India is an agricultural country with a variety of agro climatic zones.

That sounds like a line from a geography textbook. However, this fact is also one of the reasons for the very large range of fruits, vegetables, milk, fish and other agro produce available in the country. Agriculture is a sector that employs 75 per cent of the country’s people. And sadly, in a country where there is adequate demand and huge export potential for agri products, of the total output from the sector, much is wasted.

India happens to be the largest producer of milk in the world, the third largest producer of fruits and the third largest producer of vegetables.  It numbers seven in the list of fish producing countries. Yet, 25-30 per cent of the produce in India is wasted due to post-harvest losses. And just 2 per cent of the country’s fruits and vegetables are processed into value-added products.

According to Chirayu Amin, president, FICCI, who also heads a biotechnology company, the reasons for the low processing level are many, including lack of standards in raw material, inadequate cold storage facilities and the restrictive price of good quality packaging and inefficient technology. The last is where biotechnology can make a contribution to the agro and food processing industry.

Biotechnology can help in this by enhancing production and preservation of raw material. It can also alter the functional and nutritional properties of food products. New products can be created using biotechnology. The processing of foods can make use of microorganisms, enzymes and additives to make foods that taste different and have a longer shelf life. ‘Starter cultures’ can actually raise the nutritional value and flavour of foods while shortening the process time.

Most foods and beverages that have undergone fermentation as a process have enzymes added to them. In the processing of fruits and vegetables, enzymes have replaced mechanical processes while they have largely replaced chemical processing in the manufacture of industrial starch.

Importantly, biotechnology can assist in manufacture of products that are eco friendly, and have better quality at lower costs. However, in India, biotechnology applications in agro and the food processing sector is limited. The main limitations to wider use of biotechnology is lack of information and awareness, the high costs of biotech inputs, inadequate infrastructure and lack of funds for new ventures, apart from non availability of local material and technology.

However, Amin feels that despite research in biotechnology in India, commercial leads are few. This is because   investors need more information on process economics and quality control which research does not focus on adequately. The Indian industry also has to face investors who do not wish to invest in ventures that involve use of unproven technology.(For more on:"There's a need to create business from the findings of biotechnology. It needs communication between acedemics and VCs": Dr Omkar Goswami, Chief Economist, Confederation of Indian Industry)

(For more on:"We are working on some venture capital initiatives in biotechnology, which could be used by SSIs.”: Dr J R Arora, Advisor, Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology.)

According to Prof Padmanabhan, IISc, Bangalore, who works closely with the industry on biotechnology, despite the work that is on in the field of biotechnology with almost a hundred groups involved, no products have actually been developed. He says, “I have more faith in the startups begun by young Indian PhDs, who have returned home to set up companies in biotechnology.” (For more on:"The pool of scientists holding formal qualifications in both Computer Science and biology is diminutive”: Dr Stephan)

Amin says, "Biotechnology can benefit both farmers and consumers. However its use requires a combination with higher investment in R&D and regulatory arrangements that protect the public from risks such as use of Genetically Modified (GM) foods. There should be ‘proper’ management of intellectual property rights while encouraging private sector participation and agricultural research in biotechnology."

Both the industry and the government should work together to harness the benefits of biotechnology to the agro and food processing sectors so that farmers, manufacturers and consumers all stand to gain from it.