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Sustainable agriculture and genetically modified crops

Sustainable development and energy · Part 3 / 3 · Fact-checked on 8 November 2026 · how we check

Written with AI from the sources listed at the bottom of this page, then fact-checked by a separate AI.

Soil, water and input efficiency; integrated pest management; organic farming, NPOP and PGS-India, Sikkim; natural farming and its national mission; NICRA, NMSA and millets; transgenic and genome-edited crops; the 1989 Rules, RCGM and GEAC; Bt cotton, Bt brinjal, GM mustard and genome-edited rice; the GM debate.

Farming is where sustainable development meets the daily life of most Indians. The Green Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s made India self-sufficient in food grains through high-yielding seeds, chemical fertilisers and assured irrigation, but it left costs behind: falling water tables in parts of Punjab and Haryana, soils thinned of organic matter, unbalanced use of urea, and heavy pesticide spraying. Climate change now adds heat waves, erratic rain and new pests. Sustainable agriculture asks how yields can stay high while soil, water and biodiversity are protected for the next generation of farmers. This part answers in two halves. The first covers better farm practices, organic and natural farming and climate-resilient farming. The second covers genetically modified crops: what they are, how India regulates them and why they remain contested.

Sustainable farming begins with three resources: soil, water and inputs. For soil, the Soil Health Card scheme, launched in February 2015 at Suratgarh in Rajasthan, tests farm soil for nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and micronutrients and gives the farmer a card recommending how much of each fertiliser to apply, so that money is not wasted and land is not overloaded. For water, micro-irrigation delivers water through drip lines or sprinklers to the plant's root zone instead of flooding the field; it is promoted under the Per Drop More Crop component of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (2015). For inputs, integrated nutrient management combines farmyard manure, compost, green manure and biofertilisers with chemical fertilisers in balanced doses. Neem-coated urea, made compulsory for all domestically produced urea in 2015, releases nitrogen more slowly and is hard to divert to factories.

integrated pest management treats chemical pesticides as the last resort rather than the first. It starts with prevention: resistant varieties, crop rotation, timely sowing and clean fields. It then relies on watching the crop and acting only when pests cross a level at which they cause real economic loss. Control methods are layered: mechanical ones such as pheromone and light traps, biological ones such as releasing parasite insects like Trichogramma wasps that attack pest eggs, bio-pesticides made from neem or from microbes, and only then a targeted chemical spray. The reasoning is that blanket spraying kills the farmer's natural allies, lets pests develop resistance, leaves residues in food, and lets some chemicals build up along food chains, the biomagnification taught in the pollution chapter.

organic farming grows crops without synthetic fertilisers, synthetic pesticides or genetically modified seed, relying on compost, manure, crop rotation and biological pest control, and its produce is sold as certified organic. India runs two certification systems. The National Programme for Organic Production, begun in 2001 under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and implemented through APEDA, uses accredited third-party certifying agencies and is recognised for exports. The Participatory Guarantee System, PGS-India, is run under the Ministry of Agriculture: members of a local farmer group check each other's fields and stand guarantee for one another, an arrangement that costs far less and suits small farmers selling at home. The Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana, launched in 2015, promotes organic farming in clusters of farmers with PGS certification, and a separate mission supports organic value chains in the north-eastern states. Among the states, Sikkim got there first: in January 2016 it became the first in India to be declared wholly organic.

natural farming goes a step further than organic farming. Organic farmers may buy approved organic inputs from outside; natural farming tries to avoid purchased inputs altogether and builds soil life with preparations made on the farm from cow dung, cow urine, jaggery, pulse flour and soil, such as jeevamrit, together with beejamrit for treating seed, mulching to cover the soil, and mixed cropping. The aim is to cut the cost of cultivation as well as chemical use, which matters for indebted small farmers. Andhra Pradesh has run a large community-managed natural farming programme, and the Centre supported natural farming within the Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana before the Union Cabinet approved a stand-alone National Mission on Natural Farming on 25 November 2024, with an outlay of ₹2,481 crore. Supporters stress lower costs and healthier soils; critics ask whether yields can be maintained at scale, which is why the mission builds in monitoring.

