Davis, Calif.-Arcadia Biosciences Inc. has received a three-year, $3.6 million grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to develop rice and wheat in India that use less fertilizer and water. According to a USAID announcement, Arcadia will work with Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Co. Ltd. of India to develop and implement the program. Davis-based Arcadia signed an agreement with MAHYCO in April to commercialize new crop varieties in India and South Asia. Arcadia is developing crops that tolerate salt and use less water, potentially relieving demands on drinking water supplies in a country that faces rapid population growth and farming practices that strain fresh water supplies. It is also developing nitrogen-efficient crops that can cut fertilizer use by 50 percent while still obtaining high yields. Crops generally absorb less than 50 percent of nitrogen fertilizer applied to agricultural fields, and the rest might pollute rivers or be emitted as nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that is 300 times more damaging than carbon dioxide. “Increasing the productivity and sustainability of rice and wheat systems in South Asia is critical for the low-income producers and consumers across the region and a high priority for USAID,” said Robert Bertram, acting director of USAID’s Office of Environment and Science Policy. “South Asia is home to almost 1.5 billion people, including more than 30 percent of the world’s malnourished people. As essentially all of the arable land is already under cultivation, meeting future cereal demand and enabling agricultural diversification will require higher rates of improvement in cereal yields.”
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain