Topsoil will be washed away leaving marshy saline soil, an environment in which conventional crops won't grow. It's a problem researchers at the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation are trying to resolve. Our scientists have mapped mangrove trees. They grow in the estuaries, between seawater and fresh water and they have genes for seawater tolerance. In medicine as well as agriculture, India's ecosystem has much to offer.
Many Indian tribes turn to traditional healers who use locally found plants to treat diseases.
There is a women's biotechnology centre outside Madras Multinational companies have realised the potential of these remedies in drug development. In the recent years, overseas firms have rushed to patent chemicals from natural sources that have been used locally for hundreds of years. These include turmeric, neem, and ginger. But there is real concern about the motives of the multinational companies who are investing in India. But some industrialists choose to ignore the option of biotechnology.