Technology must be used to boost mustard seed output: SEA on environmental release of GM mustard

Edible oil industry body SEA on Thursday welcomed the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee’s recommendation for environmental release of genetically modified mustard, saying the new technology must be used to boost domestic output and reduce imports of cooking oils. The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) under the Union environment ministry has recommended the environmental release of genetically modified mustard which, according to experts, paves the way for its commercial cultivation.

“It is welcome news. We have been following up this matter since more than 15 years. Any opposition to new technology is not going to help,” Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) Executive Director B V Mehta said.

Some NGOs and misinformed individuals have been opposing introduction of GM (Genetically Modified) crops with disastrous results for the nation, he added.

According to him, the country is importing 60 per cent of its annual edible oil requirements.

“We must use all available technologies to boost our domestic production of oilseeds so that we can become self-reliant in cooking oil production,” he said.

At present, Mehta said the average yield of mustard, a rabi crop, is 1,200 kg per hectare and the domestic annual output is 115 lakh tonnes.

“We need to increase domestic production to 200 lakh tonnes in the next 5-6 years,” he said, adding that the productivity needs to be enhanced by 20-25 per cent.

India imported around 130 lakh tonnes of edible oil during 2020-21 oil year (November-October).

GEAC, the country’s regulator for genetically modified organisms, recommended the “environmental release of mustard hybrid DMH-11 for its seed production and testing as per existing ICAR guidelines and other extant rules/regulations before commercial release”.

“… the field demonstration studies with respect to the effect of GE mustard on honey bees and other pollinators, as recommended in the 136th GEAC meeting, shall also be conducted post-environmental release, simultaneously by the applicant, within two years under the supervision of ICAR,” as per the minutes of GEAC meeting held on October 18.

The transgenic mustard hybrid DMH-11 has been developed by the Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants (CGMCP) at Delhi University.

The government has so far approved (in 2002) only one GM crop, Bt cotton, for commercial cultivation.