The National Biodiversity Authority has released over ₹24 lakh as Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) amount to benefit claimers, including buffalo farmers in Haryana, beneficiaries across 11 States, and three national research institutions. The amount has been released for conserving valuable biological resources that were later used by companies and research organisations for commercial utilisation. This demonstrates that farmers, breeders and institutes who conserve biological resources can receive fair and equitable benefit-sharing when their biological resources are used commercially.

The benefit-sharing amount has been disbursed among the identified beneficiaries including a family-run Murrah Buffalo Farm, Haryana (Rs. 4.30 lakh); ICAR–National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), New Delhi (Rs. 4.61 lakh); ICRISAT, Patancheru, Hyderabad (Rs. 5.36 lakh); ICAR–National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources (NBFGR), Lucknow (Rs. 0.14 lakh); and the State Biodiversity Boards of Maharashtra (Rs. 3.22 lakh), Gujarat (Rs. 1.92 lakh), Telangana (Rs. 1.52 lakh), Karnataka (Rs. 0.73 lakh), Rajasthan (Rs. 0.63 lakh), Andhra Pradesh (Rs. 0.54 lakh), Madhya Pradesh (Rs. 0.46 lakh), Haryana (Rs. 0.44 lakh), Punjab (Rs. 0.19 lakh), Odisha (Rs. 0.17 lakh) and Tamil Nadu (Rs. 0.13 lakh).

The payment relates to access provided to Murrah buffalo breeding stock, one of India’s most commercial dairy buffalo breeds; hundreds of crop varieties, including rice, mustard, wild mung bean, chilli, tomato, cucumber, carrot, okra and other crops; 627 varieties of pearl millet; 55 maize varieties and fish cell cultures used in scientific research and cotton varieties. 

Under the National Biodiversity Authority’s ABS framework, benefit-sharing payments are disbursed in accordance with the approved regulations. The amounts allocated to research institutions will be utilized for biodiversity conservation and research activities. The ABS amount received from access to cotton genetic resources is distributed among the 11 cotton-growing States. In the case of individual conservers, such as farmers and breeders, the major share of the benefit-sharing amount is transferred through the concerned State Biodiversity Board for disbursement to the beneficiaries.

With this release, the NBA has disbursed a total of around ₹153 crore as Access and Benefit Sharing payments, reinforcing India’s commitment to  strengthen conservation, maintain biological collections, support scientific research, improve taxonomic studies, undertake biodiversity surveys and build capacity for biodiversity conservation. This would ensure that those who conserve the country’s biological resources receive a fair share of the benefits arising from their use.

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