Indian farmers have contributed significantly to the global agricultural industry with a wide range of crops. Agriculture employs nearly 60% of the Indian population and contributes approximately 18% to the country’s GDP. Despite significant progress in agriculture, Indian farmers continue to face several challenges such as pest infestations, erratic weather, droughts, floods, salinity, and soil degradation. The latest in the list is climate change which is bound to worsen these situations.

In 2019, researchers from the National Institute for Plant Biotechnology in New Delhi researched on the development of salt-tolerant rice capable of withstanding elevated salt levels in the soil. Similarly, in 2018, scientists at the National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute used CRISPR technology to fortify bananas with vitamin-A to alleviate vitamin A deficiency in developing countries.

As part of its efforts to promote gene-editing technology in agriculture, the Indian government has recognised the potential of the technology. In 2022, the Department of Biotechnology released guidelines for the development and use of gene-editing technology in agriculture.

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The smallholder farmers in these countries have already suffered a considerable cost of missed opportunities in access to new technologies, and India is no exception. Thus gene-edited crops must be made available to farmers in India to boost growth in the agriculture sector.

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