Biotechnology and the Industrialization of Horticulture in India

Abstract

This paper delineates changes in the organization of the production of horticultural plants as a result of the introduction of plant tissue culture techniques in India. Conventionally, horticultural plantlets have been produced in farmer-managed nurseries by using traditional plant breeding techniques such as grafting, budding, layering, seed propagation, etc. Over several centuries, the production process was organized as a craft, based on empirical experience. During the last decade, many multinational corporations and large Indian industrial companies have made substantial investments in horticulture by deploying tissue culture. In a comparative study of nurseries using conventional plant breeding techniques and plant tissue culture, it was observed that production processes had undergone several changes as a result of the introduction of tissue culture. In traditional nurseries the production process was organized according to the simple division of labour. In contrast, plant tissue culture technology was introduced within a complex organizational structure with a formal hierarchy similar to that of the manufacturing industry. Plant tissue culture has ushered in the industrialization of horticulture.