Bt, brinjal and biryani

If pests could talk they would probably convey their hatred for him and those of his ilk in language stronger than what the most vociferous anti-biotech activists can summon.

Yet, Ram Kaundinya, CEO and Managing Director, Advanta, hardly comes across as the biotech warrior that he is. Not for him the airs of a multinational's CEO, or the aggression of a businessman in a business that many love to hate.

Ram is genial, soft-spoken and, of course, well informed of all the arguments, for and against the use of biotechnology in agriculture. We are having lunch at the Deccan Pavilion, ITC Kakatiya in Hyderabad on a leisurely Saturday afternoon. We opt for the buffet which has a lavish spread of local Andhra, Chinese, tandoori and continental cuisine.

Happy with Jairam's exit?

So, is the biotech industry happy to see the back of Mr Jairam Ramesh from the Environment Ministry, I prod Ram, hoping to catch him off guard as he dips into his bowl of corn and potato soup. He seems to have expected the question because the response is quick and diplomatic: “I'm very unhappy that we couldn't convince him. We never got the opportunity. He's a senior minister in the Cabinet and can still influence policy.” The anguish is evident.

Ram calls for pepper and salt to add to the soup which has a strong hint of ginger.

Europe's rejection of GM

He then starts off with how scientific data is the casualty in biotech arguments which are pegged on emotional appeal and points out how the US has adapted to biotech after assessing it scientifically. But what about Europe, I ask him. Aren't they opposed to biotech in agriculture? That sets him off on an elaborate reply at the risk of his soup running cold. European countries have no compulsion to increase food production given their small populations and smaller growth rates, while it is not the same with India, he says, rattling off figures.

India has just 0.12 hectares of arable land per head while Europe and the US have 0.33 and 0.44 hectares each per head, he points out. This means that we have to maximise yield to feed our growing population. “India can only compare itself with China. Average incomes are so low that we cannot afford high cost food,” he adds.

“Why doesn't Europe oppose pharma biotech,” he asks, arguing that most of Europe's opposition to food biotech is political rather than scientific. Agri biotech was developed in the US and Monsanto is a global leader at the cost of European companies. Europe anyway uses genetically modified yeast that goes into numerous food preparations, he points out.

Ram is now sufficiently warmed up and intense but remains soft-spoken. “Do you know that in India more than 25 medicines have genetically modified stuff in them,” he asks, “why don't activists insist on labelling of medicines?”

We break to get our food. He recommends Hyderabadi biryani with mirchi salan reassuring me that its vegetarian. I discover he's vegetarian too as both of us pick up paneer kebabs, beans and carrot poriyal and gummadikai iguru . “Its an Andhra speciality”, he tells me as I help myself to the pumpkin dish.

NGOs and their funds

Food security now assured, I try to provoke him on the subject of NGOs and their vocal opposition to anything biotech. Where do their finances come from, I ask him. “It needs to be investigated. I have thought of filing an RTI to find out the source of funds of the major NGOs and Greenpeace in India but it is something that should be done with the backing of the association,” he replies. Ram is chairman of ABLE or the Association of Biotech Led Enterprises-Agriculture Group.

But isn't there something to be said for organic food which is now popular in cities? “I'm not opposed to organic food. There should be choice but it is not right to mandate it,” he says pointing out that prices of organically cultivated food will be higher because the yields are low. The biriyani tastes delicious with the salan and I'm tempted to return to the buffet table for a refill but the intense conversation and the waiter just then, emerging with rotis , together prevent me.

Ram narrates an anecdote from his public debate last year over Bt brinjal with Mr Pushpa Bhargava, former head of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology and an eminent biotechnologist himself. “I asked Mr Bhargava how being a biotechnologist himself, he was opposing Bt brinjal, the reply to which was that he was opposed to those who were providing the technology,” Ram says. That these are multinationals is more cause for opposition than the technology itself.

Educating people on biotech

I ask him if the industry has missed a trick by failing to effectively educate people on the advantages of biotech and that it is not all about genetic modification (GM) alone. Molecular marker technology and plant breeding have been practised in India for a long time and are accepted tools of biotechnology.

Ram graciously concedes that the industry may have failed to get its point across well enough and narrates an incident about how he once ran into Mr Sitaram Yechury and discovered that the latter thought biotech and GM were the same. “If a senior member of Parliament is not clear about this, then there is something surely wrong with our efforts to educate people”, he says.

We return to the buffet for dessert now. Ram looks warily at the spread but encourages me to dive into it and I oblige by picking up a piece of chocolate cake, brioche chocolate pudding and a small cup of rabri falooda. “At my age I have to watch what I eat but not you,” he says as I wonder if there was a touch of regret there.

We return to the contentious subject of GM and he speaks of how drought tolerance and salt tolerance genes in seeds can help India, given their dependence on the monsoon and the large 20 million hectare of saline land. But is it not possible to do this with molecular marker technology, I ask. “GM is a more precise science and is faster compared to traditional plant breeding,” replies Ram, an agricultural sciences graduate and MBA from IIM, Ahmedabad.

Hailing from Kakinada, Ram spent more than two decades in the pesticide industry and about six years in a seeds company that was eventually taken over by Monsanto. He joined Advanta in 2006 when it was acquired by the United Phosphorus group.

Isn't there an inherent contradiction in a pesticide company acquiring and nurturing a biotech business whose main objective is to control pesticide use? “There are some conflicts that come, but then there are always other pests to kill!”

Is it possible that genetically modified plants lose their protection from pests due to evolution? Ram says it is quite possible: “Micro-organisms continuously evolve. It is a continuous fight against Nature”.

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