DuPont, an international seed company praises buoyancy in Indian agriculture

NEW DELHI: Praising India for making fast strides in agriculture, a leading international developer and supplier of advance plant genetics has said it aims to boost output of six staple crops, including rice, cotton and sunflower, in the country through advance seed varieties.

"India is in top 10 tiers for us ... it has great potential to further increase its farm output," William S Niebur, Vice President of DuPont and General Manager of Pioneer Hi-Bred, told PTI.

Headquartered in Des Iowa, Pioneer Hi-Bred, a DuPont business, is the world's leading developer and supplier of advanced plant genetic providing high-quality seeds to farmers in more than 90 countries.

Niebur said the company is focussing on six staple crops -- rice,corn, cotton, pearl millet, mustard seed and sunflower -- and aims to boost production of these in India by developing advance seed varieties.

"We aim to become leading suppliers of seeds of these crops to Indian farmers," he said.

Niebur stressed on bringing advanced agronomic practices, technology and land management techniques to Indian farmers in order to achieve food security for the country.

"The country's first Green Revolution is widely read and discussed and it is time India made a second giant leap by making advances and embracing improved technologies in agriculture," he added.

Pioneer which works closely with more than 2.5 million farmers in India has registered nearly 10-fold increase in investment in the country in the last one decade. Its investment in the country at present is about USD 100 million.

Pioneer has been involved with the Indian seed marketplace through partnership and collaborations for more than 35 years.

It has research stations for rice at Hyderabad, Lucknow, Rajamundry, Burdwan and Nizamabad. For corn at Bangalore, Vijaywada and Udaipur, for Pearl Millet at Alwar and Palanpur, for Cotton at Hyderabad and Mustard at Gurgaon.

On wider use of Biotech in Indian agriculture, he said like cultivators of other countries, Indian farmers should also be given choice.