The rapid rise in the demand for foodgrains to cater to India’s ever-growing population, despite the fact that cultivable farmland is actually shrinking, has been the main reason why agricultural biotechnology has acquired a lot of importance in recent years. Technically speaking, the concept of ‘agricultural biotechnology’ refers to the methods employed by scientists to alter the genetic mechanism of an organism for help in the processing or production of agro-based products. Since the cultivable farmland in India is not projected to increase in future, any rise in foodgrain production would have to be conducted through biotechnological methods to increase overall productivity. Biotechnology results in improvement of plant yields, better plant resistance towards pests and diseases and the ability to effect a rise in the nutritional content of foodgrains. Hide this