‘Concerns on GM food safety unfounded'

Mr Robert S. Zeigler , Director-General of International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), is busy linking global rice research institutions in South America, Asia and Africa to evolve a strategy of rice research. He says Golden Rice, the rice variety fortified with Vitamin A, is a must to address the micro-nutritional deficiencies of millions of people. He argues that GM foods would not harm anyone. Mr Zeigler, who was in India to take part in the annual Rice Research Group Meeting at Hyderabad, spoke on various issues that would impact the future of rice.

According to you, Golden Rice is ready to be commercialised soon. But there is a lot of opposition to it and people say fortification with Vitamin A would not solve the problem of micronutrient deficiencies. They say the problem lies elsewhere. What are your views?

There is no doubt that there is huge Vitamin A deficiency in the world. In many areas where rice is a staple food, people don't get enough Vitamin A because they are poor. It is wonderful if we can make them rich. But in the meantime, we need to improve the nutritional quality of their staple food.

Could you throw some light on the important research initiatives in an advanced state?

Apart from the Golden Rice project on which you will hear some important news by the end of April, we working on flood-tolerant rice with the Indian Government. There are a number of varieties that we have converted with flood-tolerance. They are very suitable for flood-prone areas inhabited by the poorest of the poor farmers.

We have varieties that can withstand flooding up to two weeks or more. They survive even after lying completely under water. (In normal conditions this would have killed the crop.) This is a major achievement. We expect this to reach at least a million farmers.

ICAR (Indian Council for Agricultural Research), Indian Food Security Mission, State Governments, agriculture universities and non-governmental organisations will work to make sure that these varieties reach the farmers.

We have also developed a drought-tolerant rice variety. We are now working on combining the attributes of flood and drought tolerance. We can see varieties with drought-flood tolerant varieties in the next two years. We are also working to increase disease resistance in varieties.

Resurgence of some of the most virulent diseases and viruses is causing a major concern. What is IRRI's view on this?

In the last two decades, many policymakers became complacent after food prices declined and food became available in abundance. They cut back on agricultural research and extension. This happened around the world. Unfortunately, they did not just understand the fact that agricultural research is not a one-time process. It is an ongoing process.

And if you turn your back on some of these pests and diseases, they come back. They are living organisms. They evolve.

If you have resistance to them and you don't keep working on them, they can evolve and overcome that resistance. It can become a problem again. So, the complacency of policymakers and moving resources from agricultural research to other areas led to a decline in the amount of work in new varieties and resistance to diseases. Governments have to invest much more on agricultural research and extension.

There are concerns about the safety of genetically modified foods and the adverse impact on GM crops on the environment.

These concerns are unfounded. There's a not a shred of scientific evidence that suggests any negative impact. GM crops are beneficial to the environment. There are far fewer pesticides in Bt cotton and Bt maize. On the other hand, farmers' incomes increase. India is now a cotton exporter. It is beneficial not just to individual farmers, but to the overall economy.

But there is criticism that Bt cotton impacts ecology and soil health.

It certainly has affected (ecology). But it is a beneficial effect. (There is) no negative impact of Bt cotton. People who tell you that Bt cotton has a negative effect on environment are not telling you the truth. You are reducing pesticide application. You get much better incomes because of higher yields.

What is the global outlook on rice and what is IRRI doing to address the global issues related to rice?

We are working on a global alliance involving IRRI, Africa Rice Centre (Benin), International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (Columbia), French International Research System, and Japanese International Research Centre. We are also working with the national rice research programmes of countries such as India, China and Brazil to develop a coherent strategy of rice research.

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