Pioneer Adds Cotton Research to Indian Facility
September 24, 2009 September 21, 2009
DuPont has announced that its Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., business will expand its operations in India to include cotton research.
Cotton will be added to the program of study at the existing facility in Hyderabad, India. Currently, the facility studies pearl millet and rice. Pioneer established its highly successful hybrid rice research program in Hyderabad in 1987. Rice hybrid PHB71 was released in 1995 and is now the leading rice hybrid in the country.
This news follows the company’s recent cotton acquisitions in India. In June, Pioneer Hi-Bred purchased the cotton seed business of Nandi Seeds, based in Mehboob Nagar, Andhra Pradesh, India. It also acquired cotton germplasm from Nagarjuna Seeds, based in Secunderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India.
“These acquisitions will help us enter the cotton seed market here and meet the needs of Indian farmers who grow more than 9 million hectares of cotton each year – more than anywhere else in the world,” K.V. Subbarao, country manager, Pioneer India, said in a company release. “Cotton is a natural fit for Pioneer in India. It completes our high-value product and service offering to farmers and enables us to further strengthen our growing seed business here.”
DuPont’s Hyderabad, India, facility is recognized as a DuPont Knowledge Center (DKC), which includes a Biotechnology Research Center. This biotech center is the first integrated agriculture and industrial biotechnology research center for DuPont outside the United States.
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