NBA Releases Rs 15.52 Crore from Mustard Varieties to States

The payment comes from M/s Pioneer Overseas Corporation, which developed the Brassica juncea hybrids using parental lines obtained through markets and traders.

India's National Biodiversity Authority has released Rs 15.52 crore in Access and Benefit Sharing proceeds linked to ten commercial mustard hybrid varieties, directing the money towards states and Union Territories where the biological resource behind those varieties is cultivated.

The payment comes from M/s Pioneer Overseas Corporation, which developed the Brassica juncea hybrids using parental lines obtained through markets and traders. Since the original farmers or communities supplying those biological resources could not be individually identified, the NBA developed a different approach for distributing the benefits.

Rajasthan Receives Largest Share of Mustard Benefits

The Rs 15.52 crore will be distributed among 26 State Biodiversity Boards and three Union Territory Biodiversity Councils, with individual allocations calculated according to the area under mustard cultivation. Rajasthan, home to nearly 42 per cent of India's mustard cultivation, receives the largest allocation at Rs 6.43 crore. Uttar Pradesh follows with Rs 2.28 crore, while Madhya Pradesh receives Rs 1.86 crore.

Haryana has been allocated Rs 1.21 crore and West Bengal Rs 1.10 crore, followed by Jharkhand with Rs 0.73 crore, Assam with Rs 0.53 crore and Gujarat with Rs 0.48 crore. Bihar receives Rs 0.15 crore and Punjab Rs 0.08 crore, while other eligible regions collectively receive Rs 0.67 crore.

New Approach Covers Resources Bought Through Markets

Pioneer Overseas Corporation bred the commercial varieties in-house, yet the parental material had been sourced through intermediaries rather than directly from an identifiable farmer or community. An NBA Expert Committee was formed to determine how benefit sharing should work in such situations. It recommended distributing proceeds among biodiversity boards and councils in areas where the biological resource is cultivated. Cultivation figures supplied by the ICAR-Indian Institute of Rapeseed-Mustard Research in Bharatpur were then used to calculate each region's proportionate entitlement.

Funds Will Support Biodiversity and Local Communities

Under Section 32 of the Biological Diversity Act, recipient boards and councils must use the money for activities connected with biodiversity and communities, including restoring degraded ecosystems, supporting Biodiversity Heritage Sites and strengthening Biodiversity Management Committees. Funding can also support in-situ and ex-situ conservation, community livelihoods and the preparation or updating of People's Biodiversity Registers, which document locally available biological resources and associated knowledge.

The NBA says it has released Rs 182.5 crore in Access and Benefit Sharing proceeds so far, including Rs 116.22 crore distributed to beneficiaries across India during the past 12 months. The mechanism is designed to ensure that commercial use of India's genetic resources produces benefits that flow back towards biodiversity conservation and the regions and communities that maintain those resources.