The Hindu Business Line : Ministry plans boost to R&D in plantation sector

In a bid to strengthen the consortium approach to biotechnology research in the plantation sector, the Commerce Ministry has decided to involve private sector scientific talent to boost plantation crop research in the R&D outfits of commodity boards and other related scientific institutions.

Talking to Business Line here recently, Mr Jairam Ramesh, Union Minister of State for Commerce, said the idea was to strengthen the sagging research capabilities of the various crop research institutes in the country, with special focus on rubber, spices, tea, coffee and tobacco.

Public-private Model

He said a complete public-private partnership model for plantations crop research was discussed thoroughly at a recent roundtable of scientists from various research institutions in the country in Bangalore, co-ordinated by Dr K.K. Narayanan, Chief of Bangalore-based Metahelix Life Sciences.

The Minister said there was a lack of information sharing among the institutes on developments in technology especially, with regard to prevention of crop diseases, and this could be corrected by a consortium approach to e-sharing of knowledge among plantation crops research laboratories.

In the context of coffee, plagued by the white stem borer in Arabica variety, he said both leaf rust infestation and the adverse impact of drought on productivity need urgent studies.

Mr Ramesh said interesting research was already taking place in alternative uses of tobacco, like protein biologicals, precursor compounds for industrial use and biopesticides. Globally, work is taking place on development of non-carcinogenic tobacco, which may even lead to the development of a plant-based vaccine.

In spices, he said besides pepper and cardamom, all other areas, particularly that of pepper seeds, are grossly neglected.

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