Biotechnology
Global Development Alliance Supports Use of Biotechnology to Improve Indian Rice and Wheat Production
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New rice and wheat varieties will allow Indian farmers, such as the man shown here, to produce higher yields and reduce environmental impacts.
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USAID has just entered into a new Global Development Alliance public-private partnership with Arcadia Biosciences, a small biotechnology company in California, to develop new rice and wheat varieties for India that are tolerant to drought and salinity and use nitrogen more efficiently.
The three year, $3.5 million cooperative agreement, to be managed by USAID, will leverage an additional $18.5 million of investment. Arcadia Biosciences will partner with Mahyco, a leading developer and seller of crop seeds in India, to develop these new varieties and bring them to the market. They will also partner with the Indian public sector to broaden the reach of the technology and make sure that resource-poor, smallholder farmers can access the new seed varieties as well as commercial farmers.
If the new seed varieties were adopted on 30% of India's rice and wheat acres, they could result in $3 billion added value on the farm annually. Furthermore, the new varieties would increase the efficiency of production, reduce nitrogen runoff and greenhouse gas emissions, and conserve scarce fresh water. The technologies would also have broad applicability in the rest of South Asia.
USAID will work with Arcadia and Mahyco to establish additional partnerships, in Bangladesh or Pakistan.
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