GM Cotton's Future in Africa on Shaky Ground

http://www.biosafety-info.net/article.php?aid=1218

THIRD WORLD NETWORK BIOSAFETY INFORMATION SERVICE

Monsanto’s genetically modified (GM) insect-resistant (Bt) cotton is grown in South Africa and Burkina Faso. A recently published journal paper explains how within 10 years of its introduction, most growers had abandoned Bt cotton altogether in Makhathini, South Africa, and why Burkina Faso has begun a complete phase out of GM cotton, in spite of being Africa's top cotton producer.

Burkina Faso's conventional cotton traditionally had a stellar international reputation and commanded a premium price based on its high quality, namely, its high ginning ratio and long staple length. Both qualities have seriously declined with the GM cotton, seriously undermining the reputation and value of Burkinabè cotton on the international market and compromising the profits of Burkinabè cotton companies. The companies are reportedly demanding that Monsanto compensate them to the tune of USD 280 million for losses incurred due to declines in quality since 2010.

The Burkina Faso case points to the risks of unintended effects in GM crops, in this instance, the insertion of the Bt trait into the local variety appears to have interfered unexpectedly with some of its most important characteristics, affecting commercial value. Also the exclusive focus on pest mitigation contrasts sharply with the Francophone West African breeding programmes, which have spent decades successfully integrating a broad spectrum of adaptability (to local growing conditions) and fibre quality characteristics. While yields were high, the experience of Burkina Faso demonstrate that focus on yield is not the defining factor of a crop’s success.

One possible implication of this phase out is that other Francophone African countries may be reluctant to adopt Bt cotton given the risks to their own highly valued reputations. It may also discourage other African countries that are considering the adoption of Bt cotton in the next few years. According to the paper, a key determinant will be the extent to which African governments and citizens are reassured that the transplantation of GM traits into their own cultivars will leave their most valued characteristics unchanged.

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Bt cotton exposed

10 YEARS OF BT COTTON - FALSE HYPE AND FAILED PROMISES EXPOSED

Press Release
Coalition for a GM-free India, India
21 March 2012
(http://indiagminfo.org/?p=393#more-393)

The false hype and failed promises of Bt cotton in India were exposed by the Coalition for GM-Free India with a special report released in a press conference here today. As the 10th anniversary of Bt cotton's regulatory approval in India approaches, the Coalition, using data from government institutions, highlighted that the hype around Bt cotton as revolutionizing the cotton production in India is clearly wrong. Closer examination of the data from the last 10 years negates the two important claims of dramatic yield increase and significant fall in pesticide usage. The report clearly exposes the dark side of the Bt cotton story - stagnant yields, pest resistance, new pest and disease attacks, the need for high levels of expensive farm inputs and the spate of tragic farmer suicides in the cotton belt.

In the face of aggressive PR campaign by the biotechnology industry which is being uncritically accepted by the government and regulators, the Coalition said, "This is a wake-up call for the Government, Parliamentarians, policy-makers, farmer organizations and media to closely examine the crisis in the cotton belt and critically re-assess the 10 years of Bt cotton. The government should stop promoting Bt cotton and pro-actively advise farmers about its unsuitability and risks."

The cotton farmers are in deep crisis after ten years of Bt cotton. The spate of farmer suicides in 2011-12 has been particularly severe among Bt cotton farmers. The extensive crop failure has exposed the false hype and advertising, often repeated by policymakers and regulators. In Andhra Pradesh, state government estimates show that out of 47 lakh acres planted with Bt cotton during Kharif 2011 season, the crop failed in 33.73 lakh acres (71% of the area). The state government reported that 20.46 lakh farmers suffered from cotton crop failure and lost Rs.3071.6 cr. In Maharasthra, the cotton crisis forced the government to take the unprecedented step of declaring Rs. 2000 cr. as compensation (the estimated loss is Rs.10,000 cr.). The cotton production estimates had to be downgraded despite the large expansion in cotton cultivation area.

Presenting some of the analysis, Kiran Vissa, co-convener of the Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA) said, "The real yield gains in the past decade (from 278 kg/ha to 470 kg/ha) happened from 2000-01 to 2004-05, i.e. when Bt cotton area reached only 5.6% of the total cotton area. From 2005-06 to 2011-12, when the Bt cotton area grew to exceed 90% of the total cotton area, there is no sustained yield gain - only going from 470 kg/ha to 481 kg/ha. It is the pre-Bt cotton yield gains that have proved to be stable, resulting from various factors including fresh land brought under cotton cultivation, expansion of irrigation and use of high-yielding hybrids." The report also refers to the statement of Dr. K.R. Kranthi, Director of Central Institute for Cotton Research(CICR), "The main issue that worries stakeholders is the stagnation of productivity at an average of 500 kg lint per ha for the past seven years. The gains have been stagnant and unaffected by the increase in area of Bt cotton from 5.6% in 2004 to 85% in 2010."

Regarding pest protection, scientific studies and the company statements show that the target pest bollworm has developed tolerance to Bt cotton, whereas secondary pests like mealy bugs and whiteflies which were hitherto unseen are causing major damage. At the farmer level, pesticide spraying quickly went back to pre-Bt levels after the first three years. Data from Directorate of Plant Protection for six major cotton-growing states shows that in Maharashtra with the largest Bt cotton cultivation area, there has been a steep increase in pesticide volume (3198 MT in 2005-06 to 4639 MT in 2009-10) whereas in four other states (Gujarat, M.P., Punjab, Karnataka) there is a marginal increase. The only decline is in A.P., possibly due to the successful campaign against pesticide use by the government's Non-Pesticidal Management (NPM) program. At the national level, even in the peak expansion years of Bt cotton, the pesticide usage increased by 10%. This is despite the heavy increase in use of more powerful low-volume pesticides during the same period, which should have reduced the total volumes. This shows that Bt technology is a false solution to the pesticide problem ˆ the NPM methods which eliminate pesticide usage completely have been successfully demonstrated in states like A.P. in large-scale government programs while the Bt technology with all its risks, at best reduces pesticide usage temporarily for a given target pest.

Official information shows that Bt cotton requires more inputs in terms of fertilizers and irrigation, and is particularly susceptible to rainfall shortage at peak bolling period. The costs of cultivation have gone up significantly after the introduction of Bt cotton, leading to increased risk and debt for small farmers. The Coalition‚s report also criticizes the false and unethical advertising by the companies like Mahyco-Monsanto whose advertisements were pulled up by Advertising Standards Council of India, earlier this year.

