You say protato, and I say pulses
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COMMENTS 
Can a protein-enhanced potato, the `protato', really help solve India's malnutrition problem? Shouldn't we be increasing pulses production, instead, to meet the protein needs of our people?
I was taken by surprise. The BBC Radio presenter, who was busy talking about football star Beckham, suddenly shifted to genetically modified potatoes and told his listeners that he had a food policy analyst on the line from New Delhi. Before I could respond to his greetings, he fired the first googly: "When will you stop treating the multinational corporations as wicked?"
Knowing that it was a live and popular breakfast programme, I had little time to react. "I think this question should be directed to the multinationals," I replied, adding "as far as I am concerned, I will stop treating them as wicked the day they stop acting wickedly."
While I was drawing the link between multinational corporations and the GM potato being researched in India, the commentator asks: "Why are you opposed to this GM potato which is reported to contain 40% more protein, that could be the answer to India's mounting problem of malnutrition?" "Who gave you these fake protein figures?" I asked. "The GM potato that is under research contains not more than 2.8% protein, a mere increase of 0.6 to 0.8% protein than what exists in normal potatoes." Well, this is what has been claimed by the secretary of the department of biotechnology, he quipped, adding "but don't you think that even a little increase in protein would help?" "What a shame. Those who talk of addressing the acute malnutrition crisis by feeding GM potatoes containing 2.8% protein must be living in a fool's paradise," I replied angrily. "If they are really sincere in fighting malnutrition, they should ensure that first the 50 million tonnes of foodgrain that is rotting in the open is fed to the hungry… The over 25 million tonnes of food that is stocked and rotting comprises wheat which contains four times more protein than potatoes."
A couple more questions and the live interview ended. The BBC presenter turned back to more juicy stuff on Beckham, his interest in India's hunger and malnutrition as superficial as that of the biotechnologists.
No sooner was I back in my office than another reporter was on the line, this time from Paris. He too was seeking my reaction to the claims made by Ms Manju Sharma, secretary, department of biotechnology. The global print and electronic media chased the story for three days, following Ms Sharma's tall (but false) claim at an international conference in France.
That reminds me of another research claim that was featured on the front pages of the newspapers in the early 1980s. Scientists had succeeded in crossing a potato with a tomato -- they called it a pomato -- hoping that it would increase the shelf life of tomatoes. The skin of the tomato would be thicker; this meant that housewives would not be forced to throw away over-ripe tomatoes every other day. A number of newspapers came out with editorials praising the scientists' efforts. Mercifully, we did not hear of this `scientific feat' again.
The scientific world has come a long way since the days of the pomato. Now a new product -- the `protato' (as the GM potato is called -- is being touted as the magic bullet. These are the days when all kinds of permutations and combinations are being tried out by the new breed of biotechnologists, with the multi-billion-dollar biotechnology industry waiting for a miracle to rescue its flagging reputation. With GM foods, scientists are giving the impression that they finally have the technological means to fight the scourge of mankind -- `silent hunger'.
But, the well-known Indian agricultural scientist Dr M S Swaminathan has sounded a word of caution. Addressing an international conference on the Right to Food and the Cost of Hunger, that recently concluded in Rome, he said: "Malnutrition cannot be eradicated by providing vitamin A, iron or iodine. A malnourished body requires a complete balanced food packet that builds up its ability to absorb nutrients. The greatest challenge therefore is to first provide food to the hungry. Any other approach will be ineffective in meeting the needs of nutritional security."
`Hidden hunger', or `silent hunger' as it is called, is the new buzzword within the scientific fraternity. Thirty years after the green revolution, scientists are rediscovering the importance of nutritional security for the masses. Their desperation, however, is not aimed at addressing the problem of `hidden hunger' but gaining public acceptance for genetic engineering. Such is the haste to promote this faulty technology that Ms Sharma has gone to the extent of saying that she would push for the protato to be included in the mid-day meal scheme for school children.
Let us try to understand the reasons for growing malnutrition in India. For the average Indian, an everyday meal consists of dal and roti. While rotis are easily accessible (if you have the purchasing power), dal is becoming less and less readily available. Pulses being the crop of marginal areas are ideally suited to rain-fed areas which account for 70% of the country's cultivated land. They require very little water and are known to enrich the soil by fixing atmospheric nitrogen. The neglect of pulses cultivation has pushed the price of common dals beyond the reach of the average Indian, with the result that micronutrient deficiency continues to grow.
On an average, pulses contain 20-24% protein. Earlier efforts to increase the production of pulses would have helped reduce their price, making them more accessible. This didn't happen. Instead India, which consumes a large quantity of pulses, gradually turned major importer. Today, the country imports large quantities of pulses from Australia and Canada. Such were the lopsided policies of the past that, at one stage, India was even contemplating `contract farming' of pulses in Africa to meet the country's needs. There has been little effort to encourage domestic farmers to grow pulses, and pull the crop out of marginal areas. As a result, the output of pulses continues to hover around 14 million tonnes. If we had only spent the money currently being wasted on fruitless applications of genetic engineering -- like the protato -- on research on pulses, we would have built up a realistic and sustainable answer to malnutrition.
InfoChange News & Features, July 2003