Sri Vijaya Puram, Aug. 3: The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) has released ₹8.22 crore under its Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) mechanism to research institutions and State Biodiversity Boards and Union Territory Biodiversity Councils across the country, with the Andaman and Nicobar Islands among the beneficiaries. The disbursement, described as one of the largest single ABS payouts for rice, aims to ensure that benefits arising from the commercial use of India’s biological resources are shared fairly with institutions and regions that have conserved them.
The funds were received from M/s Pioneer Overseas Corporation, an international seed company, for using Indian rice (Oryza sativa) varieties in the development and commercialisation of hybrid seeds. The distribution reflects the ABS framework, which provides for equitable sharing of benefits generated from the use of India’s biological resources.
Of the total allocation, ₹2.47 crore has been released to three research institutions that conserved and shared rice varieties used by the company. The ICAR–Indian Institute of Rice Research, Hyderabad, received the largest share of ₹2.43 crore, while Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Uttarakhand, received ₹3.26 lakh for the rice variety it contributed.
The remaining ₹5.75 crore has been distributed among 33 State Biodiversity Boards and Union Territory Biodiversity Councils based on the rice-growing area of each State and Union Territory, as recorded in the Unified Portal for Agricultural Statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. While Uttar Pradesh received the highest allocation of more than ₹73 lakh, States and Union Territories with comparatively smaller rice-growing areas, including the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Sikkim, also received proportionate allocations.
According to the NBA, the grants to State Biodiversity Boards and Union Territory Biodiversity Councils will support approved conservation activities such as protecting native crop diversity, restoring ecosystems, documenting traditional knowledge and assisting local farmers and knowledge holders. Research institutions will utilise their allocations for germplasm conservation, maintenance of seed collections, research and training.
The NBA stated that it has received nearly ₹83 crore in ABS payments from the agriculture and seed sector alone, while total ABS disbursements across all sectors have crossed ₹162 crore.
The initiative also contributes to Target 13 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which promotes fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge. It further supports Sustainable Development Goals 2 (Zero Hunger), 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), 15 (Life on Land) and 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).
The National Biodiversity Authority, a statutory body established under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, functions under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. It regulates access to India’s biological resources and associated traditional knowledge while implementing the Nagoya Protocol’s principle of fair and equitable benefit-sharing.
