Maize seed sector in Asia and Public

Private Partnership For Maize Research & Development

Paresh Verma , Bijendra Pal , Pawan Arora , Ye Jian and Zhong

(BIOSEED )

Contents

1. Shriram Bioseed profile

2. Introduction: - Maize Scenario

3. Hybrid Maize Productivity and Gap

4. Maize Productivity limitations

5. New Tools and R&D Combination to improve the productivity

6. Private – Public working module

7. Summary

Company snapshot:

Bioseed, incorporated in 1992, is

the hybrid seed company of DCM

Shriram Consolidated Ltd., a

publicly listed 120 year old

company in India

Focus on Pan Asia

Strong research program

focusing on biotic and abiotic

stresses

First seed company recognized

as technology development

company by Govt. of India

Focus crops: Corn, Cotton,

Rice, Millet, Tomato, Okra, Chilli,

Egg plant & Gourds

Global Demand for Food Projected to Grow Dramatically as Population/Income Continues to Rise

Sources: FAO “World Agriculture: towards 2015/2030. Summary Report”; IHS Global Insights , Agriculture Division

GROWING WORLD POPULATION (B)

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

1981 1999 2015 2030

TRANSITION NATIONS DEVELOPED NATIONS

DEVELOPING NATIONS 0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

2000 2010 2015 2020 2030

Rice

Cotton

Soybeans

Wheat

Corn

GLOBAL DEMAND (M MT)

+102%

+40%

+76%

+28%

+125%

Introduction ….

Introduction

• Population in Asia:

– 4 bn in 2007 to 5.3 bn in 2050 (33% increase)

• Corn demand in Asia:

– 173 million MT in 1997 to 310 million MT 2020 (79%

increase)

– 50% of this is due to improving economies

• Corn area in Asia:

– 40 million ha in 1997 to 48 million ha in 2020 (20%

increase)

Introduction

• Ethanol from Corn in US

– 1.7 billion gallons in 2000,5.8 gallons in 2007 and 15

billion gallons in 2022

– 134 ethanol plants operating, 77 more under

construction or expansion

• Corn prices projected to increase in the range of

23 to 41%

Tremendous pressure on researchers

of public and private sector to find

ways to increase productivity

Opportunities to increase productivity

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

USA Germany West Asia East Asia Central

Asia

South Asia SE Asia

Country % under

hybrids

Yield t/ha

India 40 2.7

Vietnam 85 3.8

Thailand 90 3.9

Philippines 40 2.5

Indonesia 40 3.7

Yield (t/ha) Hybrid adoption rates

Technology related constraints • Abiotic stresses

– Drought

• Low or erratic rainfall in rainfed situations

• Light soils with poor water holding capacity

• Inability to irrigate enough or on time

– Water logging

• Poor drainage

• Excessive rainfall

– Sub optimal temperatures

– Acidic or saline soils

– Nutrient deficiencies

– Vivipari

A biotic Stress

•Vivi Pari problems is increasing in south east Asia country . • Vivi pari zones are increasing every year in Philippines • Vietnam- Until 1998 there is not much reports on Vivipari now there are area in south Vietnam where we can see vivipari very often.

Hilly Topography and Drought

• Biotic stresses

– Leaf (and sheath) blights

– Downy Mildew

– Stalk rots

– Ear rots

– Corn Borer

• Other constraints

– Sub optimal agronomy

• No or improper use of fertilizer

• Sub optimal cropping systems

• Poor weed management

Technology related constraints

4 major Biotic Stress in Wet tropical Maize Growing Area

BIOTIC TOLERANCE BREEDING Gibrilla Ear Rot

North Bukidnon , Kulman and Lebak

Screening 4500 hybrid every year in Impalutao,(NB)

BIOTIC TOLERANCE BREEDING

Diplodia Stalk & Ear Rot

Wao, North and South Cotabato

Screening 1500 hybrid /year in Wao (SB)& Banga(SC)

BIOTIC TOLERANCE BREEDING

Leaf Blight

Bukidnon , Lebak and Kulaman

Screening 4500 hybrid /year in Impalutao,(NB))

BIOTIC TOLERANCE BREEDING Vivi Pari

Cabanglason, Wao, Echauge , Sara (Iloilo)

Screening 1000 hybrids /year in Cabanglason& Echauge

Suceptible

Tolerance to Downy mildew in Bioseed hybrids

0.00

10.0020.00

30.00

40.00

50.00

60.00

70.00

80.0090.00

100.00

110.00

%DM damge

BIO9899

BC2630

BC41399

BC42521

BC42683

BC42882-A

BISMA- R

SUKMARAGA-R

SRIKANDI-S

AMOMAN

Fertilizer rate of corn farmers, Esperanza, Sultan Kudarat, August, 2008 (before

soils analysis)

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

220

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39

Farmer Number

NP

K k

g/h

a

N

P

K

Imbalanced fertility in South Philippines

Socio economic constraints

• Small marginal farmers with subsistence farming mindset

• Poorly managed or non-functional Govt. extension systems

• Lack of awareness about new technology

• Lack of willingness or ability to invest in agri inputs

• Last mile gap (in remote areas) in the delivery / distribution channels

• Restricted seed supplies due to policy restrictions

Trained man power and Funding

• Agriculture Science in seen less preferred and hence is a challenge for private and public sector to attract the best talents for agriculture research.