Climate-resilient agriculture prepares farms for heat, drought, floods and shifting seasons. Its research arm is the National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture, NICRA, launched by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research in 2011; it studies how crops, livestock and fisheries respond to climate stress and demonstrates tested practices in villages in vulnerable districts, such as drought-tolerant varieties, water harvesting and changed sowing dates. On the policy side the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture, one of the eight missions of the National Action Plan on Climate Change, works on soil health, rainfed area development and water-use efficiency. Millets such as jowar, bajra and ragi fit this strategy well: they grow on poor soils with little water, mature quickly and are rich in nutrients. India notified millets as nutri-cereals in 2018, and at its proposal the UN General Assembly declared 2023 the International Year of Millets; in its 2023–24 Union Budget the government gave millets the name Shree Anna.

A genetically modified crop carries genetic material changed in a laboratory, usually by inserting a gene from another organism; such crops are called transgenic. The best-known trait is Bt: genes from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis make the plant produce a protein that kills certain insects, such as the bollworms that bore into cotton, so less insecticide is needed. Another trait is herbicide tolerance, which lets a crop survive a weed-killer that destroys the weeds around it. genome editing is newer and more precise. Tools such as CRISPR-Cas9 cut the plant's own DNA at a chosen spot. In SDN-1 editing the cell repairs the cut by itself, causing a small change; in SDN-2 a small template guides the repair; in SDN-3 a larger piece of DNA, which may be a foreign gene, is inserted. On 30 March 2022 the environment ministry exempted SDN-1 and SDN-2 plants free of foreign DNA from the rules for genetically engineered organisms; SDN-3 plants are still regulated as GM.

India regulates genetically engineered organisms under the Rules for the Manufacture, Use, Import, Export and Storage of Hazardous Micro-organisms, Genetically Engineered Organisms or Cells, 1989, framed under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. The rules set up a ladder of committees. An Institutional Biosafety Committee in each research body oversees laboratory work. The Review Committee on Genetic Manipulation, under the Department of Biotechnology, clears research and small, confined field trials. The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee, under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, decides on large-scale trials and on environmental release, the step before any commercial cultivation; it was called the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee until 2010. Biosafety reviews ask whether a crop could cause allergies, whether its genes could flow to wild relatives and whether it harms insects it was not meant to kill. Internationally, India is a party to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, which governs the movement of living modified organisms across borders.

India's record with GM crops is short and closely watched. Bt cotton, approved in 2002, remains the only GM crop cleared for commercial cultivation, and it now covers most of the country's cotton area; it cut bollworm damage at first, but the pink bollworm later developed resistance, and unapproved herbicide-tolerant Bt cotton has been found in farmers' fields. Bt brinjal was cleared by the GEAC in 2009, but in February 2010 the environment minister placed a moratorium on its release after public consultations across the country. GM mustard DMH-11, a hybrid developed at the University of Delhi using a gene system that makes the plant male-sterile so that hybrid seed is easier to produce, was recommended for environmental release in October 2022. Its challenge reached the Supreme Court, where a two-judge bench gave a split verdict in July 2024 and directed the Centre to frame a national policy on GM crops. In May 2025 the Indian Council of Agricultural Research released two genome-edited rice varieties, DRR Dhan 100 (Kamala) and Pusa DST Rice 1.

The debate over GM crops is a debate about weighing benefits against uncertain risks. Supporters point to higher yields, less insecticide, crops that tolerate drought or salt, and the chance to raise nutrition. Critics raise four main worries: possible effects on health and on insects that were not targets; gene flow into wild and traditional varieties, which matters because India is a centre of origin and diversity for crops such as brinjal; farmers' dependence on a few seed companies and the cost of seed each season; and the speed with which pests adapt, as the pink bollworm showed. The legal answer to such uncertainty is the precautionary principle, which the Supreme Court recognised in the Vellore judgment taught in Part 1: where serious harm is possible, lack of full scientific certainty is no reason to skip safeguards. That is why India moves crop by crop, through committees and public consultation.

Part 3 shows that sustainable farming has two toolkits. The first is about practice and costs little to adopt: soil testing, drip irrigation, balanced nutrients, integrated pest management, organic and natural farming, climate-tested varieties and millets. The second is about technology and is tightly regulated: transgenic and genome-edited crops, cleared step by step by the RCGM and the GEAC under the 1989 Rules, with Bt cotton the only GM crop grown commercially and genome-edited rice the newest arrival. The two are not rivals; both aim to grow more with less water, fewer chemicals and lower emissions. Part 1 set the goal, development that leaves the future intact. Part 2 applied it to energy. Part 3 applies it to food, where the questions raised by biofuels and by the precautionary principle meet in the farmer's field.

