Monsanto sees India adopting biotech corn in 5 yrs

By Euan Rocha

MUMBAI (Reuters) - U.S. biotech company Monsanto Co hopes to gain regulatory approvals to commercialize some varieties of its biotech corn in India in about five years, a company official said on Thursday.

"There is a fundamental (amount of) time that is required for crops to be evaluated ... We can be in the four-year time frame, but my guess is we will be in the five-year time frame on this one," Sekhar Natarajan, head of Monsanto's Indian operations, said in an interview with Reuters.

Monsanto, which has been operating in India for almost six decades, recently got approvals to start initial trials for some varieties of its YieldGard and Roundup Ready corn seeds.

India has taken a conservative approach to the adoption of biotech crops due to efficacy- and safety-related concerns. The country only approved Monsanto's Bollgard BT cotton trait in 2002. Since then it has also approved Bollgard II technology -- the traits protect the cotton crop against bollworms and other pests.

The Bollgard traits -- which are marketed by MMB, an equally owned joint venture with Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Co -- have been a success for the company, and in 2008 Bollgard seeds were grown on 17.2 million acres, or 76 percent of India's total cotton acreage, according to Monsanto.

Monsanto contends that the wide acceptance of Bollgard has moved India from being a net importer of cotton to being the world's second-largest exporter.

"We are seeing how small farmers, given the right tools, innovations and technologies, can really turn around and make India a powerhouse in agricultural crops," said Natarajan.

Monsanto is now conducting trials on its third generation of Bollgard cotton, which it hopes to launch in about three years. The new seeds will be stacked with a Roundup Ready trait, which will make the crop tolerant of glyphosate -- a common herbicide used for weed control that was originally developed by Monsanto.