New Delhi, May 12 -- Earlier this month, India released the world's first genome-edited rice, a breakthrough that promises to retune its farm R&D space. The new varieties yield more using less water and are resilient to climate shocks. Mint explains why you must hold your plate and take note.

These were released on 4 May by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), which used genome editing (GE) to improve two rice cultivars-Samba Mahsuri and MTU1010. The project began in 2018. These advanced varieties can improve yields by up to 19% and are shorter-duration-they use less water and fertilizers. They emit less methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and overall have a lower carbon footprint. As per ICAR, the GE variants are more toler...