Lessons from Bt Cotton

GM technology arrived in India in 1995, when US biotech giant Monsanto collaborated with India's Mahyco to import Bt cotton seeds. In 2002, Government of India allowed farmers to commercially cultivate Bt cotton.

 

In 2003, cotton farmers in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh suffered severe agricultural and financial losses, and many committed suicides. Though there was no evidence to link the suicides to Bt cotton losses, in May 2005, then Andhra Pradesh government revoked permission to grow three varieties of Bt cotton. Also, in the Vidarbha  district of Maharashtra, farmers growing Bt cotton accounted for most number of the suicides. This brought Bt cotton to the spotlight again.

 

The polarized opinions of the GM lobbyists and anti-GM activists made a serious inclusive scientific debate quite impossible. The supporters of GM argued that the weak regulatory system allowed entry of illegal Bt cotton seeds in Gujarat and prevented regulators to monitor Bt cotton plantations. Farmers suicides were cited by Prince Charles in a lecture via video conferencing to the New Delhi based NGO Navdanya in November 2008, as "GM Genocide"- one of the ills of GM technology. But a report from the Washington based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in October, 2008 stated, "Despite the recent media hype around farmer suicides fuelled by civil society organizations and reaching the highest political spheres in India and elsewhere, there is no evidence in available data of a resurgence of farmer suicide in the last five years" (http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/dp/IFPRIDP00808.pdf ).  Neither the stand-off between GM supporters and non-supporters nor contradicting reports is helping the farmers or the public.

 

 

Other resources:

ChronologyofBtcottonttp://www.indiaresource.org/issues/agbiotech/2003/chronologyofbt.html

Prospects of Bt cotton http://www.agbioforum.missouri.edu/v7n12/v7n12a04-zehr.htm

GM genocides  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1082559/The-GM-genocide-Thousands-Indian-farmers-committing-suicide-using-genetically-modified-crops.html

Farmers or FIIs? The Bt question http://infochangeindia.org/200711016684/Other/Analysis/Farmers-or-FIIs-The-Bt-cotton-question.html

Organic cotton beats Bt cotton http://www.i-sis.org.uk/OCBBCI.php

IFPRI http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/dp/IFPRIDP00808.pdf

Bt Brinjal

Bt brinjal is India's first genetically modified (GM) edible product. The Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company (Mahyco), announced in April, 2009 that the Bt Brinjal is in the final stage of obtaining an approval from the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), the biotechnology regulatory body of the Government of India and would be commercially released by the end of 2009.

 

India is the second largest producer of brinjal after China, accounting for 26% of world production.  It is an important cash crop grown on nearly 550,000 hectares  in India.  Brinjal, the 90-day crop is prone to attack from pests and insects, the most destructive being the Fruit and Shoot borer (FSB), Leucinodes orbonalis. It poses a serious problem because of its high reproductive potential and losses upto 70% in commercial planting have been reported due to FSB. Mahyco claims Bt brinjal can reduce this loss upto 10% and moreover, farmers would require 70% less insecticides to fight  FSB.  Mahyco has already collaborated with three Indian agricultural universities and universities in Bangladesh and the Philippines to share the technology and develop local Bt brinjal seed varieties, suitable to the particular region’s soil and temperature which are also affordable.

 

The safety of GM crops is largely ambiguous. The consumer groups and NGOs have expressed concern over the consumption of Bt brinjal. Mahyco claimed that in terms of composition, it is not different from the normal brinjal, except for the additional Bt protein. Interestingly, the GEAC, between May and September 2006, has granted approval for 24 items, including Bt cotton, Bt cauliflower, Bt brinjal, Bt rice, transgenic rice, Bt castor, Bt groundnut, transgenic tomato and potato. Mahyco  also announced that the company is developing Bt varieties of other vegetables.

 

Other links:

http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/india/press/reports/brijal-briefing.pdf

http://www.croplifeasia.org/ref_library/biotechnology/Bt%20Brinjal%20in%20India.pdf

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2007/09/28/stories/2007092850320800.htm