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Agriculture |
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Karnataka Taps Global Biotech Potential
By
Sandhya
Mendonca Tapping their emotions and their brains, the Karnataka government on Monday launched K-GANGA, (Karnataka Global Advisory Networking Group on Agriculture) Chief Minister S M Krishna also announced that a 'biotech corridor', stretching 10 km (from Mehkri Circle to Hebbal Lake) would be the bug of all biotech activities, similar to the IT corridor in another part of the city. Coordinated by Dr C S Prakash, a member of the US Department of Agriculture's advisory committee on agricultural biotechnology, K-GANGA includes leading US-based agricultural scientists and technologists who have their roots in this state. There are two agricultural universities in Karnataka, one in Bangalore and the other in Dharwad. Nearly 400 agriculture graduates from here are working in the US alone. Said DR Prakash, "We are very conscious of having contributed to the brain drain in our younger days. Now, just as leaders in the IT industry have done, we too want to contribute to our homeland. Agriculture is far more vital to the country's economy." K-GANGA, which has eight other prominent professors, will meet both in the US and here to advise the state Agriculture Commission and the two agriculture universities. The main focus is to increase yield by improving breeds and decreasing dependence on chemicals. Karnataka has lagged behind other states in opting for biotechnology, especially with mavericks like DR M D Nanjundaswamy of the militant Raitha Sangha opposed to it. Dr Prakash is hopeful that going by the example of the Green Revolution that this state accepted soon after Punjab did so, the apprehensions can be overcome. "The cotton crop will be the bottom line. Instead of spraying fertiliser 14 times a year, with the new breed that releases its own pesticide, farmers would need to spray just three times a year. Look at the savings," he said. The government on its part has included horticulture, sericulture and animal husbandry in the new initiative. Obviously on the defensive, the chief minister asserted that the initiative would show that his government was not overly obsessed with IT and is giving more importance to agriculture. This should marginalise quacks in agriculture, he said.
Dated : 08 August 2000
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