The Hindu : Bt cotton, a boon to Indian farmers?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 28, 2002

Opinion

Opinion - News Analysis

Bt cotton, a boon to Indian farmers?

By N.Gopal Raj

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, MARCH 27. With the Union Government's Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) having given its permission to the Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company (Mahyco) to launch three of its genetically-modified cotton varieties, cotton farmers here are likely to follow their Chinese counterparts in accepting the new technology.

As it is, the farmers have not waited for the governmental seal of approval. It came to light last year that a Gujarat-based company, Navbharat Seeds, had been marketing genetically modified cotton seeds without such clearance. The Government estimates that nearly 11,000 acres in Gujarat were planted with this cotton.

The three Mahyco GM cotton varieties, as well the variety marketed by Navbharat Seeds, carry a gene taken from the soil bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). The artificially introduced gene allows these ``Bt cotton'' varieties to resist certain insect pests. Such insect pests could be halving cotton yields. Controlling these pests requires Rs. 1,600 crores-worth of toxic chemical pesticides in India each year. Although cotton acreage is only five per cent of the total cropped area, the crop accounts for more than half the chemical pesticides used in the country.

Worse, the pests are becoming resistant to these sprays. A Haryana agricultural official recently complained that American bollworm infestation led to half the cotton crop in the State being lost last year, despite 15 rounds of pesticide spraying.

Able to produce their own toxin, the Bt cotton varieties need much fewer sprays. According to a senior scientist involved in monitoring the field trials, Mahyco's Bt cotton varieties needed on an average only 2 to 3 pesticide sprays, compared to 10 to 15 sprays for non-Bt varieties. As each spraying cost about Rs. 300 a hectare, it meant a big saving for the farmer.

Mahyco field trials in 1998 and 1999 suggested an increase in productivity of 23 per cent to 88 per cent with Bt cotton, according to a scientist at the Department of Biotechnology.

In China, where Bt cotton was introduced in 1997, the area under the genetically modified cotton had reached 700,000 hectares by 2000 when it accounted for one-fifth of the country's cotton acreage. China is the world's largest producer of cotton. Although India is the third largest producer, its production is almost half that of China.

Chinese Bt cotton farmers reduced pesticide use by an average of 13 sprayings a hectare for a season, a saving of $762 a hectare for a season, said an article in a recent issue of the journal Science. Taking into account also the cost of labour for the spraying, the Bt cotton farmers had 28 per cent less production costs. With fewer chemical sprays, the farmers enjoyed better health as well. Each year in China the demand for Bt cotton seed greatly outstrips supply, according to another article by Chinese scientists in the journal Current Science.

While the Indian farmers may be no less keen on Bt cotton, there is the danger that a rapid build up of pest resistance could also follow. This happened when chemicals called `pyrethroids' were first introduced in India in the early Eighties, giving outstanding results against the insect pests of cotton. But by the latter half of the decade, its reduced efficacy for pest control was already being noted.

The GEAC has attempted to minimise the development of such resistance by laying down conditions for refugia. A certain amount of each farmer's field would have to be planted with non-Bt cotton varieties in order to provide a refuge for pests susceptible to the Bt toxin. The total elimination of the susceptible pests would mean that only strains resistant to Bt toxin would survive to multiply and, in course of time, become the dominant form.

While the other countries too insist on refugia, the enforceability of the conditions laid down by the GEAC for this purpose is doubtful. With the small holdings common in India, farmers may not comply. In any case, it would be impossible to distinguish Bt cotton from the non-Bt varieties without laboratory tests.

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Bt cotton, a boon to Indian farmers?