Kishor Tiwari of the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti which has been campaigning for several years on farmer suicides and agrarian crisis in Vidarbha said, "The fact is that the crisis of cotton farmers in Maharashtra has only become deeper after the adoption of Bt cotton. This year, we estimate that Bt cotton farmers have lost Rs.10,000 crores due to crop failure. Even the government compensation of Rs.2000 crores is quite small considering the loss. It is an irony that the state government is compensating for the failure of private company seeds. Maharashtra tops the nation in farmer suicides, with 3181 in 2010, and the number is likely to be worse in 2011. Though studies have shown that Bt cotton is not suitable for rain-fed regions which form majority of the cotton cultivation area, it is promoted aggressively with farmers through misleading advertising. Even the government institutions do not have non-Bt seed available for the farmers. We exposed the false media campaigns of the companies regarding Bhamraja and other villages, and the ground situation in Yavatmal district was also witnessed by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture recently."

Vijay Pratap of the Kisan Swaraj Sampark Kendra added that said, "We are asking farmers around the country to be aware of the dangers of the technology and the manipulations and monopolistic control of these corporations. Farmers who were frustrated with one unsustainable technology of chemical pesticides were asked to adopt another unsustainable technology promoted by the same companies which sold the pesticides. The Bt cotton story also cautions us about the false hype around other Genetically Modified crops being pushed as inevitable, and the bull-dozing of the technology through legal frameworks such as Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill. We will continue to push for food security and sovereignty, sustainable farmer livelihoods, and democratic decision-making on science & technology".

Sridhar Radhakrishnan, Convener of the Coalition for a GM-Free India demanded, "The government, political parties and scientists should reject the false hype, and perform a comprehensive, independent and participatory review of 10 years of Bt cotton. The Parliament should have a special discussion on cotton farmers‚ crisis and 10 years of Bt cotton. Government agencies should stop promoting Bt cotton, and rejuvenate the non-Bt seed production to make it available for farmers. Strict action should be taken against false claims and advertising by the companies. It is shameful that while the Indian farmer is reeling under the crisis and Bt Cotton faced its worst failure, the recent State of Indian Agriculture report talks of Bt Cotton as an unqualified success and promotes GM technology as a magic bullet."

Coalition for a GM-Free India is a broad national network of organizations, scientists, farmer unions and consumer groups. Website: www.indiagminfo.org

The report "10 Years of Bt Cotton: False Hype and Failed Promises Cotton farmers' crisis continues with crop failure and suicides" is available at:
http://indiagminfo.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Bt-Cotton-False-Hype-and-Failed-Promises-Final.pdf

GM cotton hazards

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=105542

Transgenic Cotton Harbours Hidden Dangers
By Emilio Godoy

MEXICO CITY, Oct 20, 2011 (IPS) - Wild cotton in Mexico has been contaminated with genetically modified material, posing a risk to biodiversity, experts say.

This worrying conclusion was reached by six scientists at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and the National Commission for Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (CONABIO) in a research study published this month in Molecular Ecology, an international journal.

In their article "Recent long-distance transgene flow into wild populations conforms to historical patterns of gene flow in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) at its centre of origin", the experts showed that cotton genes and transgenes can be transferred between populations thousands of kilometres apart by seed dispersal.

They also found that varieties of Mexican wild cotton that harbour transgenes (genes from one species introduced artificially into another) undergo rapid evolution, with unpredictable consequences.

"The genetic diversity of wild populations is very high, and that of cultivated cotton is very low. Gene flow can reduce the differentiation between populations, but we have no idea what impact that might have," the head of the research project, Ana Wegier of UNAM's Ecology Institute and the National Institute of Forestry, Agriculture and Livestock Research (INIFAP) told IPS.

"What we are seeing is the effect on biodiversity of 15 years of growing transgenic crops under permits," she said.

Bt Cotton Falls Short of Expectations in Kartanaka

THIRD WORLD NETWORK BIOSAFETY INFORMATION SERVICE

Dear Friends and colleagues,

RE: Bt Cotton Falls Short of Expectations in Kartanaka, India

A new report shows that Bt cotton in India has not lived up to the many claims and promises. The report, which looks at the experience of Kartanaka between 2002-2009, demonstrated an increased use specifically of insecticide on cotton while findings indicate the emergence of pests like mirid bugs in cotton which is causing heavy losses in certain districts. (Item 1)

Further, cost of production per quintal of cotton in the state of Kartanaka continues to show an erratic trend, as they were before the introduction of Bt cotton. In fact, costs were even lower before Bt cotton entered the scene, according to official data.

The problem of pests among Bt cotton is also experienced among cotton growers in China, where mirid bugs, once minor pests, have now become the main pests in Northern China. There is now concern that pesticides use will increase dramatically as growers increase their use to fight the pest problem. (Item 2)

The conclusions of the report "An overview of Bt Cotton experience in Karnataka: 2002 to 2009" is reproduced below. The full document is available for download at: http://www.biosafety-info.net/article.php?aid=740

With best wishes,

Third World Network

131 Jalan Macalister,

10400 Penang,

Malaysia

Email: twnet@po.jaring.my

Website: www.biosafety-info.net and www.twnside.org.sg

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Item 1

CONCLUSIONS:

1. Claims made in support of Bt Cotton either in terms of pesticide usage or yields or economics do not hold as the data presented in this brief review shows.

2. Insecticide usage in Karnataka in cotton crop has actually increased as per the official NALMOT data presented in this review. This belies the rationale for bringing in Bt Cotton.

3. Secondary data shows that Bt Cotton was working well only in irrigated conditions whereas a majority of cotton cultivation in Karnataka is in unirrigated conditions.

4. Cost of cultivation per quintal of cotton in Karnataka show fluctuating trends as was the case even before the advent of Bt Cotton. In fact, lower costs were present before Bt Cotton entered the scene, as official data from the recent past shows.

5. Other data on various Bt Cotton hybrids right now in the market from CICR shows that non-Bt Cotton's average lint yield is higher than the average of the Bt Cotton hybrids studied.

6. In the top five cotton growing districts of Karnataka, the picture with yields is that of dramatic fluctuations and variability across years and districts.

We conclude that Bt Cotton has not delivered on its claims and promises and it is important that the Government of Karnataka takes up an official review to look at the situation, given that field visits are pointing out to lack of supply of any other seeds, leaving very little choices for the farmers of the state.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Item 2

http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100513/full/news.2010.242.html

GM crop use makes minor pests major problem

Pesticide use rising as Chinese farmers fight insects thriving on transgenic crop.

Jane Qiu

Growing cotton that has been genetically modified to poison its main pest can lead to a boom in the numbers of other insects, a ten-year study in northern China has found.

In 1997, the Chinese government approved the commercial cultivation of cotton plants genetically modified to produce a toxin from the bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) that is deadly to the bollworm Helicoverpa armigera. Outbreaks of larvae of the cotton bollworm moth in the early 1990s had hit crop yields and profits, and the pesticides used to control the bollworm damaged the environment and caused thousands of deaths from poisoning each year.

More than 4 million hectares of Bt cotton are now grown in China. Since the crop was approved, a team led by Kongming Wu, an entomologist at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing, has monitored pest populations at 38 locations in northern China, covering 3 million hectares of cotton and 26 million hectares of various other crops.

