Biotechnology

The 1990s witnessed a significant deceleration in growth of rice productivity. The productivity potential of the existing modern rice varieties is getting exhausted especially under irrigated environments. This raises a serious concern about Asia's ability to sustain its food security in the 21st century. To find solutions to reverse this trend in irrigated systems, and raise yield levels in rain-fed areas, many public sector R and D institutions across Asia have invested huge public resources to explore new frontiers of rice science. However, many farmers, who grew hybrid rice initially, have started dropping out from hybrid rice cultivation. Can the currently available hybrid rice technology sustain productivity growth in the Asian tropics? Why has it not been possible to replicate in the Asian tropics China's success with hybrid rice? The paper provides a synthesis of major findings of a multi-country evaluation of farmers' experiences with the adoption of hybrid rice varieties.

Hybrid rice cultivation has not increased significantly in Karnataka since the introduction of hybrids in the state in the mid-1990s. This study focuses on the profitability aspects of hybrid rice cultivation based on farmers' experiences during the 2000-01 crop year. Hybrid rice was found to be higher yielding but less profitable than existing high-yielding varieties. The paper provides reasons for lower profitability and explains the constraints in hybrid rice expansion based on farm-level data.

Nine years after release of the first rice hybrid, its adoption rate in Tamil Nadu was found to be too meagre and scattered to measure its impact. The present study aimed at documenting farm-level insights into why hybrid rice has not made a dent on the rice sector in Tamil Nadu. Results show that there was not much progress made over the past decade in terms of developing farmer-acceptable rice hybrids and achieving the higher yield gains through hybrid rice under farmers' field condition in Tamil Nadu.

Vietnam is the only country in the humid tropics in Asia where the rate of hybrid rice adoption has been growing. What are the distinct factors responsible for this unique development in hybrid rice R and D in Vietnam - which has similar agro ecological, political, socio-economic and institutional features as China? Would hybrid rice adoption be sustained in the long run in Vietnam? This paper reviews the development of hybrid rice in the country in the context of the development of the overall rice economy. It reports the findings of a sample farm household survey on the profitability of cultivating hybrid rice over the inbred high-yielding varieties.

Policy makes great claims about the future possibilities of the biotech industry in Karnataka. This paper tries to dissect the hype from reality to understand whether biotech can really be a key answer to broader development challenges through a systematic examination of the range of different biotech science enterprises in Bangalore and what is being produced now.