Association for Sense About Science Natural History Museum

1. Association for Sense About Science Natural History Museum Public Good Plant Breeding : What are the international priorities? London, 22 May 2003 Where the Green Revolution has left us and where we need to go now? M.S. Swaminathan, FRS UNESCO Chair in Ecotechnology President, Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai

2. Famines and Public Good Plant Breeding The Irish Potato Famine of 1840s triggered the search for new genes in tuber-bearing Solanum species.

3. “This Conference, meeting in the midst of the greatest war ever waged, and in full confidence of victory, has considered world problems of food and agriculture and declares its beliefthat the goal of freedom from want of food, suitable and adequate for the health and strength of all peoples, can be achieved”. Resolution of Conference convened by President Franklin D. Roosevelt Hot SpringsVirginia (18 May to 3 June 1943)

4. Major Famines of the 20th Century Source : Amartya Sen, Poverty and Famines, 1981

6. Famine : Triage classification of countries Haiti Can’t- be-saved Egypt Can’t-be-saved The Gambia Walking Wounded Tunisia Should Receive Food Libya Walking Wounded India Can’t-be-saved Pakistan Should Receive Food - Paul and William Paddock, 1967

7. Variation in Australian Average Wheat Yield (Ten-Year Mean) from 1860 to 2000 Fighting Soil Hunger

8. Water Conservation and Management : Key to Crop Security The rice terraces of Bali

9. Green Revolution in Europe • Began with Liebig’s discovery of mineral fertilizer in the 1850s • Soil health, water management and plant protection proved to be key factors in determining crop productivity • Mendelian genetics helped to breed strains capable of responding well to soil fertility and irrigation water management

10. Power of Mendelian Breeding Daruma (Japanese semi-dwarf) Fultz (U.S. winter wheat, high yield) X Fultz-Daruma (semi-dwarf, high yield) Turkey Red (U.S. winter, high yield) X Norin 10 (semi-dwarf, winter, high yield) Locals (adapted to U.S. Northwest) X Gaines (semi-dwarf, winter, U.S. adpted) X Local Strains New Wheats (semi-dwarf, high yield, adaptable, rust-resistant, fast-maturing,spring) Origin of the semi-dwarf wheats

11. Wheat Production – India now occupies the Second Position in the World 1965: 10 Million t 2000 : 80 Million t Public good Plant Breeding and assured and remunerative marketing triggered rapid progress

13. Ehrlich 1968 • Some time between 1970 and 1985 the world will undergo vast famines — hundreds of millions of people are going to starve to death. That is, they will starve to death unless plague, thermonuclear war, or some other agent kills them first. • The United States should announce that it will no longer ship food to countries such as India where dispassionate analysis indicates that the unbalance between food and population is hopeless.

14. Science and Agricultural Progress1968 – The Beginning of Green Revolution Synergy between Technology and Public Policy

15. Hundred Years of Wheat Breeding • Pedigree Selection • Inter-varietal Hybridization • Winter x Spring Wheat crosses • Mutation Breeding • Aneuploid and Genomic Breeding • Restructuring Plant Architecture : Semi-dwarf wheat • Shuttle Breeding and Photo-insensitivity • Hybrid Wheat • Apomixis • Functional Genomics and Molecular Breeding

16. Land and Forest Saving Agriculture

17. New Plant Type in Rice Non-lodging , greater absorption of sun light, better root system, higher harvest index and photo-insensitivity

18. From Green to Gene Revolution in Rice Potential yield (t/ha) 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 1995 Indica/ Indica hybrids 1965 1990 2005 Indica/ Tropical japonica hybrids 1930 Pureline selection 1950 Cross breds 2010 Biotech- nology 8000 BC 1900 Land races 2000 New plant type Semidwarfs (IR8) (IR72) Public Sector Public-Private Sector

19. Access to Genetic Resources andBiotechnologies for Food and Agriculture Genetic Resources(building blocks) Biotechnologies(tools) Benefit-sharing(collective rights)(e.g. Farmers’ Rights and the Global Plan of Action) Intellectual Property Rights (individual rights) % (e.g. Plant Breeder’s Rights) Commercial Products(market value)$ WIPOWTO/TRIPS (Art. 27.3.b)UPOV FAO – International Treaty – Art, 9(also Art. 12 &13) CBD – Art, 8 (j) Sui generis Systems(Rights)

20. Environment and Development : Early Warning Rachel Carson 1962 : Silent Spring “Man has lost the capacity to foresee and to forestall. He will end by destroying the earth” - Albert Schweitzer