Numbers of mirid bugs (insects of the Miridae family), previously only minor pests in northern China, have increased 12-fold since 1997, they found. "Mirids are now a main pest in the region," says Wu. "Their rise in abundance is associated with the scale of Bt cotton cultivation."

Wu and his colleagues suspect that mirid populations increased because less broad-spectrum pesticide was used following the introduction of Bt cotton. "Mirids are not susceptible to the Bt toxin, so they started to thrive when farmers used less pesticide," says Wu. The study is published in this week's issue of Science1.

"Mirids can reduce cotton yields just as much as bollworms, up to 50% when not controlled," Wu adds. The insects are also emerging as a threat to crops such as green beans, cereals, vegetables and various fruits.

Rise of the mirids

The rise of mirids has driven Chinese farmers back to pesticides - they are currently using about two-thirds as much as they did before Bt cotton was introduced. As mirids develop resistance to the pesticides, Wu expects that farmers will soon spray as much as they ever did.

Two years ago, a study led by David Just, an economist at Cornell University at Ithaca, New York, concluded that the economic benefits of Bt cotton in China have eroded2. The team attributed this to increased pesticide use to deal with secondary pests.

The conclusion was controversial, with critics of the study focusing on the relatively small sample size and use of economic modelling. Wu's findings back up the earlier study, says David Andow, an entomologist at the University of Minnesota in St Paul.

"The finding reminds us yet again that genetic modified crops are not a magic bullet for pest control," says Andow. "They have to be part of an integrated pest-management system to retain long-term benefits."

From the ashes

Whenever a primary pest is targeted, other species are likely to rise in its place. For example, the boll weevil was once the main worldwide threat to cotton. As farmers sprayed pesticides against the weevils, bollworms developed resistance and rose to become the primary pest. Similarly, stink bugs have replaced bollworms as the primary pest in southeastern United States since Bt cotton was introduced.

Along with genetically modified crops, says Andow, farmers need effective systems for responding to changes in pest abundance. This needs to be based on research into the timing, dosage and frequency of pesticide use needed to tackle new pests. "When farmers decide how to control pests, they tend to overuse pesticides," he says.

Wu and his colleagues are seeking the most effective way to use pesticide, and trying to reduce mirid damage to cotton by growing crops the pests prefer nearby. Meanwhile, Chinese researchers are trying to develop cotton plants that kill both bollworms and mirids.

Wu stresses, however, that pest control must keep sight of the whole ecosystem. "The impact of genetically modified crops must be assessed on the landscape level, taking into account the ecological input of different organisms," he says. "This is the only way to ensure the sustainability of their application."

References

1. Lu, Y. et al. Science advance online publication doi:10.1126/science.1187881 (2010).

2. Wang, S., Just, D. & Pinstrup-Anderson, P. Int. J. Biotechnol. 10, 113-120 (2008). | Article | OpenURL

The Suicide Belt

TREVOR AARONSON - Trevor Aaronson traveled to rural India to investigate the reasons why more than 200,000 Indian farmers have killed themselves in the last decade. Published in Columbia City Paper, The Suicide Belt examined how loans used to buy expensive, genetically modified cotton seeds are trapping subsistence farmers in a cycle of debt that ends in shame and, in the most tragic cases, suicide.

GM crop use makes minor pests major problem

Pesticide use rising as Chinese farmers fight insects thriving on transgenic crop

Jane Qiu

Mirid bugs have filled the gap created by killing other pests of cotton.Science/AAAS

Growing cotton that has been genetically modified to poison its main pest can lead to a boom in the numbers of other insects, a ten-year study in northern China has found.

In 1997, the Chinese government approved the commercial cultivation of cotton plants genetically modified to produce a toxin from the bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) that is deadly to the bollworm Helicoverpa armigera. Outbreaks of larvae of the cotton bollworm moth in the early 1990s had hit crop yields and profits, and the pesticides used to control the bollworm damaged the environment and caused thousands of deaths from poisoning each year.

More than 4 million hectares of Bt cotton are now grown in China. Since the crop was approved, a team led by Kongming Wu, an entomologist at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing, has monitored pest populations at 38 locations in northern China, covering 3 million hectares of cotton and 26 million hectares of various other crops.

Numbers of mirid bugs (insects of the Miridae family), previously only minor pests in northern China, have increased 12-fold since 1997, they found. "Mirids are now a main pest in the region," says Wu. "Their rise in abundance is associated with the scale of Bt cotton cultivation."

Wu and his colleagues suspect that mirid populations increased because less broad-spectrum pesticide was used following the introduction of Bt cotton. "Mirids are not susceptible to the Bt Science¹. toxin, so they started to thrive when farmers used less pesticide," says Wu. The study is published in this week's issue of

"Mirids can reduce cotton yields just as much as bollworms, up to 50% when not controlled," Wu adds. The insects are also emerging as a threat to crops such as green beans, cereals, vegetables and various fruits.

Latest Blow to GM Crops - Insects in India resistant to Bt Cotton

Posted March 19th, 2010 on http://www.foodfirst.org/en/node/2838

Today Science Magazine reported widespread resistance to the Bt toxin in genetically modified cotton in India.

According to the abstract, "Monsanto has revealed that a common insect pest has developed resistance to its flagship genetically modified (GM) product in India. The agricultural biotechnology leader says it "detected unusual survival" of pink bollworms that fed on cotton containing the Cry1Ac gene from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, which codes for a protein that's toxic to many insect pests. In a statement to Science, Monsanto claims that the finding from western India "is the first case of field-relevant resistance to Cry1Ac products, anywhere in the world."

Other independent researchers have disputed the claim that this is the first instance, with earlier reports cropping up in South Africa and the United States.

Regardless, the admission is a major blow for Monsanto and the GM industry. The Bt cotton varieties under fire are being sold as a technology that can help fight poverty and cut pesticide use. Neither claim so far has been substantiated.

The full article is available at www.sciencemag.org (Requires subscription)

http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_13015.cfm

Monsanto's Gene-Altered Cotton in Asia Developing Pest Resistance from Mealy Bugs & Bollworms

• GM Watch (Europe), June 18, 2008
  Straight to the Source
  
  

1. Mealy bug threatens cotton crop in state
2. The mealy bug has entered Vidarbha cotton fields through the Bt cottonseed 3. Pest resistance rising

NOTE: Evidence out of China has already shown any initial reductions in pesticide use from Bt cotton being eroded by new pest problems. The researchers warned the same patern was likely to be repeated elsewhere, and this seems to be exactly what's happening in India (where major pest problems have been besetting Bt cotton in the Punjab, Vidarbha and Haryana - items 1 and 2), the US and South Africa (item 3). http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7432
--- ---
1. Mealy bug threatens cotton crop in state
RAJENDRA KHATRY Express India, June 18 2008 http://www.expressindia.com:80/latest-news/Mealy-bug-thre...

