Opposition to GM crops gains momentum

Expressbuzz.com, 20th March, 2009

BHUBANESWAR: Activists under the United Coalition Against Genetic Engineering
(UNCAGE) Tuesday launched a rally here protesting the blatant government apathy at the plight of the cotton farmers who have suffered heavy losses after being lured into the illegal cultivation of ‘Bt variety’.
They protested the entry of genetically modified (GM) crops and the manner in which an ‘inept’ government machinery became ‘mute spectator’ and watched as the multi-national companies openly sold GM seeds to the farmers of the State.
Presently, though there is no government permission for use of GM crops on a mass scale, things at grass-root level are different. Even the officials admit that 70 per cent of the area under cotton production in the country is now under Bt variety. Even if there is no permission, farmers are purchasing Bt seeds from the MNCs in the name of ‘field trials’.
The participants also protested the decision to conduct field trials of ‘Bt brinjal’ in Orissa. Akshay Kumar Sahu, a farmer from Themara in Kalahandi district, narrated how his ‘trial of Bt cotton’ on a small patch of land was unsuccessful as it consumed more money, pesticide and water despite the tall claims that the crop would not be affected by the ‘ball worm’ and ‘sucking pest’ - the traditional pests affecting cotton crop.
Not only Akshay, nine other farmers from the district also alleged that all of them met the same fate and the yield was no better than the traditional ‘wild varieties’ usually cultivated by the Kalahandi farmers.
Rushiklya Ryot Mahasabha secretary Simanchal Nahak alleged that not only the Bt varieties, other so called ‘high yielding’ varieties sold in Ganjam district by the MNCs have also failed in all aspects.
With seeds costing Rs 25,000-50,000 a kg they not only make the farmers brankrupt, but the extra consumption of ‘particular fertiliser as advised by the seed retailers’, water and pesticide use ultimately result in debts, hence increasing bonded labour problem. Apart from causing allergies in livestock, the GM varieties of cotton have reduced soil fertility, they said.
Alleging that all steps were being taken to regularise the GM crops, field trial conducted by OUAT at Bhawanipatna had concentrated only on ‘yield factor’ and disregarded the bio-safety norms, they said.
It is high time the government machinery woke up and stood by the farmers, warned speakers as the proposed National Biotechnology Regulatory Authority would soon take away the power of the State over agriculture.