Delhi, August 9: The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) has disbursed close to Rs. 3.79 crore as Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) to 33 State Biodiversity Boards (SBBs) and Union Territory Biodiversity Councils (UTBCs), the ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR) and through the Haryana State Biodiversity Board to the Hisar Bovine Sperm Station and Research Centre.

 

The release covers a diverse range of India's agrobiodiversity, including tomato, chilli, brinjal, cauliflower, watermelon, bitter gourd, bottle gourd, okra, mustard seed varieties and deep-frozen Sahiwal cattle semen. The ABS amount was realised from companies including M/s Bayer Science and Innovation Pvt. Ltd., M/s HM Clause India Pvt. Ltd. and M/s Advanta Enterprises Limited for accessing vegetable and oilseed genetic resources for research and commercial utilisation.

 

In addition, an ABS amount arose from the Department of Animal Production and Health, Government of Sri Lanka, for access to Sahiwal cattle semen. India's ABS framework, implemented under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 and aligned with the Nagoya Protocol, ensures equitable benefit sharing when biological resources are accessed by users from other countries. As companies had accessed biological resources through markets, traders or intermediaries, the original source of access could not be identified. In such cases, the NBA adopted the benefit-sharing modalities prepared by an Expert Committee and approved by the Authority.

 

The ABS amount was disbursed proportionately among the SBBs and UTBCs of the States and Union Territories where the respective crops are cultivated, using cultivation-area data published by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.