2. The mealy bug has entered Vidarbha cotton fields through the Bt cottonseed
Science in Society #38 Summer 2008 http://freepage.twoday.net/stories/4961144/

Letters to the Editor

Deadly gift from Monsanto to India

To follow up on your articles, Organic Cotton Beats Bt Cotton in India (SiS 27) and Message from Andra Predesh: Return to organic cotton & avoid the Bt cotton trap (SiS 29), I enclose photographs of mealy bugs infested cotton plants in the demonstration plots of different seed companies in Vidarbha: Ganga Kavari, Paras Bbhrahma, and Banny. All of the plots have the Bollgard label. These mealy bugs have never been in our region on any plants before Bt cotton was introduced. I learned about the devastation of cotton in China two years ago. This alerted me to photograph and video the demonstration plots regularly. So, anybody can say with confidence now that the mealy bug has entered Vidarbha cotton fields through the Bt cottonseed.

Now when the cotton plants have died, the mealy bug is shifting to nearby plants. By mid June, farmers will go for the new cotton crop or plant another crop. But before that, the bug will have multiplied like any thing. It has shifted to Congress weed nearby, and many other weeds and plants in gardens.

Read the rest of the letters and see the photographs here
--- ---
3. Pest resistance rising

+ USA: INSECT PRESSURE SHIFTING In the Southeast and Mid-South, stink bugs and plant bugs including lygus, tarnished plant bugs and cotton fleahoppers have become the primary problems on Bt cotton, which has provided an ideal environment for stink bugs and plant bugs to flourish.
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8868

+ SUPER BOLLWORM COMETH In the USA bollworms are developing resistance to Bt cotton - bollworms being the pest that Bt cotton was supposed to kill - and commercial pressures look set to weaken the refuge strategy that might have slowed down rising resistance.
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8868

+ RESISTANCE DEVELOPING IN SOUTH AFRICA TOO In South Africa the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) has published trial results that indicate stalk-borer larvae have developed resistance to Bt maize plants.
http://agribiotech.free.fr/van%20Rensburg.2007%20(first%2...

GMO failure

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/gmFailuresContinue.php

GM Failures Continue

The GM industry has been ailing at least as far back as 2005, but kept alive by an aggressive campaign of disinformation. GM Watch (www.gmwatch.org) brings you the latest GM failures 2007-2008

GM cotton debacle in India

GM cotton has been failing in India and elsewhere for years [1] (Broken Promises, SiS 22), escalating the epidemic of farmers’ suicides [2] (Stem Farmers’ Suicides with Organic Farming, SiS 32). Unfortunately, the Indian government has allowed the commercial planting to continue with drastic consequences.

BT cotton failed in Vidarbha

A study on the introduction of Bt cotton in India’s cotton-growing belt of Vidarbha revealed that it failed in the region. Suman Sahai, director of Gene Campaign, which conducted the study, said that despite knowing that Bt cotton would not work in rainfed areas, the state government introduced it. The high input costs of Bt cotton increased indebtedness, and the study showed that 70 per cent of small farmers lost their landholdings as collateral for loans that they could never repay.

The study also showed that farmers who adopted Bt cotton had a net lower income than non-Bt cotton farmers. Seed dealers had promised farmers that they would get 12–15 quintals per acre when the actual yields were 3–5 quintals [3]

In February 2007, five districts of Vidarbha where Bt cotton was widely adopted reported nearly 1 500 farmers committing suicide in the previous 20 months [4].

More livestock deaths from grazing Bt cotton

With reports of deaths of livestock that had grazed on Bt cotton in 2006 still fresh [5] (Mass Deaths in Sheep Grazing on Bt Cotton, SiS 30), more deaths and illnesses in sheep and goats were seen in the early months of 2007. Symptoms included bloating of the stomach, black patches on the intestines, lung congestion, green and red mucus flow from nostrils, reddish urine, sneezing, and skin allergies. Women cotton pickers also reported skin allergies [6], another problem with Bt cotton reported widely in 2006 [7] (More Illnesses Linked to Bt Crops, SiS 30).

Minister gives compensation to Bt cotton farmers

Tamil Nadu minister for agriculture Veerapandi S. Arumugam distributed compensation to 996 farmers whose crop suffered after using Monsanto-Mahyco's GM Bt cotton seeds. The firm offered compensation of Rs. 5 000 per acre [8]

Andhra Pradesh Agriculture Department warns against Bt cotton

The state department of agriculture in Andhra Pradesh has finally conceded that Bt cotton is not beneficial to rainfed farmers. The commissioner and director of the state department of agriculture has furthermore admitted that “the introduction of genetically modified (GM) crops, engineered for a specific trait, was also resulting in new pest problems”[9]

New pathogens with Bt cotton

Punjab Agricultural University plant pathologists have warned about a high incidence of fungal and bacterial pathogen problems associated with Bt cotton [10]

Failing the world’s hungry

The great GM miracle?
BBC Radio 4’s Costing the Earth set out to answer the question of whether GM crops are the answer to feeding the world’s starving. The programme tellingly concluded [11], “Despite the hype, pro-GM advocates failed to identify a genetically modified crop that could be planted today to put food in the hungriest mouths.”

UK chief scientist plays fast and loose with the truth

So lacking is the biotech lobby in success stories that it resorted to stealing one from sustainable agriculture. Late last year, the UK government’s outgoing chief scientist Sir David King stated that a GM breakthrough in Africa had increased crop yields by 40–50 percent. But the project he described had nothing to do with GM crops. It was a ‘push-pull’ system of managing pests and increasing yield that relies on companion planting, a mainstay of organic and sustainable farming. Commenting on the incident, Dr Richard Horton, the editor of medical journal The Lancet, said Sir David took his faith in science into “the realms of totalitarian paranoia”[12].

Pests and superweeds on the rise

US corn pest expansion a consequence of GM crops?

A corn pest that can devastate yields may be increasing in prevalence across Illinois and other states because Bt crops are reducing predators that once kept the pest at bay [13]. Western bean cutworm, a major pest in Nebraska and Colorado, was first detected in Illinois in 2004, and has since spread to 49 counties.

US superweeds on the march

In Arkansas, state agriculture officials are turning to Syngenta to solve problems of Roundup-resistant weeds caused by Monsanto’s GM crops. The Arkansas Agricultural Extension Service is teaming up with Syngenta to push farmers to add the company’s herbicide, Reflex, to their arsenal. They raise the possibility that by bombing their fields with Reflex before planting their cotton, farmers have a chance to avert a possible “explosion” of superweeds this summer.

Chillingly, a scientist brought in to advise the state seemed to suggest that such broad-spectrum herbicides might need to be applied year-round to avoid a resistance outbreak, even when fields are resting between plantings [14]: “We need almost a season-long programme of controlling [superweeds]. Any gap in the season could increase the likelihood of resistance evolution.”

