to look at molecular breeding, genome editing, phenotyping, data analytics etc,” she said. Dr Zehr informed that the Mahyco is working on latest technologies to increase Cotton yield. The company is also showcasing its technologies in African nations. She elaborated in response to a question,“ African farmers have not got the benefit especially Malawi, Nigeria, Zimbabwe. Currently, we are set to work in these nations and are excited to showcase our technologies.” On the current innovations,
The live chat on Facebook that was held by Mahyco on 12th January, received good response from the various stakeholders. The online participants across various locations in India and abroad asked questions to Dr Usha Zehr.
Dr Zehr mentioned,“ We have been working on GM technologies including nitrogen requirement. The challenges of water availability is a major one. We have devised salt tolerant varieties that the need of this hour.” She further emphasized that it is important to understand how the farmer cultivates the crops.“ The phenotype and soil nature, water quality is important. We are using various techniques to understand soil health. The PM’ s scheme i. e the Soil Health Card is an innovative way to do that.”
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