21. Scientific rationale for an Ever-green revolution “Intensive cultivation of land without conservation of soil fertility and soil structure would lead ultimately to the springing up of deserts. Irrigation without arrangements for drainage would result in soils getting alkaline or saline. Indiscriminate use of pesticides, fungicides and herbicides could cause adverse changes in biological balance as well as lead to an increase in the incidence of cancer and other diseases, through the toxic residues present in the grains or other edible parts. Unscientific tapping of underground water would lead to the rapid exhaustion of this wonderful capital resource left to us through ages of natural farming. The rapid replacement of numerous locally adapted varieties with one or two high yielding strains in large contiguous areas would result in the spread of serious diseases capable of wiping out entire crops, as happened prior to the Irish potato famine of 1845 and the Bengal rice famine of 1942. Therefore, the initiations of exploitative agriculture without a proper understanding of the various consequences of every one of the changes introduced into traditional agriculture and without first building up a proper scientific and training base to sustain it, may only lead us into an era of agricultural disaster in the long run, rather than to an era of agricultural prosperity.” • M S Swaminathan • Indian Science Congress, Varanasi, January 1968

22. Concept of Ever-green Revolution What nations with small farms and resource poor farmers need is the enhancement of productivity in perpetuity, without associated ecological or social harm. The green revolution should become an ever-green revolution rooted in the principles of ecology, economics and social and gender equity. - M S Swaminathan, 1990

23. Paradigm Shift : Adding the Dimension of Environmental sustainability Green Revolution Ever-green Revolution Commodity Centered Experiment Station Research Integrated Natural Resources Management Centered Participatory Research

24. Fatigue of the Green Revolution Growth Rates in the Production of Food Grain

25. Where do we need to go now? • In population rich and land hungry countries, there is no option except to produce more from less per capita arable land and irrigation water. • The smaller the farm, the greater is the need for marketable surplus, to get cash income • There is need for anticipatory research to face future challenges like global warming and sea level rise • Obviously an integrated approach to Mendelian and molecular breeding will be essential to make progress

26. Mangroves : Useful Sources of Genes for Salinity Tolerance Anticipatory Research

27. cDNA libraries were constructed from the Mangrove species Avicennia marina A number of genes with potential application to abiotic stress has been isolated and charactreised Four isolated genes were used for developing transgenics in rice, Brassica and Vigna Avicennia marina Transgenic plants with salinity tolerancegenes Facing the Challenge of Sea level Rise

28. Integrated Mendelian and Molecular Breeding Transgenic (T1) rice plants with genes from mangroves in the greenhouse (salt tolerance upto 150 mM)

29. Organic Agriculture and Evergreen Revolution “Organic agriculture includes all agricultural systems that promote the environmentally, socially and economically sound production of food and fibres. These systems take local soil fertility as a key to successful production.” International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movement (IFOAM) - 2002

30. Biotechnology and Organic Agriculture 2) Water Quality 1) Soil Health 3) Plant Health • Bioremediation • Vermiculture • Bio-fertilisers • Stem nodulating green manure crops • Genetic Resistance • Biopesticides Organic Farming 6) Environment 4) Post-harvest Technology • Biomonitoring through Bio-indicators • Higher Carbon Sequestration • New strains with improved keeping, processing and transport qualities 5) Animal Health • Vaccines • High quality feeds and fodder IFOAM : Genetic Engineering is excluded in organic agriculture

31. World Food Summit Plus 5,Rome (June 10-13, 2002) Declaration on Biotechnology “We are committed to study, share and facilitate the responsible use of biotechnology in addressing development needs” Civil Society Organisations’ Declaration “Genetically modified organisms represent a threat to family farmers, other food producers, the integrity of genetic resources and human and environmental health. They will affect particularly the rural poor, who cannot afford this costly alternative”

32. The Way Ahead Our ability to achieve a paradigm shift from green to an ever-green revolution and our ability to face the challenges of global warming and sea level rise will depend upon our ability to harmonise organic farming and the new genetics.

33. Genetic Modification in Crop Plants: IFOAM Concerns and Way Ahead Contd…

34. Contd…

36. NGO Declaration FAO Rome World Food Summit Plus Five (2002)

38. Ever-green Revolution “The problem before us is how to feed billions of new mouths over the next several decades and save the rest of life at the same time, without being trapped in a Faustian bargain that threatens freedom from security. The benefits must come from an evergreen revolution. The aim of this new thrust is to lift food production well above the level attained by the green revolution of the 1960s, using technology and regulatory policy more advanced and even safer than now in existence” Edward O. Wilson, 2002 The Future of life