The news is almost too good to be true: A new kind of rice will allow Indian farmers to boost production, conserve water, and improve the climate.
It achieves this miracle through a special ability to fight weeds.
Scientists at the Indian Council for Agricultural Research have developed herbicide-tolerant basmati rice through conventional crop breeding. The government has approved the commercialization of two Basmati varieties (PB 1979 and PB 1985). Many of my fellow Indian farmers will be growing this herbicide-tolerant Basmati rice from this year onward.
I’ll do the same, if scientists can develop similar traits for the kinds of non-basmati rice that thrive in my region. Basmati rice is mainly grown in northern India. I live in the south where non-basmati rice varieties are grown.
This advance in the technology of rice promises to transform agriculture in India and beyond—but first it must overcome opposition from the enemies of progress, who seem to enjoy condemning every innovation that helps farmers.
The new herbicide-tolerant rice will benefit everyone. The first beneficiary is the farmer who works hard to produce the food we need while struggling against biotic stress factors like pests, diseases, and weeds.
By planting rice that has a natural ability to withstand safe herbicides, they will overcome the weeds that steal moisture and nutrients. Farmers will grow more rice and generate more income with the resources naturally available. In other words, the productivity of water, labor, and nutrition would increase exponentially. With more supply reaching the market, prices for consumers will go down.
Some of the savings will come from a reduction in manual labor. Today, rice farmers control weeds by uprooting them one at a time. Not only is this expensive and time consuming, but it’s becoming harder to find people who want to perform this back-breaking work.
India may be the world’s most populous country, but it’s suffering from a labor shortage in this sector of the economy.
The new weed-fighting technology will alleviate this problem.
Another traditional way of controlling weeds is to flood rice fields—in other words, to channel massive amounts of water into rice production. While this is effective, it also puts huge pressure on an important resource. About 80 percent of India’s water is already devoted to crops, and the majority of this is for rice.
Herbicide-tolerant rice will help farmers reduce their need for water and lessen the water footprint.
What’s more, stagnant water in rice fields emits enormous amounts of methane gas. In fact, rice production accounts for about 12 percent of global methane emissions. India’s herbicide-tolerant rice should reduce this rate, which in turn will reduce the pressure on the climate.
This will help India meet its climate goals. It has pledged to achieve a net-zero in greenhouse-gas emissions by 2070—and herbicide-tolerant rice is as an essential tool in this effort.
This amazing new rice variety is not a GM crop. I’m a strong advocate of technology in general and GM crops in particular. I’ve seen how they have improved agriculture around the world, allowing farmers to grow more food on less land than ever before. India should embrace them.
I know that they’re hotly debated, mostly due to a toxic mixture of scientific ignorance among the public and the concerted efforts of activist groups to demonize farm technology.
The new rice sidesteps this whole dispute because Indian scientists have created its trait of herbicide tolerance through conventional breeding. This is how farmers have improved crops for thousands of years. To oppose the method is to oppose agriculture itself.
Yet some critics have found a way. They complain that these herbicide-tolerant crops will come to “monopolize” rice farming.
What they’re really saying is that these crops will be so good that enormous numbers of farmers will choose to plant them. These foes of farmers simply want to keep effective technology out of the hands of the men and women who work the land and strive to help India achieve food security.
Farmers should enjoy access to the best technologies. India has taken a big step forward with herbicide-tolerant basmati rice, and now it should seek to put this trait into additional varieties of rice, including the kinds that I can grow on my farm.
That’s how good news can become better news as we pursue food security, fight water scarcity, combat climate change, and enable farmers to enhance their income: Sustainable environmentally, socially, and economically.
Great 👍 Viewpoint Ravi