Farmers get nod for Bt cotton seeds

Sun, May 11 12:05 AM

Come 2009 and cotton farmers in India will be able to produce their own Bt Cotton seeds. The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) of the government has approved a variety of Bt Cotton that is inbred and will produce seeds as well.

So far, farmers have had to depend on seed companies to buy Bt Cotton seeds for every new crop, leading to high prices and protests. The variety is a new strain of Bikaner Narma being developed the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

"After the approval, we will now start seed production at nearly 15 centres spread in different parts of the country. By the next season, the seeds will be available for the farmers," ICAR Director General, Dr Mangla Rai, told Hindustan Times.

"The new variety will reduce the farmers' dependence on seed companies. From one batch of seeds bought by them, the farmer will get their seeds from successive crops," he said.

One of the objections that the critics of Bt Cotton have had is that India has only promoted hybrids and not varieties unlike countries like China, Australia and South Africa. Balbir Singh Rajewal, president of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Rajewal) said that the government's move to introduce a seed-producing variety has been long over-due.

"The government has moved too slow on this," he said. Bt Cotton has been cultivated in the country since 2002.

As more and more cotton farmers took to Bt Cotton and seed companies dictated prices, farmers organised protests. In Andhra Pradesh, the state government stepped in and regulated Bt Cotton seed prices.

Last month it turned down the request of seed companies to hike the cost of Bt Cotton seeds from Rs 750 for a packet of 450 gm to Rs 800. The state had taken the matter to the Supreme court to restrict companies from increasing prices.

Earlier this week, the Gujarat government decided that it will sell Bt Cotton seeds to farmers through the Gujarat State Seeds Corporation (GSSCL) from this month to regulate seed prices. "Once the new variety is accepted by the farmers, the seed companies' monopoly will be restricted," an agricultural scientist, who did not want to be named, said.

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