Union Budget 2025: In Pune, research body BAIF welcomes gene bank announcement

Hailing the budget announcement on setting up a second gene bank, Bharat Kakade, the president of BAIF Development Research Foundation, said preservation of native species was important.

For several years now, BAIF has been maintaining both in-situ and ex-situ gene banks with over 700 varieties of rice, millets and vegetables. (Express photo)

Bharat Kakade, the president and managing trustee of Pune- based BAIF Development Research Foundation, popularly known as BAIF, welcomed Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s announcement of setting up the 2nd Gene Bank for future food and nutritional security.

“Native species are part of the agricultural biodiversity of the area. So if they are not preserved, they will cause irrevocable damage,” Kakade said. Preservation of native species, he added, was important “given the manner in which they are being lost due to commercialisation of agriculture”.

The institution has two ex-situ gene banks – one at the Urali Kanchan facility in Pune and the other at its Jawahar campus in Palghar district.

In her Union Budget 2025 speech, Sitharaman said, “The 2nd Gene Bank with 10 lakh germplasm lines will be set up for future food and nutritional security. This will provide conservation support to both public and private sectors for genetic resources.”

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For several years now, BAIF has been maintaining both in-situ and ex-situ gene banks with over 700 varieties of rice, millets and vegetables. Ex-situ conservation results in conservation off fields while in-situ conservation means farmers cultivate the varieties on field. The institution has two ex-situ gene banks – one at the Urali Kanchan facility in Pune and the other at its Jawahar campus in Palghar district.

Native species, Kakade said, have huge potential in terms of health benefits. “These species have traits like being drought-resistant which are yet to be tapped,” he added.

Kakade said native species are increasingly being sidelined as commercial agriculture is dependent on hybrid seeds. Given the drought-resistant nature of native seeds, Kakade said a mix and match of these seeds with the commercial varieties would help farmers drought-proof their crops.

Parthasarathi Biswas

Partha Sarathi Biwas is an Assistant Editor with The Indian Express with 10+ years of experience in reporting on Agriculture, Commodities and Developmental issues. He has been with The Indian Express since 2011 and earlier worked with DNA. Partha's report about Farmers Producer Companies (FPC) as well long pieces on various agricultural issues have been cited by various academic publications including those published by the Government of India. He is often invited as a visiting faculty to various schools of journalism to talk about development journalism and rural reporting. In his spare time Partha trains for marathons and has participated in multiple marathons and half marathons. ... Read More

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