Genetically Modified Cotton or Genetically Engineered Cotton (Bt Cotton)

Cotton is India’s important cash crop which gives employment to more than 50 million people of country starting from its cultivation to finished end product. Cotton is grown on 32 million hectares around the world while the cultivation of genetically modified cotton (GM) accounts for nearly 25 million hectares from the total. In India cotton is cultivated in about 12 million hectares, ranking second in global cotton production after China. More than 92% of India’s cotton production is genetically modified.

Bt Cotton Cultivation(Image Source)

What is genetically Modified (GM) Cotton?

The bollworm, which is a main crop’s pest, destroys a large percentage of the cultivated cotton every year and farmers in return uses insecticides and pesticides up to 20 times a year to reduce the bollworm effect and to increase the cotton production. In 1997, Monsanto introduced new cotton variety into the market which was highly resistant to the bollworm. This pest resistant cotton was engineered with a bacterial gene by Monsanto Scientists from the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt; gene donor) which contains very specific insect poison.

Genetically Modified Cotton in India

In 2002, Bt cotton was introduced in India by Monsanto under the trade name Bollgard, in a joint venture with Mahyco, a Indian seed company with aim:

     i. To reduce the pesticides amount required for pest control; which will further help in reducing the pollution caused by insecticides and pesticides.

   ii. To increase the farmer income by increasing the cotton production as the crop losses due to pest attacks were expected to decrease.

Within the few years of Bt cotton cultivation, India’s contribution to world’s cotton production increased from 14% in 2002 to 20% in 2007 but a quick and dramatic change was observed in this pattern. The productivity of cotton started to decline from 566 Kg/ ha in 2007 to 475 Kg/ha in 2010 which is further estimated to drop up to 300 Kg/ha in coming years.

The factor responsible for the failures of Bt cotton in India includes poor quality seed, erratic rainfall, bollworm resistance to Cry toxin produced by Bt cotton, emergence of secondary pests like mealy bug, thrips etc. and change in the agriculture conditions, as Bt technology was developed in US, so it is not well adapted to Indian cotton cultivation environment.

To overcome the failures of Bollgard, Monsanto in 2006 introduced Bollgard-II in the market which is having two Bt genes instead if single gene as in case of Bollard-I.

Impact of Bt Cotton in India

     i Farmers from different parts of the country who have cultivated and harvested Bt cotton complained of respiratory problems and skin allergic reactions.

   ii.  Many farmers reported that their cattle have died after grazing on plant debris from cleared Bt cotton fields.

 iii.  As bollworm has developed resistance to Bt cotton, the use of insecticides and pesticides has increased in the cotton fields. Emergence of secondary pests has forced farmers to use highly toxic chemicals to reduce their effect on the cotton yield. Thus the expenditure on the insecticides and pesticides has considerably increased although the fact is that Bt cotton production has shown decline in the recent years.

 iv. Bt cotton seeds are highly expensive as compared to conventional hybrid cotton seeds. Further, these require proper irrigation and costly fertilizers to increase the yield. So, the farmer cost factor has increased.

   v.   As Bt cotton has failed to overcome the farmers expectations, it has resulted in heavy human toll. When the farmers are unable to pay their loans which they have taken from banks or moneylenders due to factors like decline in the cotton production or collapsing of cotton market, they are left with choices none other than either to live in poverty or to commit suicide. A report shows that in 2008, nearly 16,195 Indian farmers have committed suicide and in 2009, the number has increased to 17,365.

 vi. Bt cotton has encouraged dependence on single seed supplier as no one can find conventional hybrid cotton seeds in the market. So, farmers are forced to purchase seed and herbicide from the same supplier on high prices.

Bt Cotton, at first glance looks like an essential requirement considering the huge population of our country and our limited land resources. However, the long term implications of Bt Cotton are not at all in favor of the populace as well as the vegetation.

Probably the stance of governments needs reconsideration with respect to Bt Cotton.