The Future of Biotechnology in Agriculture

As population is increasing so is increasing the demand for resources and basic requirements such as food, shelter, clothing, etc. For producing ample of crops to meet the requirements of increasing population has lead to the exploitation of the land. Secondly, industrialisation has limited the land space Thus cultivation has been shrinked agricultural land to a small area. Therefore, to meet the demands with limited resources, we need to apply a great efforts. Biotechnology in agriculture has changed the face of this condition. 

Biotechnology states that by making use of technology, a specific biological system can be modified or manipulated or inclusion of living system for the development or improvement of products for various purposes. It is widely employed in different fields and agriculture is one among them. Researchers have suggested different options for increasing food production. Genetically engineered crop-based agriculture is an option, others being agrochemical based agriculture and organic agriculture.Genetic modification of crops is one of the most significant advancements in this field, allowing scientists to develop crops that are resistant to pests and diseases, require less water and fertilizer, and have improved nutritional value. 

The green revolution, as an initiation step for increasing food production was good but it failed in meeting up the growing demands. Later the idea of crop variety improvement program was put forward. However, the agrochemicals seem to be unfeasible for farmers. In addition, the environmental issues related to them also reduced their use. 

India poised to be among top 5 Global Bio-manufacturing Hubs by 2025:- 

India is positioned among top 12 biotechnology destinations in the world. 

AgriTech Revolution :- 

There are over 3,000 Agritech Startups and are very successful in areas like Aroma Mission and Lavender cultivation. For instance “About 4,000 people are engaged with Lavender cultivation and earning lakhs of rupees, quite a few of them do not have high qualifications, but are very innovative. Vertical farming and urban agriculture are other emerging trends in biotechnology that are revolutionizing the way we grow food. These methods use advanced technologies like hydroponics and aeroponics to grow crops in controlled environments, without the need for soil or large tracts of land. This makes it possible to grow fresh produce in urban areas, decreasing transportation costs and the carbon footprint associated with food production. 

Emerging Genomic Technologies for Agricultural Biotechnology :- 

Advances in genomic technologies may offer potential solutions to agricultural problems like global climate change, exhausted resources, reduction of arable lands and various pathogens.  New genomic technologies such as, Next generation sequencing (NGS), Ribonucleic acid sequencing (RNA-Seq), Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat-Cas9 (CRISPR/Cas9), Transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENS) can be used. 

Application of Biotechnology for sustainable agriculture :- 

Biotechnology will provide alternative methods to current approaches to improve the environment and agricultural system :- 

Biotechnology research have primarily focused on elucidating the underlying molecular mechanisms of diverse metabolic processes and applying this knowledge towards improving crop and animal yield. Genetic engineering offers a more precise and quicker method of gene transfer than conventional crossbreeding. By genetic modification, the nutritional profile of crops can be improved, and herbicide, pest, and disease-resistant varieties can be produced. Abiotic stress is a critical hindrance to agricultural productivity, and plants possessing stress tolerance characteristics such as drought, cold, and salinity tolerance can allow farmers to utilize previously unusable land. Genetic mapping can effectively screen for essential traits otherwise that are difficult to trace using conventional breeding, thereby facilitating advanced plant breeding techniques. Micropropagation offers the potential to generate multiple copies of crops within a short period, resulting to faster breeding of improved varieties and serving the germplasm conservation. Agricultural biotechnology involves the application of scientific tools and techniques such as genetic engineering, molecular biology, and micropropagation to modify plants, animals, and microorganisms.

Biofortification :-

Malnutrition is a significant problem in many developing countries, particularly in Asia, where infants, toddlers and adolescents lose their lives every year as a result of a lack of access to balanced diets. Biotechnology has provided an encouraging potential solution of raising micro and macro nutrients values of crops through conventional breeding or biotechnologal method as golden rice, is enough capable of biosynthesing beta carotene, a component of vitamin A, and has the potential of serving the developing nations' population ( major intake comprises of rice only) as a nutrient supplements. 

Conclusion :- 

Biotechnology has revolutionized the agricultural industry and provided a plethora of benefits to farmers and consumers alike. It comprises the manipulation of living organisms to create new products, processes, and techniques to address various challenges in agriculture. Improved crop varities that are resistant to biotic and abiotic stresses, adaptable to all kinds of environment are the attributes that biotechnology can offer in the field of agriculture. Therefore, farmers can produce more crops with fewer resources, and consumers can have a more abundant and affordable food supply. Despite the numerous benefits of biotechnology in agriculture, there are also many drawbacks about the potential risks associated with this technology. Thus, there is a need for regulatory policies to keep pace with the rapid advancements in biotechnology. The current infrastructure must develop accordingly to ensure the safe and responsible use of these new technologies.