Look who wants to tinker with the onion in the country! The Indian onion, long considered for its unique taste, texture, bulb size and pungency, may lose its naturality if a multinational seed company has its way. After tinkering with the genes of the onion in the West to change its trademark tear-causing property and pungency, the firm has now sought permission of Indian authorities to “produce commercial grade onion seeds” out of the hybrids developed by the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research.
The company has sought the germplasm of two hybrid varieties of Indian onions, which have been doing well in the fields and reaping higher returns to farmers. It has approached the National Biodiversity Board seeking 25 grams each of male sterile (A line) and maintainer (B line) of MS 48 and MS 65 hybrid onion varieties.
As environment activist Bhargavi Rao points out, “the company wants to develop new hybrids using the Indian onion germplasm,” but expresses doubts that the germplasm could be misused for transgenics given the loopholes in legal system and the chalta hai attitude of officials in the country.
Bhargavi Rao and her team last week exposed the multinational seed company through their arguments before the National Biodiversity Board on the use of germplasm of nine varieties of Indian brinjal without official permission to develop a transgenic variety of the vegetable. Brinjal, like onion, is preferred by many Indian families across the length and breadth of the country.
Selection of onion after brinjal for “research” in the country raises many a doubt, the simplest being, “why the Indian onion?” The answer is as simple as the question. The onion in India is not just a vegetable. It’s more than a mere kit-chen ingredient, linked to the customs and traditions of the country. Quite often the onion has turned into an emotional, electoral and political issue too, forcing governments to scurry for cover from the public’s wrath. Besides being an integral component of Indian culinary preparations, onion with several natural compounds is valued for its medicinal properties. It contributes about 90 per cent of foreign exchange to the country under vegetables. Also, onion seed business is not highly organised, with just 30 per cent of the seed coming from organised sector. So this leaves a 70 per cent gap for business in onion seeds in India.
“Yes, onion has always been an emotional issue in India. It is capable of pulling down governments. No Indian kitchen is complete without this bulbous vegetable. That the seed company has selected onions for hybridisation shows it wants to take control of the politics of the country through hybrid onions. Once the Indian onion germplasm goes into the hands of the multinational firm, onions may not be available for the common man as it will have a say over its price,” alleges Leo Saldanha of Environment Support Group.
Environment activists caution that if officials give permission to the seed company to take up hybridisation of Indian onions, the general public may not have access to the vegetable, whose prices touch the sky during certain months. “Farmers will also be forced to buy the hybrid seed year after year. Government agencies like Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru, and the Project Directorate of Onion and Garlic Research, Pune, have already developed onion hybrid and research is on for new hybrid varieties. So there’s no need for a private firm to take up onion hybridisation in the country,” argues senior advocate Syed Naseer Ahmed. According to Bhargavi Rao, the multinational seed company in its application to the National Biodiversity Board has introduced itself as using marker-assisted breeding with focus on tomato, chilli, brinjal, water melon, cucumber, tropical cauliflower and short day onions. “This speaks of a larger agenda,” chips in Saldanha. As the Project Directorate of Onion and Garlic Research (PDOGR) rightly points out, “seed is the basic unit of crop production and has greater contribution than environment and cultural factors”. India needs 4500 tonnes of onion seed annually for covering 5 lakh hectares area. About 70 per cent production comes from local genotypes/land races maintained by the farmers. Only 30 per cent is produced under organised sectors. But the quality of seeds the farmers generate is not always good and this impacts the bulb quality. The onion market is quite larger than one imagines. PDOGR statistics show that India ranks second in area (5.28 lakh hectares) and production (74.51 lakh tonnes) of onion, next to China. Besides meeting domestic requirements, India exports 11.0 lakh tonnes of onion worth Rs 1,000 crore. Over last 25 years the production of onion has increased from 25.04 lakh tonnes to 74.51 lakh tonnes. The official target is to produce 100 lakh tonnes of onion by 2025 and develop onion varieties suitable for export in dark red and light red for Gulf and Southeast Asian markets as well as yellow and brown for European markets. Saldanha supports the argument that there’s no need for research on hybrid onions by private players. Research on onion has been taking place in India for the last 40 years. Several State agricultural universities and institutions attached to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research are busy with the project. As many as 40 varieties including hybrids of onion have been developed by public sector research bodies.