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Written by Truth About Trade & Technology
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Thursday, 24 September 2009 18:48 |
Financial Chronicle (India)
September 22, 2009
Financial Chronicle
By Siddhartha P Saikia
September 22, 2009
Vijayender Reddy, a 28-year old cotton grower in Mutcherla village some 17 km from Warangal in Andhra Pradesh tied his knot on May 27. The same day he sowed the genetically modified Bt cotton seeds in his field. “Both are the most important things in my life. It was an auspicious day and therefore I sowed seeds for a better yield this year,” Reddy cultivates cotton in his 10 acres of land.
He shifted to the Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) variety three years ago, after trying it out in a small area in the first year. “I realised a higher yield from the new seeds and from the next year, I stated growing only Bt cotton,” said Reddy. His yield with the new variety was 12 quintals per acre compared to five to six quintals with the normal variety before. Today, he can afford the expensive gift he bought recently for his wife.
Reddy, and thousands of farmers like him across the state, and country, are proving the charge that genetically modified cotton would destroy the lives of farmers completely wrong. From a low producer, India has become the world’s third largest producer, and exporter, after China and the United States, in just a few years and scientists attribute this to the higher yields from Bt cotton.
Last year, India produced 29 million bales, exporting more than five million of these. Production in India has risen from 13.6 million bales to 24 million bales within two years rising to record 31.5 million in 2007-08. Before Bt cotton was introduced, India exported less than one lakh bales for several years. From 2003-04 exports rose above one million bales to reach peak of 8.5 million in 2007-08.
Although cotton has been cultivated in many parts of India, its productivity was one of the lowest in the world mainly due to attacks by pests. Despite widespread use of pesticides, farmers were unable to control the bollworm, the key pest in cotton, that sometimes ravaged up to 80 per cent of the crop. Since the launch of ‘technology mission on cotton’ by in February 2000 and subsequent introduction of Bt cotton hybrids for commercial cultivation in March 2002, yields have risen, changing lives of cotton farmers in the country.
Bollgard Bt cotton with single-gene technology is the first biotech crop technology approved for commercialisation in India, followed by Bollgard II – double gene technology in mid-2006. The new plants are supposed to provides in-built protection against the destructive American Bollworm by importing an insecticidal protein from a naturally occurring soil microorganism, Bacillus thuringiensis.
Mahyco Monsanto Biotech, a 50:50 joint venture between Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company and US-based Monsanto Holdings, has sub-licensed the two seed technologies to 23 Indian seed companies. Hyderabad-based JK Agri-Genetics and Aurangabad-based Nath Biogene are the other companies possessing genetically modified cotton seed technology.
According to the Cotton Corporation of India, the yield per hectare, which had remained stagnant at around 300 kg for more than a decade, increased substantially touching 567 kg in the 2007-08 cotton season thanks largely to Bt cotton. “The yield is increasing every season. Now, we need more infrastructure and storage facilities,” said R C Sharma, deputy general manager at the Cotton Corporation, Warangal.
Almost 80 per cent of the cotton in India has shifted to the genetically modified variety with most of it grown in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana and Karnataka. “Bt cotton is a success because farmers see a benefit in it,” says Rajalakshmi Swaminathan, principal scientist at M S Swaminathan Research Foundation, in Chennai.
She said the farmers are now so aware that the government does not need to promote the crop per se. However, awareness on varieties have to be given. According to T Narasimha Das, assistant director of agriculture in Warangal, nine assistant directors and 51 supporting officers keep in touch with farmers. “We instruct them on seed qualities, means of irrigation, use of fertilisers and pesticides among others,” said Das.
“In Warangal, every year, more farmers are opting for Bt variety and now more than 90 per cent of the cotton grown is the new variety,” said Kolisetty Nageshwar Rao, incharge of joint director of agriculture, Warangal.