Transgenic contamination and economic losses in billions

GM rice claims exceed $1 billion

Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed and more are expected in the wake of the GM contamination of US rice. In one class action suit, attorney Don Downing has filed suit on behalf of hundreds of Missouri and Arkansas farmers, representing over 248 000 acres of rice.

Downing said [15], “Many farmers have decided to quit planting as much rice as they have in the past... the rice price isn't where it would have been had this not happened - and we’ve lost a chunk of our export market.” Total compensatory damages may approach or exceed $1 billion - and that's before taking into account punitive or statutory damages.

Robobank: less US rice farming due to GM

According to Rabobank, rice acreage in the US in 2007–8 was likely to decline due to concerns over GM contamination, which has already led to the loss of a major share of the EU market [16].

Attack of the mutant rice

Collectively, farmers and seed companies have lost hundreds of millions of dollars as a result of the US rice contamination, according to an article in Fortune magazine. The rice was never approved for commercial growing, so the contamination must have come from GM trials. “This is the most traumatic thing I've seen in the rice industry in 30 years,’ said Darryl Little, the director of the Arkansas State Plant Board, who has tried to clean up the mess [17] “It's been devastating.”

GM drags down value of farmer’s crops

The huge expansion of GM maize and soy in the US, Argentina and Brazil has dragged down the world price of grains, and that is having an impact on the viability of farms, British farmer Peter Lundgren told GM Watch.

He said the world price of grains is set by the Chicago Board of Trade and is therefore sensitive to the US grains market.

When the US adopted GM varieties and failed to ensure segregation of GM and GM-free varieties, it lost its two most profitable markets, Japan and Europe. That left the US attempting to dump its excess grain (mainly GM) onto the world market or into food aid. Both actions dragged down the world price. Now that the Bush administration is pouring funding into biofuels, the previously exportable surplus of GM maize is in demand by the domestic bioethanol industry. Suddenly the dragging effect was removed and the world price of grains doubled [18]

GM canola has destroyed the organic market

As a result of the introduction of GM canola (oilseed rape) in Canada, organic canola farmers say they’ve suffered loss of market access; loss of income; loss of choice; and loss of control over what they produce, how they produce it, what value it has, and who will buy it [19].

Organic canola farmers in Saskatchewan say coexistence doesn’t work and they want legal redress. But, in May 2007, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal denied the farmers class-action status in a lawsuit aimed at recouping damages from Monsanto [20].

GM canola fails non-organic farmers too

For anyone under the illusion that at least GM crops are turning round the fortunes of non-organic growers, Statistics Canada figures show that despite rising grain prices and the surge in demand for agrofuels, Canadian farmers’ incomes continue to decline. In other words, any economic benefits are going to the likes of Monsanto, Cargill and Exxon. Meanwhile, the number of farms in Canada continues its descent - down 7 percent in five years [21].

Bt cotton faces rising pest problems

1. From bollworms to mealy bugs

2. Cotton insect pressure has shifted

3. Bollworm resistance to Bt cotton

4. The super-bollworm cometh

NOTE: Evidence out of China has already shown any initial reductions in pesticide use being eroded by new pest problems. The researchers warned the same patern was likely to be repeated elsewhere, and this seems to be exactly what's happening.
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7432

EXTRACTS: India - 'the mealy bug hazard being what it is, one can only hope that the proposed campaign against it is implemented meticulously. Otherwise, this menace can get out of control, nullifying the gains from the cultivation of Bt-cotton.' (item 1)

USA: 'Along with the increased use of Bt cotton came a further reduction in the use of broad spectrum insecticides. Virtual elimination of broad spectrum insecticides provided an ideal environment for stink bugs and plant bugs to flourish.' (item 2)

India: 'If the bollworm pest is seen developing resistance in the US, a country where cultivation is highly organised, land is well demarcated and farming systems are automated/ mechanised, there is no reason to believe it may not happen in India.' (item 3)

USA: 'farmers and seed companies operate according to financial incentives, and there are, in the short term, clear economic downsides to maintaining large refuges. Aside from providing prime habitat for precisely the bugs farmers hate most, they are also a pain in the ass to set up, they depress crop yields, and they reduce the amount of super-seeds companies can sell. Thus there is constant pressure on farming regulators to ease refuge requirements. ...corporate pressure on the EPA might result in the decreasing efficacy of refuge set-asides, and thus hasten the evolution of superpowered cotton-munching caterpillars.' (item 4)

Fiasco de algodón Bt

India's farming crisis

Krishan Bir Chaudhary

New Agriculturalist, March 2007

http://www.new-ag.info/07/02/perspective.php

Krishan Bir Chaudhary is executive chairman of Bharat Krishak Samaj, India's largest farmer organisation. He is a farmer and leader, known for his anti-GM and anti-globalisation views, and for speaking out about the losses incurred by local farmers in the light of agricultural globalisation and liberalisation.

The distress of farmers in India can be traced back to the introduction of technology-led, capital intensive farming in the heyday of the Green Revolution. With the advent of 'economic liberalisation' and the globalisation of trade, this distress has been aggravated. Unfair rules of the multilateral global trading regime have depressed global and domestic prices, and denied Indian farmers adequate remunerative prices. The poor farmer is squeezed between high input costs and low returns. Credit obtained from formal or informal banking systems is unable to bail him out of this precarious situation. Caught in a vicious debt trap, many farmers have resorted to suicide.

BT cotton and the debt trap

Misled and misguided, the changeover to Bt cotton proved to be a total failure, causing severe losses for our cotton growers. The enormous loss and the resultant debt trap forced thousands of cotton growers to commit suicide. Bt cotton proved to be a total fiasco. Thousands and thousands of farmers have already committed suicide, and there seems to be no end to this tragic situation. Trends in suicide remain unabated even now, especially among cotton growers.

Significantly, farmer suicide is reported mainly from the high-tech agriculture belts, such as Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Punjab. All these states have embraced capital intensive and 'cutting edge' technology in the name of boosting production. In areas where traditional agricultural practices and organic farming are prevalent, such as Orissa, Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, suicide is unheard of.

READ THE REST

Effect of genetically modified crops on developing countries

HULIQ, NC, 26 January 2007

http://www.huliq.com/8118/effect-of-genetically
-modified-crops-on-developing-countries

A new study in the February issue of Current Anthropology explores how the arrival of genetically modified crops affects farmers in developing countries. Glenn Davis Stone (Washington University) studied the Warangal District of Andhra Pradesh in India, a key cotton growing area notorious for suicides by cotton farmers.

In 2003 to 2005, market share of "Bt cotton" seeds rose from 12 percent to 62 percent in Warangal. Bt cotton is genetically modified to produce its own insecticide and has been claimed by its manufacturer as the fastest-adopted agricultural technology in history.

