Three Bt cotton hybrids have been disallowed for cultivation in Andhra Pradesh, India, following reports from farm organizations and release of a three-year study on the agronomy of these varieties and their impact on farmers in the region.
The study was released at the Southern Encounters conference in Hyderabad, India, in April.
Three years ago, the agro industry introduced genetically modified cotton to India. These hybrids contain a gene from a bacterium (Bacillus thuringiensis) that allows them to produce a toxin to protect against bollworms.
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The biotech industry claimed that Bt cotton would bring economic benefits, especially for small-scale farmers. The Andhra Pradesh Coalition in Defence of Diversity and the Deccan Development Society initiated a systematic study with certain objectives:
- To determine if GM Bt cotton met the promises of the seed producing companies to successfully resist the infestation of bollworms, reduce the application of pesticides, increase yields and increase profits to the farmer.
- To compare Bt cotton and non-Bt cotton under stress situations, especially non-irrigated crops, and to examine problems, if any, associated with cultivation of Bt cotton.
- To monitor the experiences of small farmers working without irrigation.
Most small-scale farmers in India keep vague records, so researchers visited farmers every evening to log their activities. During the three years of the study, researchers visited 164 to 220 farmers and recorded each farmer’s income and spending patterns in regard to cultivation of Bt and non-Bt cotton, as well as the status of the crop, pest damage and the use of fertilizers and pesticides.
Participants were randomly selected and results were categorized by farm size and by whether the farm was irrigated or rain fed.
Did Bt cotton live up to the promises: better yield, reduced insect problems, reduced pesticide use, increased profits?
In short, no.
In three years, the yields on the Bt cotton ranged from 65 to 105 percent of the non-Bt cotton. Yield improvements for the Bt cotton under optimal conditions were marginal.
Yields of the Bt cotton were much lower than non-Bt cotton under drought conditions.
Yield benefits, when they were seen, were greater for large farmers, and less for small- and medium-sized farms, greater under irrigation and generally negative for rain-fed conditions.
Insect problems were not eliminated by Bt cotton, nor did Bt cotton dramatically reduce pesticide use. Bt cotton farmers used 86 to 120 percent of the pesticide used by non-Bt cotton farmers. Bollworm chemical use was reduced, but only by approximately 20 percent.
Unfortunately, the Bt cotton farmers found greater difficulty from sucking pests and used more products to kill them.
In addition, the Bt cotton suffered from a Rhizoctonia-like root rot not common to the area. I heard testimonials from farmers who said they were unable to grow other crops on the land where the Bt cotton had been planted. Farmers whose Bt cotton crop failed thought they could go back to other crops only to find that nothing would grow.
In economic terms, Bt cotton did not become the anticipated success story. Farmers that used Bt cotton paid more than three times as much for their seed. The Bt cotton required greater fertilizer inputs. In total, most often the non-Bt cotton farmer made more than the Bt cotton farmer.
One of the difficulties with Bt cotton in this study was its greater vulnerability to harsh conditions, such as drought, low fertility, disease and insects other than those targeted by the Bt.
The Bt cotton was marketed to small-scale farmers on rainfed land as an answer to their economic problems.
Although the Bt cotton might show agronomic promise under optimal conditions, it did not meet the needs of small-scale, rain-fed farms.
In 2005, farmers angry over the failure of hundreds of acres of Bt cotton held an agro industry representative hostage and destroyed seed depots.
The farmers had lost hope in the seeds, seed dealers and the government when such a huge crop failure was not addressed. Some of this hope was restored this May when government responded by disallowing these Bt cotton hybrids.
Jennifer Bromm is a research assistant with the Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada. She travelled to India with the Organic Agriculture Protection Fund. She can be reached at 306-966-8380, or jennifer.bromm@usask.ca. For additional info, go to www.ddsindia.com.
