Icar’s herbicide-tolerant rice is not farmer-friendly and is a threat to national food security

Even ICAR’s research published in _The Pharma Innovation Journal _in 2022 concluded that “eco-friendly hand weeding at 20 and 40 days after DSR sowing is more effective than repeated

applications of Imazethapyr in Ht-rice for weed control and higher seed yield. Furthermore, _Imazethapyr _only kills certain types of broadleaf weeds (BLW). Globally, the herbicides is

recommended for soybean and pulse crops, but not for rice crops due to the different weed flora. For other types of weeds, farmers would need another set of herbicide sprays, increasing

cultivation costs. Moreover, Ht rice will not favour the genetic diversity of Indian rice as it will monopolise the seed markets in favour of specific varieties having the ALS gene.

Scientifically, the continued use of the same herbicides over time will result in the evolution of herbicide-resistant, more potent weeds via gene mutation and physiological changes that

confer resistance to herbicides. This is a serious threat to rice production and food security in India. Weeds are a major biological constraint in rice production, causing losses ranging

from 30-100 per cent. Policymakers are well aware of a recent similar phenomenon in Bt Cotton in Punjab and Haryana, where new strains of pink bollworm pest developed resistance to Bt

Cotton, severely reducing cotton production in these agriculturally advanced states. It is worth noting that the North Western Plains, which include Punjab and Haryana, have long used the

DSR system to grow aromatic Basmati rice. To control weeds in rice crops and ensure national food security, policymakers during the Green Revolution introduced the water-guzzling

transplanted rice system by overusing groundwater-based irrigation. These were promoted through subsidised electricity to tubewells in the semi-arid climatic states of Punjab-Haryana, using

dwarf high-yielding varieties imported from the International Rice Research Institute in Manila. These policy initiatives secured India’s food security over the last five decades but caused

major ecological disasters, depleting groundwater in grey zones in these states. To overcome the adverse impact of the water-guzzling transplanted rice system, policymakers promoted

economically non-viable crop diversification to paddy farmers without considering the climatic conditions of this zone.