Monsato, the firm behind Bt cotton, has interpreted the rapid spread of the modified strain as the result of farmer experimentation and management skill – similar to mechanisms that scholars cite to explain the spread of hybrid corn across American farms. But Stone's multiyear ethnography of Warangal cotton farmers shows an unexpected pattern of localized cotton seed fads in the district. He argues that, rather than a case of careful assessment and adoption, Warangal is plagued by a severe breakdown of the "skilling" process by which farmers normally hone their management practices.

"Warangal cotton farming offers a case study in 'agricultural deskilling'," writes Stone. The seed fads had virtually no environmental basis, and farmers generally lacked recognition of what was actually being planted, a striking contrast to highly strategic seed selection processes in areas where technological change is learned and gradual. Interviews also provided consistent evidence that Warangal cotton farmers prefer trying new seeds – seeds without any background information whatsoever – to trying several strains on smaller, experimental scales and choosing one for long-term adoption.

The problem preceded Bt cotton, Stone points out; its root causes are reliance on hybrid seed, which must be repurchased every year, and a chaotic seed market in which products come and go at a furious pace and farmers often cannot tell what they are using. Farmer desire for novelty exacerbates the turnover of seeds in the market, Stone argues, and seed firms will frequently take seeds that have fallen out of favor, rename them, and resell with new marketing campaigns. For instance, one recent favorite seed in several villages is identical to four other seeds on the market.

Stone argues that the previously undocumented pattern of fads, in which each village lurches from seed to seed, reflects a breakdown of the process of "environmental learning," leaving farmers to rely purely on "social learning." Bt cotton was not the cause of this "deskilling," but in Warangal it has exacerbated the problem.

"On the surface, [Warangal] appears to be a dramatic case of successful adoption of an innovation," Stone explains. "However, a closer analysis of the dynamics of adoption shows that the pattern some see as an environmentally based change in agricultural practice actually continues the established pattern of socially driven fads arising in the virtual absence of environmental learning."

Strangely, in another part of India, a very different history of Bt cotton has led to an improvement in agricultural skilling. In Gujarat, the loss of corporate control over the Bt technology has led to an increased involvement of farmers in local breeding, and an apparent increase in knowledge-based innovation. - University of Chicago Press Journals

Nadal's article about Monsanto

Monsanto, Cereal Killer GM and Agrarian Suicides in India

by Alejandro Nadal ZNet, January 6 2007

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=66&ItemID=11790

[Alejandro Nadal is professor at the Center for Economic Studies and coordinator of the Science and Technology program of El Colegio de Mexico]

The Green Revolution is dead. Its hybrids and high-yield varieties allowed for significant increases in the production of crops like wheat. But its negative side effects have intensified rather than gone away.

The technological package of the Green Revolution caused severe salination of the soil, indiscriminate exploitation and choking of aquifers and intense pollution with all types of pesticides. More seriously, it sowed an economic, social and environmental crisis in the life of poor farmers that takes more lives every year. One example is that of Anil Khondwa Shinde, a small farmer of Vidarbha district in Maharashtra state (in mid-western India). He killed himself two months ago consuming a powerful insecticide. He was 31 years old and died within minutes. The difference between the production costs and the retail price did not allow him to pay back to the providers the credit extended to him for the inputs.

An isolated incident? Not at all. The Indian Ministry of Agriculture admits to the following figures: there were 100,000 suicides by farmers between 1993 and 2003. And between 2003 and October 2006, there have been some 16,000 suicides by farmers each year. In total, between 1993 and 2006, there were around 150,000 suicide by farmers, 30 a day for 13 years!

The Maharashtra government itself accepts the figure of 1,920 farmers' suicides in Vidarbha between January 2001 and August 2006. Farmers' organisations of the district state that there were 782 suicides by agricultural producers. Data for the past three months indicate that on average there was a suicide every eight hours.

What conditions give rise to a suicide rate of about 30 farmers a day? It is said that the reason for this is indebtedness, but the ultimate reason is the imposition of a completely unsuitable agricultural technology, as much from the economic as from the environmental viewpoint.

Anil Shinde had decided to plant Bt cotton, a transgenic variety produced by Monsanto that supposedly reduces the need for insecticides and increases the return for the grower. Shinde is not an exception. Hundreds of farmers who had planted transgenic cotton in the states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have sought suicide as way out of a desperate situation that worsens year after year.

An important element of the tale is that Monsanto's Bt cotton variety offers some protection against cotton bollworm (Helicoverpa zea) but not against other pests (Spodoptera, for example) which affect this commercial crop in India. Producers like Shinde, who turned to Monsanto cotton looking to lower pesticide costs, were taken by surprise though in any case, they have had to keep using the inputs. Even worse, the debt trap got on top of them much quicker as the Monsanto cotton seeds are more expensive.

In many districts, the local moneylenders of the past have been substituted by the network of dealers and salesmen of large companies and their methods of debt recovery have been frequently criticised. When the incidence of suicides intensified, the government launched a "help" programme with an assured payment of about $2,000 to the surviving families but that money goes straight to the pockets of the creditors and, in fact, has become a perverse incentive that more farmers take their lives.

But the politicians are the same on all sides. The Agriculture Minister, Sharad Pawar, delights in living in the past, always speaking about the triumph of the Green Revolution. The message of his speeches is always the same: India needs genetically modified crops to help the poor farmers escape poverty and to resolve the "problem of hunger".

Thanks to the neo-liberal opening-up promoted by the government, the area dedicated to transgenic cotton in Vidarbha increased from 0.4% to 15% in just three years. In that timeframe, the rate of agrarian suicides also increased, which makes Monsanto the worst serial killer in history. Or, if we want to play with words, just as that company plays with the life of millions of farmers, we could describe Monsanto as the worst cereal killer of the planet.

Thousands of farmers, whose way of life has been destroyed as they have fallen into the clutches of the creditors, have turned to suicide as the only escape. In the process, they have exposed the failure of an agricultural project based on a technological "solution" with multiple negative effects and dysfunctional social relations. Why not heal the damages of the Green Revolution rather than rush to embrace the GM technology?

The seeds of destruction want to tell us something. But this winter, New Delhi seems more concerned with environmental pollution than the tragedy that unfolds daily in the countryside.

Translated by Supriyo Chatterjee.

(Nadal's article, 'Monsanto y los suicidios agrarios en India', appeared in La Jornada, Mexico, on 26 December 2006.)

Supriyo Chatterjee: supriyo@chatterjees.freeserve.co.uk

INDIA: Environmental disaster in the making

Environmental disaster in the making

Financial Express, November 20 2006
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=146846

Will GM crops reduce dependency on pesticides and protect the environment?

