IINRG Vision 2050

Abstract

Preparing Vision 2050 is a highly challenging task. It involves visualizing how the sector is likely and expected to evolve during the time frame set and a good understanding of the overall global scenario that would emerge in time to come, with particular reference to those factors which would infl uence the production and consumption of the NRGs. Envisioning the projected demand of the commodities addressed will be the obvious basis for developing the road map of vision document. The task is relatively easier with regard to food commodities which would be based on projections of population growth as well as changes in food preferences. Envisaging demand for natural resins and gums (NRGs) after about four decades is rather complex. Consumption of NRGs linked to quality of human life, as their strong areas of consumption are in food, cosmetics and pharmaceutics. Tremendous changes could be envisaged in these sectors by the middle of this century, which is expected to positively impact on the demand for NRGs. Similarly development of novel areas of consumption will also push up the demand. Thus a multifold increase in demand is envisaged necessitating concomitant increase in NRG production. At present the demand-supply gap appears rather wide indicative of adequate scope for boosting the production to desirable levels. The estimated production of NRGs in the country during 2012-13 had been around 8.4 lakh tonnes. It is hoped that demand would grow stronger due to increased interest on use of natural products. The world would move towards environmentfriendly production technologies and safer raw materials that are renewable and can be produced on sustainable basis. NRGs are inherently vulnerable to climatic conditions leading to fl uctuations in supply and price, both of which are important for achieving a sustainable demand. All the R&D efforts will be to achieve higher and sustainable productivity with optimal inputs, ensuring high quality of NRGs and development of novel and specialty applications especially in low-volume highvalue products; emergence of new frontier areas would trigger paradigm shift in application domains. Biotechnological tools would enable harnessing genes for mass production of useful molecules in bio-factories. Such production systems would complement rather than replace the conventional production systems; drastic changes are nevertheless foreseen with introduction of highly organized plantations with advanced parameter monitoring, automated management systems for precision farming for sustainable production. Advanced information and communication systems would lead to management of production systems at national level, for demand-production matching, on annual basis. The pace of technological strides has tremendously increased in recent decades and this trend would continue during the forthcoming decades as well. Besides, the institute could in future take in related new areas such as biopolymers, derived especially from agrowastes, ushering new domains of research. Thus, even a realistic portrayal of the roadmap and sector scenario by 2050 in the NRG sector is likely to read like a science fi ction. This document may therefore be viewed as rather a conservative picturization of NRG sector by 2050 and R&D framework to a meet the requirements that would emerge.