NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 23: The Tamil Nadu Agricultural University on Tuesday signed an agreement with global seed major Monsanto for developing a GM papaya seed, resistant to Ring Spot Virus (RSV).

“It would take at least four years to develop the transgenic papaya seed,” TNAU director P Balasubramanian said after signing the agreement.

With the development of the new transgenic variety of papaya, the crop losses on account of RSV disease, estimated at 30-70 per cent, would be minimised, he said.

India grows 25 lakh tonnes of papaya every year on 1.5 lakh acres with a productivity level of 100 tonnes per acre in every two years, he said. The papaya is harvested in two years.

Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are the leading papaya growers in the country, producing around 3.4 lakh tonnes and 2.9 lakh tonnes respectively.

Conventional seeds such as Co5 and Co7 are not helpful in fighting the RSV disease, Balasubramanian said.

As per the agreement, TNAU would get the technology from Monsanto to develop the GM seed without any fees for 10 years. When asked about the 10-year clause and what would happen after that, Monsanto India Chairman Sekhar Natarajan said, “when the time comes, we will see”.

They declined to spell out estimates of the price at which the GM papaya seeds would be sold to farmers. They also said they did not know the price at which the GM papaya seeds are sold in the US and China, which are the only countries that have allowed commercialised cultivation of GM papaya.

Monsanto Company, USA, will be providing a royalty-free transfer of its virus-resistant Papaya Technology to TNAU.

TNAU is facilitated by International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA). Clive James, Chairman and Founder, ISAAA, C Ramasamy, Vice Chancellor, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) and Sekhar Natarajan, Chairman, Monsanto India signed on the agreement. This deal was inked in the presence of Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar.

The technology transfer could result in the development of papaya varieties of better quality and good flavour with increased virus resistance that offers a potential 75 lakh quintals or 25% yield more to India’s papaya industry, the signatories claimed.

Papaya is cultivated in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, Gujarat, West Bengal, Orissa, Manipur and Meghalaya. It is mostly grown by small and marginal farmers.