Untangling India’s Bt cotton fraud

WHEN the much-awaited public sector Bt or genetically modified (GM) cotton was released for cultivation in 2009, there was celebration in the scientific establishment. And in the farming community Bikaneri Narma (BN Bt) was trumpeted as India’s “completely indigenous Bt variety” and farmers were looking forward to cheaper cotton seeds. There was an added advantage to BN Bt: unlike the Bt hybrids of private companies the Bt variety could be reused by cultivators. Along with the variety, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) also released the Bt NHH 44 hybrid.

Who is watching GM crops?

‘Let farmers decide the price’

What makes your formula a novel contract farming model? Appachi formula differs from conventional contract farming models, especially on the price front. We do not create uncertainty by fixing the price of the produce in advance. Our contract allows farmers to sell their commodity at the prevailing market rate. Though we have the first right to negotiate, farmers are free to auction off the produce in case of a disagreement. We motivate them to form self-help groups to enhance their bargaining power. Interviewee:  Mani Chinnaswamy

Genocide of farmers

FOR week upon week, for months and years on end, farmers have been taking their own lives, adding up to a horrifying figure of over a quarter million suicides in the last 16 years. This is described as “the largest recorded wave of suicides in human history”. Most of the farmers who kill themselves are cotton cultivators and sadly, much of it occurs in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra where cotton once reigned supreme as white gold. Although the country is now familiar with these grim statistics, there has been very little media focus on the reasons that have driven farmers to this grim end despite some landmark studies by economists.

Idea of farmer wisdom is relentlessly manipulated

You speak of a seed and pesticide treadmill that farmers are on. Why is it worrying? Interviewee:  Glenn Davis

Farmers in tech trap

As vast tracts of cotton fields in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra turn into a suicide belt for farmers, there is increasing worry that the dizzying speed of technological change, both in seeds and pesticides, is leading to a critical problem for Indian farmers. Ever since GM or Bt cotton made its debut in 2002, farmers have been on a technology treadmill that is robbing them of their traditional agricultural wisdom that had earlier stood them in good stead. And scientists and academic researchers are warning that this is at the heart of the problem plaguing cotton cultivators, specially in rain-fed areas of the country where farmers have been trapped in a spiral of increasingly high input costs, although the success of the crop is dependent on the vagaries of the monsoon.

Chhattisgarh will not allow GM crops

There is a demand to shift agriculture from the State List to the Concurrent List. Is this a good move? Interviewee:  Chandrasekhar Sahu

Does Cry1Ac gene harm plants?

A scientific study on the cry1Ac gene has turned controversial, dividing Indian scientists on what appears to be a fundamental issue related to the gene drawn from the naturally occurring soil bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis. The paper, which was put out by a clutch of scientists including the high-profile Deepak Pental, who recently demitted office as vice chancellor of the University of Delhi, states that expression of the cry1Ac gene in cotton and tobacco is detrimental to growth and development of these plants.

The GM question

Are hybrids always a precursor to a genetically modified (GM) version of the crop? In the case of maize, both the champions of GM and the opposition believe GM maize is round the corner.

Technology needs stewardship

Why have yields stagnated? Interviewee:  Keshav Raj Kranthi