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Mahyco organizes Facebook Live Chat to interact with stakeholders
Dr Usha Barwale Zehr , chief technical officer , Mahyco in a Facebook Live programme talked about various initiative of the company as well as responded to the questions on latest trends in agri-biotech techniques
BY BIOVOICE NEWS BUREAU
During a recent Facebook Live event held online , Dr Usha Zehr Barwale , Chief Technology Officer , Mahyco India laid stress on the need to adopt latest technologies to increase the agricultural productivity . At Mahyco , Dr Usha Zehr is responsible for the research on plant biotechnology , technology transfer to farmers , utilization of new technologies and tools , including biotechnology for improving the quality and productivity of seeds and agriculture . She pointed out towards the immense benefits that can be provided to farmers by adaptation of new technologies to increase the crop yield . Explaining she said , “ I actually grew up in agricultural family . I have seen farmers being happy about good seeds and enthusiastic about getting good returns . With new hybrid crops , the farmer was able to build a pakka house , get motocycle , send children to better education . Social benefits were immense .” Dr Zehr added further , “ Bt cotton gave them
this opportunity . Even the shopkeepers used to
be excited that farmers would be coming to shop during diwali . The importance of farmers within society grew and their quality of life witnessed visible changes .” Answering a question from the BioVoice News , Dr Zehr listed five technologies as the ones that could increase the crop production in India . Precision agriculture , drip irrigation directly to plant roots , soil fertility improvement , post harvesting technology and storage process . Improve genetics to address the environment issues , disease tolerant . Science innovation which are yet to be on farm , Science and technology approach include the genome editing which is much talked about . Phenotype technologies , social sensors , robotics . Crop choices Government of Andhra Pradesh is studying climatic change which is telling them which crops and where they must plant it . “ When we talk about genetics , we should keep in mind the importance of giving a seed to farmer that helps him with productivity . Challenges include the utilization of techniques such as gene editing a non-GM approach . We will have
28 BioVoiceNews | February 2017