Biotech giant Monsanto will invest Rs20bn (US$351m) in its Indian research and development programmes over the next ten years, the Economic Times has reported.
While a significant portion of the investment will be channelled into cotton and soybean seed development, Monsanto’s Indian manager Gyanendra Shukla said the company would not neglect its vegetable sector.
“Vegetable crops are prone to diseases and we are working on breeding and research regarding hybrid vegetable seeds, particularly tomato and pepper,” Shukla told the Economic Times.
“We plan to launch exotic vegetable seeds of cherry tomato and bellafina bellpepper.”
Monsanto is also looking at ways to make its corn seeds more resistant to stemborer pests.
“It looks like our pipeline for corn seed is going well for the dry season,” Shukla explained.
“We are working on the wet season pipeline and some of our new products will be demonstrated and launched in the new season.”
