India must adopt pragmatic policy towards allowing GM crops, says expert

Till now India has objected to soybean meal and corn of GM origin yet India did allow import of 1.2 million tons of GM soybean meal in 2021 when animal feed prices rose significantly.

“As GM soybeans (or GM soybean meal) and GM corn import is allowed in India’s neighbouring countries, such as Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan, so Indian poultry industry is hopeful that the government will also seriously look in to this to allow GM crops and all major poultry associations in India are doing follow-up on this with senior officials of the Animal Husbandry and Agriculture Department,” Mr Thaper revealed.

About 92% of the cotton area in the country is under GM Bt cotton, which is the only crop approved for commercial cultivation since 2003.

“The government needs to be pragmatic in allowing import of soybean, soybean meal and corn from the US for ensuring that domestic supplies of key agricultural crops are sustained. This would also ensure that supplies for ethanol production as well as animal feed while protecting the interest of domestic producers,” he argued.

“Allowing GM crops imports would also boost output as India imports over 58% of its edible oils – palm, soybean and sunflower varieties as our domestic productivity could not keep pace with the rest of the world. Allowing import of GM soybean for processing for oil extraction in the country would help reduce the country’s edible oils imports and boost processing industries.”