Reports positive impact of hybrid variety on socio-economic development.

Now, consumers can make ‘informed choice’ on buying packaged food products

Consumers in India can now make “informed choice” on whether they want to buy packaged food products that are genetically modified or contain genetically modified ingredients. The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, in an extraordinary gazette notification, has made an amendment to make labelling of every package containing genetically modified food mandatory from January 1, 2013.

GM crops that make their own insecticide also deliver benefits for their conventional plant neighbours, a study in China has concluded.

A ban on the use of crops with transgenic traits is unscientific and India needs new technologies to raise farm yields

New Delhi Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh has criticised the government for its ‘failure’ to invest in public sector-initiated biotech research in agriculture, even as he stressed the need for scientific validation of the impact of Bt cotton on the sector.

“There are serious scientific issues raised by responsible scientists on Bt cotton - yield fatigue, immunity to pests, toxicity, etc. These have to be studied carefully. The failure of the public sector Bt cotton initiative is very unfortunate and we must have a strong publicly-funded and publicly-managed biotech initiative in agriculture,

Agri-biotech and plant breeding company Krishidhan Seeds, a developer of commercial hybrid seeds for Indian agriculture market has announced the launch of Praja, a new variety of BT cotton seed.

The use of Bt cotton seeds has had a positive impact on the overall socio-economical development of the farmers in the country, including in Andhra Pradesh, over the last decade, says a study.

Cotton production in Andhra Pradesh has increased 79.45 per cent per hectare with hybrid Bt cotton seeds, while the area under cultivation and cotton productivity have increased 9.45 per cent and 2.32 per cent respectively, leading to a 575 per cent increase in net returns for the farmers.

The opinion on the success of second generation of genetically modified BT cotton variety, Bollgard 2, in the state is chiefly polarised.