• India
  • Jun 19

Seed industry bodies warn against illegal cultivation of HT-Bt cotton

The Federation of Seed Industry of India (FSII) and the National Seed Association of India (NSAI) urged the Centre to take action against sudden surge in illegal cultivation of herbicide-tolerant (HT) Bt cotton in the country this year.

What is Bt cotton?

• In India, cotton has served as an important fibre and textile raw material and plays a vital role in its industrial and agricultural economy.

• Nearly 8 million farmers, most of them small and medium (having less than 15 acres of farm size and an average of 3-4 acres of cotton holdings) depend on this crop for their livelihood.

• Bt cotton remains the only GM crop allowed to be cultivated in the country.

• In 2002, Monsanto-Mahyco introduced Bollgard-I, India’s first GM cotton hybrid containing Cry1Ac-producing Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) genes for controlling the pink bollworm (P. gossypiella) pest.

• Initially, only 36 per cent of the farmers adopted the new crop. However this number soon grew after Bt cotton was approved nationwide. The area under Bt cotton has increased from 29,073 ha in 2002 to 110.76 lakh ha in 2017-18.

• This was followed by approval and launch of Bollgard-II (a two-toxin Cry1Ac and Cry2Ab-producing Bt-pyramid conferring resistance to bollworm) by Monsanto-Mahyco, which subsequently enhanced Bt cotton adoption among Indian cotton growers.

• About 1,400 Bt cotton hybrid seeds are available for cultivation in the country. These hybrids are grown in ten states.

• The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) of the ministry of environment, forests and climate change is the nodal agency for grant of permission for environmental release of Bt cotton hybrids under the Environment Protection Act, 1986 in the country. 

Concerns over HT-Bt cotton

• The HT-Bt cotton involves the addition of another gene, Cp4-Epsps, from another soil bacterium, Agrobacterium tumefaciens. It is not cleared by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC). 

• The farmers claim that the HT-Bt variety can withstand the spray of glyphosate, a herbicide that is used to remove weeds.

• However, fears include glyphosate having a carcinogenic effect, as well as the unchecked spread of herbicide resistance to nearby plants through pollination, creating a variety of superweeds.

• If the sale of unapproved HT-Bt cotton seed is not stopped, it would spell disaster for the industry and farmers, FSII and NSAI said.

• Seed industry bodies have made representation in this regard to Union agriculture and environment ministries and sought immediate action.

• The FSII and the NSAI said the issue was raised in Parliament way back in 2017 following which the Field Inspection and Scientific Evaluation Committee (FISEC) was set up under the department of biotechnology (DBT) by the Prime Minister’s Office. 

• This committee had confirmed that HT-Bt cotton is illegally grown across the country. The FISEC panel, after testing several thousand samples, concluded that about 15 per cent prevalence of unapproved HT-Bt cotton were in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Gujarat, they added.

• “This year, there is a big jump in such illegal cultivation especially in the major cotton states from estimated 35 lakh packets last year to about 70 lakh packets this year,” FSII chairman M. Ramasami said. 

What are GM organisms and GM foods?

• Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) can be defined as organisms in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination. The technology is often called “modern biotechnology” or “gene technology”, sometimes also “recombinant DNA technology” or “genetic engineering”.

• It allows selected individual genes to be transferred from one organism into another, also between non-related species. Foods produced from or using GMOs are often referred to as GM foods.

• GM crops can mitigate several current challenges in commercial agriculture. Current market trends project them as one of the fastest growing and innovative global industries, which not only benefit growers but also consumers and major country economies.

• However, some experts say that GM foods can have harmful effects on the human body. It is believed that consumption of these genetically engineered foods can cause the development of diseases which are immune to antibiotics.

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