing Indian cvs.
• Local germ plasm not used
• Accelerated breeding with
high throughput genomic
and phenomic selection

12. Pusa
Revolutionizing Wheat Phenotyping with Drone
Low flying eyes in the sky collect data for better prediction

13. Data through UAV
1. Time: 30 min Vs 1 whole day for 2000
plots
2. Auto extraction of data at plot level
3. Visual Orthomosaic
4. NDVI
5. Plant height
6. Lodging
NDVI value through UAV

14. Mega Variety of Wheat

15. Superfast spread of HD 2967
 Released after PBW 343 (1995)
 Area covered during: 16-17- 8 m ha
 Highest Breeder seed indent- 2,429 q
 Approximate value of addl. Wheat @
Rs. 14,000/t : Rs 40,000 crores/yr
 New var. HD 3086
HD 3043
HD2967 PBW343 HD2967
IndianAgriculturalResearchInstitute

16. Duration(Days)
Productivity(t/ha)
Basmati Rice Varieties
Breaking the unholy alliance
Combining high yield with short duration in Basmati Rice

17. Hybrids of field Crops and
Vegetables

19. Area,Production
Productivity
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
0.00
5.00
10.00
15.00
20.00
25.00
30.00
Area (m ha) Production (m t) Productivity (kg/ha)
Land Races
DC Composites &
DTC/DC DC/TWC/SCH
/Composites SCH
Composites
SCH/TWC/DC
/Composites
Growth of maize in India

20. Develop & deploy Hybrids*
• Maize- Single cross hybrids to cover more area (1st hybrid in 1961)
• Pearl Millet- Promising hybrids to cover more area (1st hybrid
released in 1965)
• Pigeon pea- Yield stagnating for the last 50 yrs. ICRISAT made a
break through but it needs to be pursued vigorously.
• Rice – Area under hybrid rice to increase, 90/1190 hybrids released
but area covered is ~3 Mha only. Yield level 8t/ha
• Sorghum & Sunflower- Important crops
• Wheat- For breaking of yield barrier, hybrids should be 1st choice
• Mustard- Hybrid mustard need to be cleared for cultivation
• Vegetables- Almost all vegetable hybrids show distinct advantage
*NATP launched in late 1990s had a project on Hybrid Crops

21. Impact of Hybrid Rice Area and Yields
Why are we so slow in adoption?
Source: Gulati and Chen (2010)

22. Super Hybrid Rice of China

23. GM CROPS

24. Technology is the driver of growth
Are we open to new technology?
Why are GM crops at crossroads?
• 180 m ha area under transgenic crops in 28 countries
• 46% in developing countries (China, India, Brazil,
Argentina, Paraguay and South Africa)
• 3-4% annual growth in area (6 Mha/year)
• Crops: Soybean, Maize, Cotton, Canola
• Traits: Insects, Herbicides, Viruses
• More than 50 crops and forestry trees being targeted

26. Global Area (MHa) of Biotech Crops, 2014: by Country
Biotech Mega Countries
50,000 hectares (125,000 acres), or more
1. USA
2. Brazil*
3. Argentina*
4. India*
5. Canada
6. China*
7. Paraguay*
8. Pakistan*
9. South Africa*
10. Uruguay*
11. Bolivia*
12. Philippines*
13. Australia
14. Burkina Faso*
15. Myanmar*
16. Mexico*
17. Spain
18. Colombia*
19. Sudan*
73.1
42.2
24.3
11.6
11.6
3.9
3.9
2.9
2.7
1.6
1.0
0.8
0.5
0.5
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.1
0.1
Less than 50,000 hectares
Honduras*
Chile*
Portugal
Cuba*
Czech Republic
Romania
Slovakia
Costa Rica*
Bangladesh*
* Developing countries
3 to 4%
Increase over 2013
28 countries which have adopted
biotech crops
In 2014, global area of biotech
crops was 181.5 million hectares,
representing an increase of 3 to
4% over 2013, equivalent to 6.3
million hectares.
Source: Clive James, 2014.
Million Hectares
87%
Americas
2% Africa
11% Asia

27. Biotech Crop Countries and Mega-Countries*, 2014

28. Biofortified Crops

29. Causes of Malnutrition
• Calorie deprivation
• Protein deficiency
• Micronutrient deficiency
• IRON
• ZINC
• VIT. A &
• FOLATE

30. Meeting Protein Requirement
• 70% of our people are protein deficient
• Import of legumes ~3.4 MT costing 2 billion US $ annually
• Exporting soymeal with 50% protein @ Rs 60/kg protein
worth 16,500 crores
• Importing legumes with 20% protein @ Rs. 75 /kg (Rs
300/kg pulse protein)
• Time to encourage use of soybean consumption-
• Soyprotein is the cheapest : Rs 100-150/kg;
Rs. 300/kg pulses
Rs. 480/kg from eggs;
Rs 1,000/kg from milk

31. Biofortified Crops Released/
Identified for Release
__________________________________
1. Pearl Millet Fe & Zn ICRISAT
2. OSP β-carotene Harvest +
3. Wheat Fe & Zn PAU, IIWBR
4. Rice Zn RRI
5. Lentil Fe IARI
6. Maize* β-carotene IARI
7. Cauliflower* -do- IARI
_____________________________________________
*Identified , expected to be notified shortly

32. Pusa Rudhira
Pusa Asita
Nutritous Vegetable-source of Vitamins and Minerals
Pusa Nayan Jyoti

33. Lycopene rich Tomato in polyhouse of IARI
Exotic hybrids. Can we develop our own hybrids?

34. Genome Engineering

35. Genome Engineering (CRISPER/Cas9)
Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic
Repeats/CRISPR-associated protein 9)
• The ability to cheaply and precisely edit plant genomes without
leaving foreign DNA behind
• A new gene-editing method that helps in modifying crops in hopes
of making them yield more food and resist drought and disease
more effectively.
• Research in the past year has shown that the resulting plants have
no traces of foreign DNA, making it possible that they will not fall
under existing regulations governing genetically modified organisms
and will sidestep many of the consumer concerns over these GMOs.
• Avoids lengthy and expensive regulatory processes involved in
clearance of GMOs.

36. Gene Edited Crops
• A lab in China has used it to create a fungus--resistant
wheat;
• Several groups in China are using the technique on rice
in efforts to boost yields; and
• A group in the U.K. has used it to tweak a gene in barley
that helps govern seed germination, which could aid
efforts to produce drought-tolerant varieties.
• Sainsbury Lab in Norwich is applying the technology to
potatoes, tomatoes, and other crops to fight fungal
diseases.
• The gene-editing technique could be critical in helping us
keep up with the constantly evolving microbes that attack
crops.

37. The Challenge
• Feeding growing population with nutritious
food is a daunting challenge.
• Not easy but not very difficult too provided
– We develop new technology
– Adopt available technology
– Invest more in Ag. R&D
– Do not spread our resources thinly

38. Thanks

39. Can We Feed India in 2050?
• Population- 1.6 billion
• Food grains required- 320 MT
• Feed & Seed – 80 MT
• Total - 400 MT
• Irrigated area- 43.8 Mha (35x10) = 350 MT
• Rainfed 65 (35x2) = 70 MT
• Dryland 34Mha

40. Food Grain Trade Could Lead to
Parched Earth
• 43% of water used for irrigation comes from
aquifers
• Many of these are being used faster than they
could be refilled
• From the year 2000, use of non-renewable
ground water has doubled in China, increased
greatly in India and the US
• Worst offenders are: Mexico, Iran, Saudi Arabia
& China are top 10 users of unsustainable water
in farming