Andhra Pradesh

Ban on GE crop trials sought by NGO

‘YSR making wrong moves on GE crops’

HYDERABAD: The Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, a NGO working on agriculture issues, has appealed to the State Government to impose a ban on genetically engineered crop trials in the State, in the light of the “bitter” experience with Bt cotton.

At a press conference here on Thursday, G. V. Ramanjeneyulu, executive director of CSA, said the Government should be careful as the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee had recently approved various GM crop trials in the State, including for food crops like okra/ bhendi. He urged the Government to use the powers to stop the trials, following the footsteps of Orissa and Kerala which had said a firm “no”.

In a letter to Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, the CSA executive director said Dr. Reddy was making fundamentally wrong moves on genetically engineered crops. Dr. Reddy was showing a serious short-sightedness about technology and its potential impacts on farmers, caught in his own political expediencies.

“You are not exhibiting any basic understanding related to Indian farming and farmers’ livelihoods, any more than your predecessors.”

Mr. Anjaneyulu recalled that failure of Bt cotton’s commercial cultivation was confirmed in the first year itself in 2002-03.

“Vyavasaya Panchangamu” of 2007-08, the Acharya NG Ranga Agriculture University recorded that Bt cotton’s effect was “not as expected” in extreme weather conditions. Yet the Government could not force the biotech company to pay compensation despite a memorandum of understanding with it.

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