{"id":218367,"date":"2022-12-14T19:06:45","date_gmt":"2022-12-14T13:36:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=218367"},"modified":"2022-12-14T19:06:45","modified_gmt":"2022-12-14T13:36:45","slug":"skewing-the-mustard-field-the-yellow-revolutions-revival-needed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/skewing-the-mustard-field-the-yellow-revolutions-revival-needed\/","title":{"rendered":"Skewing the mustard field: The Yellow Revolution’s revival needed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source<\/strong>: The post is based on the following articles<\/p>\n

\u201cSkewing the mustard field: The Yellow Revolution’s revival needed\u201d <\/strong>published in the Business Standard <\/b>on 14th<\/sup>\u00a0November 2022<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cA welcome shift\u201d <\/strong>published in the Business Standard <\/b>on 14th<\/sup>\u00a0November 2022<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Syllabus<\/strong>: GS \u2013 3 \u2013 Major crops-cropping patterns in various parts of the country.<\/p>\n

Relevance<\/strong>: About the benefits and concerns associated with DMH-11.<\/p>\n

News<\/strong>: Recently, the Ministry of Environment has allowed the commercial cultivation of genetically modified (GM) mustard.<\/p>\n

About GM Mustard<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Must read:\u00a0Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee approves commercial cultivation of genetically modified mustard yet again<\/a><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The DMH-11, developed by Delhi University\u2019s biotechnology centre, reportedly gives about a 28% higher yield than the popular mustard variety Varuna.<\/p>\n

What are the other gene-altered food crops allowed for field-testing by GEAC?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Read here: Gene-altered food crops: Enhancing mustard yields<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
What are the major benefits of GM Mustard?<\/h5>\n

Reduce oil imports<\/strong>: India is the fifth-largest producer and also the seventh-largest importer of edible oils in the world. GM Mustard will help in reducing these imports. Globally also, the rapeseed-mustard yields have gone up with the introduction of GM hybrids.<\/p>\n

Spun technology-driven green revolution<\/strong>:\u00a0The perceived positive government approach to GM crops can increase the introduction of genetically superior variants of food and commercial crops and might usher the technology-driven green revolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read more:\u00a0GM crops \u2013 on apporval to GM Mustard<\/a><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
What are the concerns associated with the approval of GM Mustard?<\/h5>\n

Low yield<\/strong>: ICAR-All India Crop Research Project\u2019s 2006-07 field trial data for GM mustard has shown that GM mustard had a much lower yield that year across locations.<\/p>\n

Health implications not studied properly<\/strong>: The Supreme Court\u2019s Technical Expert Committee highlighted the negative health implications and risks of Bt cotton and Bt brinjal on cows and rats, respectively.<\/p>\n

Despite such impacts, multi-generational trials<\/strong> and many such tests were not done<\/strong> at all for GM mustard.<\/p>\n

No need for Genetic Modification<\/strong>: Mustard does not exhibit high hybrid intensity for seed yields like maize, pearl millet, sorghum, sunflower and castor. Further, there is a natural, efficient, proven and safer way exist to prepare male sterile lines using cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS). This questions the need for Genetic modification for creating DMH-11.<\/p>\n

Increase herbicide usage<\/strong>: Seed production of DMH 11 rests on the usage of a highly problematic herbicide glufosinate. This herbicide has not been approved for use in mustard crops. Further, the DMH-11 was never tested as a herbicide-tolerant crop.<\/span><\/p>\n

Against organic and natural farming<\/strong>: Ministry of Agriculture is promoting organic and natural farming to reduce agrochemical usage. The Ministry has also recently issued directions to curb the usage of glyphosate.<\/p>\n

On the contrary, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC)\u00a0 is incentivising glufosinate, which is even more problematic than glyphosate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read more:\u00a0GM Crops in India: Issues and challenges \u2013 Explained, pointwise<\/a><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
How to increase India’s mustard yields?<\/h5>\n

The yield potential of Indian mustard has been realised up to 4 tonne\/ha at experimental fields. But many farmers are harvesting 3 tonne\/ha to 3.5 tonne\/ha in states like Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. This can be bridged by<\/p>\n

Harness genetic gains in oilseed mustard<\/strong>: This can be realised by promoting high-quality seeds with good oil content from high-yielding released varieties\/ non-GM hybrids and ensuring functional seed systems and input services.<\/p>\n

For example, farmers in Rajasthan are growing Giriraj mustard. It was produced through natural hybridisation, which is giving 3-3.5 tonne\/ha yield and also has high oil content (up to 42%).<\/p>\n

Promote effective agronomic practices<\/strong>: a)<\/strong> India should horizontally expand of the area of mustard cultivation<\/strong> by using rice fallow, inter-cropping or diversifying crops, b)<\/strong> Utilise technological options<\/strong> like the right placement of seedlings through efficient fertiliser-cum-seed drill, proper plant geometry, conservation agriculture, mustard transplanting, etc.<\/p>\n

Revive the Yellow Revolution<\/strong>: The \u201cYellow Revolution\u201d to protect India from subsidised edible oil was unfortunately discontinued in the 1990s. It is time for India to revive that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: The post is based on the following articles \u201cSkewing the mustard field: The Yellow Revolution’s revival needed\u201d published in the Business Standard on 14th\u00a0November 2022. \u201cA welcome shift\u201d published in the Business Standard on 14th\u00a0November 2022. Syllabus: GS \u2013 3 \u2013 Major crops-cropping patterns in various parts of the country. Relevance: About the benefits… Continue reading Skewing the mustard field: The Yellow Revolution’s revival needed<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10311,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[10503,216],"class_list":["post-218367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-business-standard","tag-gs-paper-3","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10311"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218367\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}