Desperate farmers switching to illegal GM crops
Hindustan Times
Jun 23, 2019
Desperate farmers
switching to illegal GM crops
Despite the risk of
prosecution, farmers in Maharashtra are growing illegal HT cotton, which has
not been cleared for commercial cultivation, responding to a call by Shetkari
Sangathana, an influential farmers organization in the western state.
Desperate for
breakthrough technologies as they struggle with a rough patch in traditional
agriculture, thousands of farmers across states, some of them in open defiance
of the law, are embracing illegal genetically modified (GM) crops — from Bt
brinjal to herbicide tolerant (HT) cotton.
Despite the risk of
prosecution, farmers in Maharashtra are growing illegal HT cotton, which has
not been cleared for commercial cultivation, responding to a call by Shetkari
Sangathana, an influential farmers organization in the western state.
Shetkari Sangathana,
founded by the late Sharad Anantrao Joshi, a former MP, has traditionally
advocated free markets and ready access to global technologies for farmers, is
protesting the government’s freeze on new GM technologies. One cultivator was
arrested on June 17 in the state’s Buldhana district.
Under the Environment
Protection Act, 1986, planting unapproved GM seed varieties can attract a
five-year jail term and a fine of up to ₹1 lakh.
The open defiance by
farmers comes amid a downturn in agriculture blamed on the double whammy of
bumper crops and unremunerative prices, and frequent droughts in parts of the
country where the June-to-Sep
tember south-west
monsoon is the lifeline of farming. At least 700 million people in India
depend, directly or indirectly, on agriculture for a livelihood. And the health
of the agricultural economy shapes the health of the rural economy.
On June 10, Shetkari
Sangathana organised an event in the state’s Akola district where farmers
pledged to sow illegal HT cotton. Responding to the call, farmers are growing
this illegal variety openly in the state’s Yavatmal, Jalna, Aurangabad and
Amravati regions.
In April, authorities
forced Jeevan Saini, a farmer from Haryana’s Fatehabad district, to destroy his
brinjal crop after it was found to be a banned GM variety. “I was told that
this is a better variety. I don’t know that I was growing something illegal,”
he said over the phone.
In February 2010, after
nationwide consultations with scientists, farmers and other stakeholders,
then-environment minister Jairam Ramesh announced an indefinite moratorium on
commercialisation of Bt Brinjal. He said at the time that the moratorium will
last till independent scientific studies establish Bt Brinjal’s long-term
impact on human health, biodiversity and environment.
Saini may or may not
have known that he was growing a GM brinjal variety not officially approved for
cultivation, but Indian farmers have always craved new technology that promises
to improve yields, cut costs and fetch higher returns.
“India has been the
biggest exporter of cotton but now farmers are losing out to competition.
Labour costs are rising. The government is holding back new technologies,
hurting the interests of farmers,” said Ajit Narde, a leader of the Shetkari
Sangathana.
The Genetic Engineering
Appraisal Committee (GEAC), India’s biotech regulator, wrote to the chief
secretary of Maharashtra on June 12 to initiate action to stop cultivation of
illegal HT cotton, an official said, requesting anonymity.
GM crops are those whose
genes have been altered for a certain benefit, such as higher yields or pest
resistance. But they are also controversial. Those opposed to it cite risks
associated with the environment or health.
HT cotton, grown
globally since 1995, is designed to withstand herbicides, which kills weeds but
leaves the plant unaffected. This results in significant savings on labour
costs.
These are latest
incidents in a country where the regulatory framework has failed to curb
illegal varieties since India in 2002 approved BT cotton, the only GM crop to
be allowed so far.
The circumstances back
then were similar to what they are now. Authorities approved BT cotton after it
was found that the crop was already being grown illegally on a very large scale
so not approving it was futile.
In fact, unapproved HT
cotton has been grown for the past two years across states such as Maharashtra,
Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, according to a government report.
In 2018, the government
set up a Field Inspection and Scientific Evaluation Committee (FISEC) based on
instructions of the Prime Minister’s Office to assess the illegal HT cotton
seed market. The FISEC report recommended destruction of “all HT cotton seeds”
seized by authorities.
Those opposed to GM
crops say that it is not difficult to crack down on the illegal GM seed market.
“Authorities need to look at the whole supply chain. The government also needs
to amend the law to make GM developers solely responsible for any leakage of
unapproved seeds,” said Kavitha Kuruganthi of the Alliance for Sustainable and
Holistic Agriculture.
The FISEC report,
however, noted that consultation with farmers showed that they were very
satisfied with the technology which is “less labour-intensive and hence is
cost-beneficial”.
Scientists say this
regulatory ambiguity over GM technologies is baffling. “We are in a silly
situation,” says Deepak Pental, a biotechnologist and former Delhi University
vice-chancellor whose state-funded GM mustard did not receive a final clearance
despite being approved initially.
“Either you clearly say
you are against GM...Farmers need technology. You should have technologies that
are safe and sound. This ambiguity has done great harm,” Pental said, adding
“Once you fall back on science, it will be very difficult to catch up.”
Kuruganthi said farmers
taking to illegal GM crops were a sign of the government’s failure in providing
acceptable agricultural solutions. “They have no choices.”
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