Bhubaneswar, July 22: Odisha is among the 11 cotton growing States that have received funds under the Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) mechanism to support biodiversity conservation, sustainable utilisation of biological resources and livelihood enhancement.

According to Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) has released Rs 6.67 crore, including Rs 0.14 crore to Odisha under the ABS mechanism. The disbursement demonstrates how benefits derived from the commercial utilisation of biological resources are being reinvested in biodiversity conservation and community welfare under the Biological Diversity Act.

The benefit-sharing amount of Rs 7.62 crore has been realised from Bayer Science & Innovation Pvt. Ltd. (formerly Monsanto Holdings Pvt. Ltd.) for research involving 25,431 cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) varieties. Cotton occupies a unique place in India's agricultural and economic landscape, with the country serving as a global reservoir of cotton genetic diversity that supports nearly 4-5 crore people across the value chain. Since the biological resources were accessed through traders and intermediaries, identifying individual conservers or benefit claimers was not feasible.

The NBA has allocated Rs 6.67 among eleven cotton-growing States. While Rs 2.41 crore has been allocated to Maharashtra, Gujarat was allocated Rs 1.38 crore followed by Telangana (Rs 1.06 crore), Karnataka (Rs 0.40 crore), Rajasthan (Rs 0.36 crore), Madhya Pradesh (Rs 0.31 crore), Andhra Pradesh (Rs 0.23 crore), Haryana (Rs 0.23 crore), Odisha (Rs 0.14 crore), Punjab (Rs 0.09 crore) and Tamil Nadu (Rs 0.06 crore). The remaining amount (Rs 0.95 crore) has been earmarked for the NBA as per the Biological Diversity Rules.

The allocation is based on the geographical distribution of cotton cultivation using data from the All India Coordinated Research Project on Cotton (AICRP), ICAR, and is proportional to each State's area under cotton cultivation, ensuring a transparent, scientific and equitable distribution of ABS benefits.