A recent Cornell University report has answered this question very well through a study done in China to assess Bt cotton that is in its seventh year of cultivation there. Growing secondary pest populations have slowly eroded the benefits of Bt technology, the study concludes, pointing out that total pesticide use and expenditure for Chinese Bt cotton farmers is the same as their conventional counterparts. The study shows a three-fold increase of pesticide use now compared to the initial years of Bt cotton adoption, taking back the Bt cotton farmers to nearly the same levels of pesticide use as before the advent of Bt cotton, thanks to such changes in farm ecology. This is inevitable, as any knowledgeable farmer would tell you.

Similarly, data from the US compiled from USDA data, 10 years after the adoption of GM crops, shows that the use of chemicals has only increased with GM crops even as super-weeds and super-pests (not easily controllable by the chemicals used earlier) are emerging.

Experience in India from various studies shows that sucking pests are higher on Bt cotton and the pesticide use has not come down as promised. Further, there are newer diseases emerging on Bt cotton - official monitoring by state governments records this.

It should be realised that even a few sprays of pesticides will damage the farm ecology by killing beneficial insects too and GM crops incidentally are not guaranteeing a complete elimination of such pesticides! They target only specific insects with their reductionist science. That is not the case with many non-chemical alternatives, however.

Very often GM crops are shown as part of an IPM (Integrated Pest Management) approach. A closer look will show that GM crops are actually defying many IPM principles. For example, IPM does not advocate a single chemical with the same mode of action and asks for alternation of methods/chemicals with different modes of action. In India, thanks to the generous giving away of the 'Bt' genes on a payment by some institutions, all major crops are being converted into Bt crops - Bt Brinjal, Bt Rice, Bt Tomato, Bt Cabbage, Bt Cauliflower, Bt Maize and so on. It does not take a genius to guess what kind of an environmental disaster this monoculture would lead to.

What is also interesting to note is that the biotech industry would like to paint itself environment-friendly while on the one hand, there are no guarantees against potential environmental hazards from GM crops and on the other, most major players in the biotech industry are selling agri-chemicals and have a major chunk in the pesticide industry themselves! The same players who thrust agri-chemicals down our throats are now saying that these chemicals are bad and therefore, GM crops should be adopted. How about getting accountable for the damage caused so far?

Important also is the recognition that pesticide reduction and elimination can be achieved through simple political will as the Indonesian example shows us. This does not require the answer of GM crops, which comes with a baggage of several undesirable, unpredictable and irreversible environmental and health hazards. One of the glaring problems with decision-making related to GM crops is that the rationale of pesticide use reduction is being employed for glossing over the many ill-effects that they bring along.

It should be realised that the basic problem that the farmer has begun with is pest management and not pesticide management. Our experience in thousands of acres of NPM (Non-Pesticidal Management of crops) shows that elimination of pesticide use itself is enough to restore farm ecologies and to improve the environment.

- The writer is consultant, Centre for Sustainable Agriculture

Monsanto Announces Takeover of Delta & Pine Cotton Seed and Terminator Seed Technology

* News Release, Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration, August 16, 2006


In a quest to expand its corporate seed empire - Monsanto, the world's largest seed enterprise - announced yesterday that it will buy the world's leading cotton seed company, Mississippi-based (USA) Delta & Pine Land, for US$1.5 billion. Monsanto and Delta & Pine Land (D&PL) together account for over 57% of the US cotton seed market. With D&PL subsidiaries in 13 countries - including major markets such as China, India, Brazil, Mexico, Turkey and Pakistan - the takeover means that Monsanto will command a dominant position in one of the world's most important agricultural trade commodities and that millions of cotton farmers will be under increased pressure to accept genetically modified (GM) cottonseed.

"This merger," says Ibrahim Coulibaly, President of the National Coordination of Peasants' Organizations of Mali, "guarantees an intensification of the already immense political pressure on West African governments to accept genetically modified seeds. Delta & Pine Land couldn't exercise the kind of clout Monsanto can. This deal is a major threat to our farmers and food sovereignty. African farmers' groups and civil society organizations need international support to resist the pressure of multinational corporations and USAID on African governments to adopt GMOs."

Sterile Cotton Bolls: Delta & Pine Land is notorious for its early development, with the US Department of Agriculture, of Terminator technology - plants that are genetically modified to produce sterile seeds at harvest. Despite massive opposition from farmers, civil society and many governments, Delta & Pine Land has repeatedly vowed to commercialize the technology and declared that their primary market would be in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The company claims that it is already growing genetically modified cotton and tobacco containing Terminator genes in greenhouses.

Over 500 organizations worldwide have called for a global ban on Terminator Technology, asserting that sterile seeds will destroy the livelihoods and cultures of the 1.4 billion people who depend on farm- saved seed. In March 2006, governments at the biennial meeting of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity unanimously re-affirmed and strengthened the international moratorium on field testing and commercialization of Terminator seeds.
http://www.etcgroup.org/article.asp?newsid=556

News Release

Genetically Modified (GM) Technology is No Solution to Agriculture Crisis

New Delhi, July 10 -- Farmers from Haryana, Delhi-rural and Western Uttar Pradesh led by the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) today gathered at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi to oppose the proposed introduction of Bt. brinjal, India's first genetically modified (GM) food crop. Bt. brinjal has a bacterial gene whose patent is owned by Monsanto. The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) has invited comments from stakeholders regarding the biosafety and socio-economic studies on Bt. brinjal by July15 after which it would take a decision.

"We condemn the government's plans to irresponsibly introduce GM food crops without proper long term studies of its impact on the health of the people and environment and on the socio-economic realities of the farmers of this country" said Yudhvir Singh, President, Delhi state, BKU representing millions of farmers in a coalition comprising Bharatiya Kissan Union in North India, Shetkari Sanghatan, Maharashtra, Karnataka Rajya Raitha Samithi (KRRS) in Karnataka and the Tamil Nadu Farmers Association. "In our memorandum (1) to the Prime Minister we have demanded a total ban of GM open air large scale field trials" he said.

Farmers today held dharnas outside the office of the District Collector in at least hundred districts across the country and demanded a 'Genetically Modified seeds free India'. "We are against the anti-farmer and multinational company friendly agricultural policies of the UPA government," said Rakesh Singh Tikait who is the spokes person for BKU.

Leaders of the farmer coalition strongly rejected GM technology as unsustainable and expensive and said it is not suited for a country like India where 80% of the farmers are small and marginal. "The unprecedented haste by the GEAC to approve Bt Brinjal is raising suspicions and it is a shame that the government has excluded farmer groups in looking for a solution to the agrarian crisis", said Yudhvir Singh.

"Our experience in Vidharbha shows that fancy technologies like GM seeds which are introduced as a saviour for farmers, are a pretext for reaping profits by seed companies who get massive royalties from seed sales leaving the farmer with nothing but unfulfilled promises", said Vijay Jawantia, Shetkari Sangathan. The introduction of Bt cotton has added to the crisis in the agricultural sector in rain fed regions like Vidharbha and has resulted in greater number of farmer's suicides, he said. "The Rs.1200 technology fee that Monsanto extracted from the sale of every packet of Bt. cottonseed has robbed farmers of Rs. 625 crores in Andhra Pradesh alone and has only driven farmers to suicides". He warned farmers not to fall prey to the aggressive marketing techniques and huge profit promised by the companies and exhorted farmers to understand the hidden threats behind GM crops and reject the technology.

