India's agricultural productivity is not keeping pace with its population, despite its growing economy. Advances in transgenic technology could alleviate the situation, but there is strident opposition in the nation to genetically modified (GM) crops from non-governmental organizations and from spiritual gurus, in the name of tradition, biodiversity and other ill-founded concerns.

Millions of people worldwide have been consuming GM maize (known as Bt corn) over the past decade, and no authenticated health issues have arisen. Bt-transformed plants reduce pesticide application so are suitable for organic farming. GM rice that provides a balance of protein and micronutrients would vastly improve the health of millions of children.

The biodiversity argument doesn't stand up either: random transfer of engineered genes to a non-target plant is likely to be harmless if the genes are well tested, given that genes are constantly shuffled on an evolutionary scale anyway.

Embargos from the Indian government and the courts have destroyed the efforts of researchers here to improve the productivity of crops outside the agendas of multinational corporations.

No single technology can solve all the problems, but a combination of transgenic technology, organic farming, marker-assisted breeding and traditional practices would markedly improve crop yields. India cannot afford to lose even one of these technology options.