• Priority has change in past few year and food production is not getting less priority.

• Less funding affecting basic fundamental research in last few years.

• Trust between private and pubic sector ? • Not enough breeders to push genetic gain further.

In Bioseed we build strong customer interfaces to better

understand their requirements

Technology development

• Focus on customer requirements and not

customer profiles

• Understanding what is economic value for the

farmers

– High and Stable grain yield

– Fodder yield (if relevant)

– Low input costs (water, fertilizer, chemicals, labor,

etc.)

– Fit in the cropping system

– Post harvest storability of produce

– Differential price of produce

Technology development

• Developing products (not just hybrids or

varieties) which can improve farmers’ incomes

and profits

– Must have added economic value for customers

– Must be economically producible

– Must allow for recovery of the value created

• Delivering the right technology solutions to the

farmers to achieve high adoption rates

Non-GM applications of biotechnology

• Use of Molecular markers

– Stacking of traits

– Increasing breeding gains ( by creating

the Heterotic groups )

– Accelerating product development

cycles

– Quality assurance

– Protection of IP

• Functional genomics

• Other tools viz. Doubled haploid,

etc.

GM applications of biotechnology • Success achieved

– Weed management

– Insect resistance

– Nutritional enhancement

• Nearing success – Drought tolerance

– Nutritional enhancement

• Early stage of development – Nutrient Use Efficiency

– Disease resistance

– Yield enhancement

– Utility enhancement

N stress tolerance

Drought tolerance

26

Breeding & Biotechnology

Land

(-5%)

Reduced Losses

20%

50%

Agronomy and Nutrients

80%

100%

250%

Current Crop Production

Future Crop Production

Seeds & Technology and Agronomy will play a significant role in enhancing yield

• To make Agriculture a preferred profession.

• Review our curriculum and teaching methodology in order to meet the requirements of private and public sector agricultural research for future.

• Expose the students to the state of the art equipment and research infrastructure in private sector (data acquisition and analysis, etc).

• Accumulated wisdom of the private sector provides a large reservoir of experiential learning that could be used in teaching.

• Young professionals need to develop additional education to handle the current challenges in those areas that are more valued in the private sector than in the public sector.

Public Private Need Work together For……

• Young breeder/students need to be exposed to plant breeding and other agricultural areas by working in breeding projects, seed production, etc. It will help to give them favorable view of the science.

• Private Sector need to provide scholarship programs to the breeders/ scientists and also can have some collaboration with the Public Sector for basic research of the interest of private sector .

• Private sector should provide enough job opportunities.

• Working to achieve a Common Goal - to improve the productivity .

Public Private partnership

Some challenges

• Increased investment in agricultural research

• Increase our understanding of biology

• Adequate availability of plant breeders

• Create successful public private partnerships

– Complementary in nature with no overlaps

– Clearly defined objectives and milestones

– Equitable resource and benefit sharing

– Based on mutual respect for each others’

capabilities

– Clear agreement on IP issues

Asian Breeding program V/s US breeding Program

• Asian Breeders need to think …….

– To categorize the tropical corn germplasm in different heterotic group

– Enough focus on the new emerging problem in corn growing area.

– Develop a systematic approach to tropicalaize the temperate material rather than using it directly

( we can learn form GEM program of USA )

Public and Private sector need work together to improve the genetic gains

Breeding Strategy Module

Information Bank

Productivity Limitation at Farmer

Field Cropping System

Topography and Climatic limitation

Market requirements

Breeding Objective and Target setting

Breeding and Germplasm Sharing

Product development , seed multiplication and

distribution

Private

Public P

rivate

Public Private Partnership

• ICRISAT’s hybrid parent development consortia

(Pearl millet, Sorghum, Pigeon pea)

• IRRI’s hybrid rice development consortium

• CIMMIYT - Maize consortium ( IMIC)

Some more partnership Need to Identified and develop between National research institute and private seed sector

Public Private Partnership

Discovery

research

Technology

development

Biosafety

evaluation /

deregulation

Breeding &

product

development

Public sector Private sector

Biotechnology:

Seed

production

& marketing

Transgenics

Molecular marker technologies (no bio-safety involved)

Summary • Tremendous pressure to increase corn productivity in Asia

in view of the projected demand and price of corn

• Tremendous opportunity to increase productivity in view of huge gaps which exist today

• Private and public sector need to work together to increase the genetic gain

• Economic returns to farmers and other stake holders must be kept in mind when developing new technologies

• Use of biotechnology must be encouraged

• Increased investments in agricultural research and human resource development

• Successful public private partnerships must be created

……. To meet the challenges that we have

Thank You