Yudhvir Singh challenged the government that farmers would fight the introduction of GM seeds in food crops. "The American multinational Monsanto-Mahyco which is responsible for Bt. cotton, has now applied to market Bt. brinjal. This company is in contempt of court for refusing to reduce the patent fee on Bt. cotton seeds despite a court order from Andhra Pradesh" said Yudhvir Singh. "Brinjal is grown by millions of small and marginal farmers across India. Any government must be answerable to millions of farmers in this country if it wants to stay in power," he said.


Contact: Yudhvir Singh, President, BKU, Delhi State. Mobile : 9868146405 yudhvir55@yahoo.com,

bku.tikait@gmail.com

Notes to editor: (1) Memorandum personally handed over by farmer leaders to Prime Minister, Dr. Man Mohan Singh at 3 p.m. on July 10, and copy submitted to Agriculture Minister, Shri. Sharad Pawar and Minister of Environment and Forests, Shri. A. Raja.

Indian Cotton Farmers Betrayed

Rhea Gala travels to Andhra Pradesh to find out why small farmers are still planting GM Bt cotton when it has failed miserably since its introduction four years ago

Agricultural scientists Dr Abdul Qayum and Kiran Sakkhari conducted the first independent study on Bt cotton and released their report Bt cotton in Andhra Pradesh: A three year assessment in 2005. The study involved a season-long investigation in 87 villages of the major cotton growing districts - Warangal, Nalgonda, Adilabad and Kurnool. It found against Bt cotton on all counts and was vital in getting the hybrids involved banned in AP:

It failed miserably for small farmers in terms of yield; non-Bt cotton surpassed Bt by nearly 30 percent and at 10 percent less expense
It did not significantly reduce pesticide use; over the three years, Bt farmers used Rs2 571 worth of pesticide on average while the non-Bt farmers used Rs2 766 worth of pesticide
It did not bring profit to farmers; over the three years, the non-Bt farmer earned on average 60 percent more than the Bt farmer
It did not reduce the cost of cultivation; on average, the Bt farmer had to pay 12 percent more than the non-Bt farmer
It did not result in a healthier environment; researchers found a special kind of root rot spread by Bollgard cotton infecting the soil, so that other crops would not grow.

Co-author of the study, Kiran Sakkhari, told me that farmers buy the Bt cotton because of the extreme hype. “Farmers have been cheated before by being sold dud pesticide that looked like the real thing, and now they are trying to avoid pesticide altogether by using Bt. But the Bt gene is only partially effective against bollworm and ineffective against the dozens of other pests that routinely attack cotton, so pesticide use will continue to increase with Bt cotton. For example, the tobacco caterpillar ( Spodoptera litura) , which has caused havoc on the Bt cotton this year; though not on the non-Bt cotton, has done as much damage as any primary cotton pest.”

He also reiterated that Bt plants are intolerant of biotic and abiotic stress. “Wilt, a physiological disorder prevalent this year, is found only on the Bt crop, and tobacco streak virus, spread by the sucking pest, thrips, is a big problem; and while the non Bt cotton recovered well from excessive rain this season, the Bt crop is a shambles.” He thinks that the Bt cotton may give a good yield in laboratory conditions; but that cannot be extrapolated to larger areas. He admits this is a most generous assessment of the situation; and that many people, including himself, think that there is something basically wrong with the parent lines or the Bt technology per se .

Industry PR counteroffensive

This is also from the GM Watch news archive:

The success of the GM-critical film, The Future of Food, has galvanised the biotech industry's PR machine into subsequently giving us:

* America's Heartland - the pending PBS TV series funded by the American Farm Bureau and Monsanto;

* Voices from Africa - a video supposedly produced by the African-American civil-rights (turned-corporate-rights) group CORE but, in fact, funded by its "corporate partner" - Monsanto - and directed and scripted by a film-maker who has worked on other Monsanto projects

And now: The Story of Bt Cotton in India.

This new documentary comes courtesy of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA). ISAAA's funders include Monsanto and just about every other major GM corporation.

ISAAA's multi-million dollar budget is matched by high-profile board members, past and present, such as Monsanto's Robert Fraley, Wally Beversdorf of Syngenta, and Gabrielle Persley, Executive Director of AusBiotech Alliance and advisor to the World Bank.http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=66&page=IThe article below informs us how, according to the new film, "Rapid strides made by India in cotton production in the last three years are nothing short of a dream run for any agrarian economy". The film implies that this is no accident as this period "also coincides with the adoption of Bt cotton".

Curious then that just last week the Indian government admitted that Bt cotton had failed in parts of India, and asked state governments in all cotton growing regions to institute enquiries.http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6008In the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, 3 types of Mahyco-Monsanto Bt cotton seeds have actually been banned because their performance has been so bad. In Madhya Pradesh, the Governor has asked the state government to look into the causes of the failure of Bt cotton in large parts of the State and has called for compensation for farmers. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6008

Dogged by such adverse publicity, the industry is conducting an info-war against the "misconceptions and disinformation" which "continue to constrict the growth potential of this technology".

This documentary, which "clearly captures the way in which adoption of technology has transformed the outlook for growers", will be "translated into seven Indian languages for the benefit of those interested and shown widely in the cotton-growing belt across the country."

It thus forms part of an aggressive and deceptive promotion campaign for Bt cotton which has included everything from Bollywood stars to dancing girls, and which has even attracted the critical notice of India's National Commission on Farmers (NCF), which is headed by a long-time GM promoter - MS Swaminathan.http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5967For the details of this PR campaign see the report - THE MARKETING OF BT COTTON IN INDIA: AGGRESSIVE, UNSCRUPULOUS AND FALSEhttp://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5741

Bt cotton failure

Scientists Confirm Failures of Bt-Crops

Ineffective against insect pests, harmful to health and biodiversity, yield drag, pest resistance. Dr. Mae-Wan Ho

Scientific studies from many countries have now backed up what farmers have known for years, that Bt crops – genetically engineered with Bt toxin proteins from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis targeted at insect pests - often failed to protect against pest attacks, and have other problems as well.

Scientists in India, China and the United States found that the levels of Bt toxin produced by Bt crops vary substantially in different parts of the plant and in the course of the growing season, and are often insufficient to kill the targeted pests. This could lead to greater use of pesticides, and accelerate the evolution of pest resistance to the Bt toxin. Pest resistance to a Bt toxin has indeed arisen in the field in Australia.

The Bt toxins are a family of similar Cry proteins identified by numbers and letters. Each Cry protein differs somewhat in amino acid sequence and targets specific pests.