A Narayanamoorthy, professor and director at the Centre for Rural Development at Alagappa University in Tamil Nadu said, “My empirical analysis in Maharashtra indicates that the profit realised from Bt cotton crop is substantially higher than that of the non-Bt crop.” Narayanamoorthy has done a study in Buldhana and Yavatmal districts in Maharashtra and found that the average profit of the two districts comes to about Rs 31,880 per ha for Bt cotton and about Rs 17,790 per ha for non-Bt cotton crop.
In the Vidharba region of Maharashtra, including the two above districts, several farmers have committed suicide under the burden of debt. The region is 97 per cent dependent on monsoons, and most farmers, including those who grow Bt cotton depend on one crop. If a crop fails, the debt on them often becomes unbearable.
In Andhra, where the cotton farmers depend on irrigation for upto 50 per cent of their requirement, the incidence of suicides seem to be in decline. According to N Sridhar, collector and district magistrate of Warangal, there were 12 cases of suicides in the district last year.
The district was notorious for the suicides where hundreds of farmers were said to have killed themselves in years of bad rains. The opposition parties in the state are saying that almost 125 farmers have committed suicide this year, but this number is difficult to verify.
Sridhar says all cotton crops in the area are insured under the national agriculture insurance policy. And as a response to deficient monsoon, the state government has extended the farm loan repayment period from 12 months to 5 years.
According to Neelakanthapuram Raghuveera Reddy, Andhra minister for agriculture his ministry keeps a close watch on cotton yields in the state. “All the 22 district collectors, where cotton is grown, have been asked to submit a report on yields of each farmer. Those farmers, whose yield will be less than 50 per cent, will be given input subsidy.” Reddy said.
He says the new seeds have been a success in the state. “Five years ago, there was less than 10 lakh acres under cotton cultivation. Today, the total area is going to touch 20 lakh acres. Most of the farmers grow Bt hybrid and use modern means of farming.”
For Amarendra Reddy Polusani, a 48-year old farmer in Nagaram about 15 km from Warangal, the cotton variety came as a saviour. He used to cultivate groundnuts and chillies. He because of poor productivity and decrease in prices he was in a bad shape.
“I had huge debts. Many of my friends also gave up their lives during that time. Then some seed seller told me about new varieties of cotton,” he said. He started growing Bt cotton and earned more than Rs 4 lakh from it last year. “Now, I repay my bank loans in time,” said Polusani.
Yet, the debate around Bt cotton has not died down, despite overwhelming usage in the contrary. New Delhi-based Vandana Shiva, who runs several campaigns against the cultivation of genetically modified cotton says such crops have serious impact on soil fertility.
“They kill the microorganisms needed to retain the soil fertility,” she said. Moreover, according to Shiva, new pests have come up because of Bt cotton, which led to excessive use of pesticides. Suman Sahai, who runs Gene Campaign, also based in New Delhi said, “Our field study showed that performance of Bt cotton seeds is very poor and farmers have lost money.”
When these statements were referred to P Raghu Ram Reddy, senior scientist at the Regional Agriculture Research Station in Warangal he said a study on nutritional uptake by Bt and non-Bt cotton done across cotton growing states in India had shown no difference on the nutritional uptake by the both varieties. “So, the argument of loosing soil fertility and death of micro organisms is false,” he said.
Several studies by the Research Station have shown that growing Bt cotton reduces the use of fertilisers. “In order to increase the crop yield, farmers must be a little careful on scheduling of fertilisers. Growing refugia cotton is necessary,” said B Dilip Kumar, scientist at the same institute, said. Reddy says the cost of cultivation is low and yields are higher.
“Every day, at least 25 farmers meet us to discuss on how to improve output. Cotton farmers are getting very good yields in Warangal district,” he added. Despite the uproar created over Bt cotton some years ago, a quiet revolution has taken place in the country, with the farmers voting with their sowing every year. It may be time to bury the ghost of Frankenstein raised by hyper-imaginative activists.
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