Weed management scenario and prospects of herbicide tolerant crop technology in India

Indian agriculture is the second largest contributor to the Indian economy. Globally, India ranks as the largest producer of pulses, cotton, cattle, milk, and jute and holds the second position in the production of rice, wheat, sugarcane, cotton, groundnuts, fruits, and vegetables. It is estimated that India, a country with one-fifth of the world population, needs a net quantity of 529 MT of food grains by 2050 for its food security. Although India’s 2022 foodgrain production is estimated at record 316 MT, with limited or no scope of horizontal expansion in crop area and rapid urbanization in existing crop lands, producing more food per unit area is becoming a challenge. One of the consistent and major obstacles in improving production efficiency is weed infestation in crop fields. Weeds exhibit rapid growth and extensive foliage development to suppress crop growth, and this intensive competition often deprives the main crop of the inputs required for optimal development, ultimately leading to significant yield losses or even crop failure. Although, the western countries, especially North and South American and Australia, have adopted herbicide tolerant (HT) crops, which ensures minimum or no damage to the main crops while killing the weeds by selective herbicide application, India is yet to embrace this technology. Regardless, Indian agriculture consumes a significant volume of herbicide across the crops even in the absence of HT crops. The distinctive socio-political context in India, combined with resistance from certain sections of society toward genetic engineering, has been a major factor underlying the rejection of genetically modified HT cultivars. However, with rapid transition of labor force to non-agricultural professions leading to increasing cost of manual weed control and the lack of adequate advancement in cultural and mechanical weed control tools, the pressing demand of producing significantly more food is currently a challenge for Indian agriculture. We summarize in this article the situation that indicates whether Indian agriculture, given the greater responsibility of safeguarding its demanding food requirement while maintaining the export volume, should welcome HT crop cultivars, especially in the situation of rapidly increasing labor cost.