While the Centre on Monday said the area under Bt cotton is estimated to have expanded to 90 per cent of the total area sown under cotton in 2010-11, several non-government organisations alleged that the government had deliberately promoted the genetically-modified seed as part of a strategy.

“This is not to be welcomed because the wider the spread of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) gene, the faster will be the build-up of resistance in the pest (bollworm). The approach should have been to use a mix of strategy to control the pest,” said scientist and convener of Gene Campaign Suman Sahai.
 

According to the latest figures released by the Union Agriculture Ministry, of the 111.42 lakh hectare under cotton cultivation, 98.54 lakh hectare is under Bt cotton, with Maharashtra, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh being the top cotton producers.

Even as the Government maintains that cotton production is up, several NGOs assert that yields are declining and pesticide usage has shot up with the emergence of pest resistance, and newer pests and diseases. “This is not to be welcomed because the wider the spread of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) gene, the faster will be the build-up of resistance in the pest (bollworm). The approach should have been to use a mix of strategy to control the pest,” said scientist and convener of Gene Campaign Suman Sahai.

Dr. Sahai said the Government had enabled a virtual monopoly for Monsanto's Bt gene. “This [monopoly] does not bode well for India to be independent in its cotton cultivation. Pushing out traditional varieties is not a good idea because they contain many more genes than only the insect-resistant one. As climate change hits us, we will be looking for many types of genes that are likely to be found in the traditional varieties.”

“It is well-known that the Government made available only Bt cotton seeds under the Prime Minister's package for farmers in the suicide-prone Vidarbha region,” said a Wardha-based NGO's chairperson Vibha Gupta, bemoaning that government depots in the region hold no cotton seeds other than Monsanto's Bt variety. “The gene pool of indigenous cotton with laboratories has drastically shrunk. Rain-fed/dry farmers are the worst hit.”

Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture's Kavitha Kuruganti said the Central Institute for Cotton Research, Nagpur, figures showed that value of insecticide usage in cotton was Rs.597 crore in 2002, the year Bt cotton was officially approved. In 2010, it had reached Rs.880 crore, even though Bt cotton was brought in on the claim that insecticide usage would come down with the technology.

Government data shows that of the 39.32 lakh hectare under cotton in Maharashtra, 36.21 lakh hectare is under the production of genetically-modified cotton. In Andhra Pradesh, out of 17.84 lakh hectare, 17.50 hectare is under Bt cotton, while out of 26.33 lakh hectare in Gujarat, 21.33 lakh hectare is under Bt cotton. Punjab sowed 5.30 lakh hectare of cotton in 2010-11, of which 5.10 lakh hectare are under Bt cotton, while Haryana cultivated 4.92 lakh hectare, of which 4.70 lakh hectare are under Bt cotton. Though their contribution to cotton production is very low, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh do not grow Bt cotton.

Cultivation area under Bt cotton estimated to have expanded to 90% of sown area in 2010-11. Insecticide usage up from Rs.597 crore in 2002 to Rs.880 crore in 2010

Hindu, July 27, 2011

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article2297527.ece