"Speed and precision are the passion and purpose of our collaboration"

Mahindra Agri Solutions (MASL) is part of the large multinational Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, that is known for the production of cars and tractors. In their quest to provide other services to farmers as well, the company has ventured into the agri business, with seeds as one of the activities.  MASL’s seeds business sought cooperation with strategic partners across the globe for technological collaboration. “We never jumped into relationships just like that”, Uma jokingly says. “But the innovative nature and the track record of KeyGene have proven to be a solid basis for a fruitful marriage.”

When MASL  stepped into the arena of seeds R&D in 2014, Uma knew that the competition was decades ahead. “We sought our added value in speed and precision”, he recalls. “We knew we needed strategic partners for that, as we did not aim for an inhouse technology platform. In KeyGene, we found an ethical partner that provided us with the speed and precision we sought in, for example, producing crops that were resistant to a number of important pests and diseases.

Resistant rice lines

A first concrete success was achieved in bacterial leaf blight, a bacterial epidemic that can easily destroy as much as three quarters of a rice field. “Within no more than two years, KeyGene helped us to develop a resistant rice line, that we are selling across India now”, Uma says. “They identified the markers that were involved and helped us introduce the genetic traits for resistance into our germplasms.”

Brown planthoppers

Rice fields in India and across the globe are plagued by brown planthoppers, or ‘BPH’. This insect is one of the biggest pests in rice. Uma: “We are now half-way a program to develop BPH-resistant rice. The KeyPoint mutation breeding by KeyGene makes the big difference here. Once we introduce a BPH-resistant strain of rice, this will be a major game changer, not only in India, but in many other countries that are dependent on rice as well.”

Upholding the philosophy

“The team of KeyGene is very dedicated to the cause”, Uma feels. “They are focused in their approach and committed to hard working in a team. They perform on-time trouble shooting and uphold the philosophies that have characterized our collaboration from the beginning.”

Uma and MASL are determined to continue their collaboration with KeyGene in the years to come, he stresses. “Our company has a philosophy we call ‘RISE’, with three pillars . We rise for a more equal world, we rise to be future-ready and we rise to create value.

Especially in our endeavor to be ready for the future, we hope to keep working with KeyGene. We wish to develop superior product-pipelines in rice and corn, with cutting edge technologies of KeyGene that provide our farmers with sustainable crops.”