Exam traps

• The GEAC (environment ministry) decides on environmental release; the RCGM (Department of Biotechnology) clears research and confined trials. Do not swap them.
• The GEAC was renamed from Approval Committee to Appraisal Committee in 2010.
• Bt cotton (2002) is the only GM crop approved for commercial cultivation; Bt brinjal was cleared by the GEAC in 2009 but put under a moratorium in 2010.
• The 1989 Rules come under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, not the Biological Diversity Act or the Seeds Act.
• Only SDN-1 and SDN-2 genome-edited plants without foreign DNA were exempted in 2022; SDN-3 is still treated as GM.
• NPOP (third-party certification, APEDA, Commerce ministry) is for exports; PGS-India (peer certification, Agriculture ministry) is for the domestic market.
• Natural farming avoids even bought-in organic inputs; organic farming allows approved organic inputs and is certified.
• Sikkim was declared the first fully organic state in 2016; 2023 was the International Year of Millets, proposed by India.

Recap

• Sustainable agriculture keeps yields high while protecting soil, water and biodiversity; the Green Revolution's costs explain why it is needed.
• Soil Health Card (2015), micro-irrigation under Per Drop More Crop (2015), integrated nutrient management and neem-coated urea (2015).
• Integrated pest management: prevention, monitoring, traps and natural enemies first; chemicals last.
• Organic farming: NPOP (2001, APEDA, exports) and PGS-India (peer groups, domestic); PKVY (2015); Sikkim fully organic (2016).
• Natural farming uses farm-made inputs such as jeevamrit; National Mission on Natural Farming approved in November 2024.
• Climate resilience: NICRA (ICAR, 2011), NMSA under the NAPCC; millets as nutri-cereals (2018), International Year of Millets 2023.
• GM crops carry foreign genes (Bt, herbicide tolerance); genome editing changes the plant's own DNA; SDN-1 and SDN-2 exempted in 2022.
• Regulation: 1989 Rules under the EP Act; IBSC, RCGM (DBT), GEAC (MoEFCC) for environmental release; Cartagena Protocol.
• India's record: Bt cotton 2002; Bt brinjal moratorium 2010; GM mustard DMH-11 recommended 2022, split Supreme Court verdict 2024; genome-edited rice 2025.

Practice questions

Sources

• Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare: Soil Health Card scheme (2015), PMKSY Per Drop More Crop (2015), National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture, Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (2015), PGS-India, Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region, National Mission on Natural Farming (Cabinet approval 25 November 2024); Department of Fertilizers: neem-coated urea (2015) — https://agriwelfare.gov.in
• Indian Council of Agricultural Research: National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA, 2011); release of genome-edited rice varieties DRR Dhan 100 (Kamala) and Pusa DST Rice 1 (May 2025) — https://icar.org.in
• Ministry of Commerce and Industry and APEDA: National Programme for Organic Production (2001); declaration of Sikkim as a fully organic state (January 2016) (PIB releases) — https://apeda.gov.in
• Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and the Rules for the Manufacture, Use, Import, Export and Storage of Hazardous Micro-organisms, Genetically Engineered Organisms or Cells, 1989 — https://www.indiacode.nic.in
• Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and GEAC: approval of Bt cotton (2002); Bt brinjal decision and moratorium (February 2010); GM mustard DMH-11 recommendation (October 2022); office memorandum exempting SDN-1 and SDN-2 genome-edited plants (30 March 2022) — https://geacindia.gov.in
• Supreme Court of India, Gene Campaign v Union of India (with connected petitions), judgment of 23 July 2024: split verdict on the GM mustard approval and direction to frame a national policy on GM crops — https://main.sci.gov.in
• Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity (adopted 2000, in force 2003) — https://bch.cbd.int/protocol
• Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine and Storage: integrated pest management programme; Ministry of Agriculture: millets notified as nutri-cereals (2018); UN General Assembly resolution declaring 2023 the International Year of Millets (2021); Union Budget 2023–24 (Shree Anna) — https://ppqs.gov.in