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Govt allows trials of some gene-altered crops

India will trial some gene-altered crops along the lines of tests being undertaken for a genetically modified cotton seed variety, a senior government official said on Friday.

"The government has allowed field testing (of gene-altered crops) for rice, maize, tomato and cauliflower," Agriculture Commissioner C R Hazra told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting on fertiliser.

Hazra said the process of testing itself will take four years and only then its value for commercial use could be assessed.

"The trials for these crops are just starting," he said.

Agriculture Minister Ajit Singh said the government would likely approve commercial production and sale of a GM cotton seed variety once the extensive tests were completed by February.

Singh said BT, or bacillus thuringiensis, cotton seed production had been allowed over 300 hectares (741 acres) in Andhra Pradesh. BT cotton is resistant to the cotton bollworm, which causes heavy damage to the Indian cotton crop.

He said commercial production could be allowed in some selected regions in the states of Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Approval from the government's Genetic Engineering Approval Committee is mandatory for field trials and commercial production of GM crops, and India has so far only allowed a few firms and research bodies to undertake field trials.

The GM cotton is currently being field-tested by India's Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company, in which US biotechnology giant, Monsanto, owns a stake.

The company started limited field trials in 1996-97, but has faced intermittent opposition from environmentalists and farmers on bio-safety and transparency of the trial data.

In October, the government ordered the destruction of illegally-grown GM cotton in the western state of Gujarat to prevent resowing of the seed. Local authorities have so far bought about 120 tonnes of BT cotton from farmers for this purpose.

India has the world's largest cotton growing area but its yield is only about 300 kg per hectare, below half of the global average of about 650 kg, traders say.

Cotton production in the current crop year ending September is forecast at 15.6 million bales of 170 kg each, up from 14.0 million a year earlier, according to the government estimates.

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