May 5, 2003

As Reported in the News
The Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology

Farmers have planted India's first approved crop of genetically engineered cotton, known as Bt for the soil organism that is toxic to some plant pests. The new seed, developed by St. Louis-based Monsanto Co. and approved by the government after four years of bitter opposition, is hailed by some as the solution to a vicious cycle of devastation by pests, heavy pesticide use and soil depletion that has trapped Indian farmers for decades, according to the Washington Post.

"I heard it is a miracle seed that will free me from the bondage of pesticide spraying," said Lone Srinivas, 26, as he lounged atop his neatly piled sacks of genetically modified cotton here in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.

"Last season, every time I saw pests, I panicked," Srinivas said. "I sprayed pesticides on my cotton crop about 20 times. This season, with the new seed, I sprayed only three times."

About 55,000 farmers across seven states, roughly 2 percent of India's cotton growers, sowed the genetically engineered Bollgard cotton seed, which Monsanto describes as resistant to one of the most formidable cotton pests, the bollworm. But anxiety about the long-term effects of using modified seed -- the fear of "Frankencrops" -- and concern among nationalists, who worry that Indian farmers could find themselves beholden to Western companies, have slowed India's march toward biotech farming.

"GM [genetically modified] crop is not a solution to pest attacks. New pests will become active and resistant to Bt cotton, and Indian farmers would again get into the same pesticide treadmill," said Afsar Jafri of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, an advocacy group that spearheads the anti-biotechnology campaign and encourages organic farming. "A handful of Western companies want to control the agricultural foundations of the Third World nations by robbing the farmers economically. Indian farmers may lose their sovereignty."

The Washington Post reports that, of all the economic sectors, agriculture poses the biggest challenge for policymakers seeking to make this nation of 1 billion people a player in world markets. After three decades of the "green revolution" -- adopting hybrid seeds and modern scientific farming -- that has made India self-sufficient in grain production, more than two-thirds of Indians depend on agriculture, making it politically sensitive in a democracy steeped in populism and socialist rhetoric.

After pursuing a socialist model of central economic control since independence in 1947, India tentatively began opening its economy in 1991 by dismantling restrictions on foreign investors. But agricultural policy has remained virtually untouched, other than an occasional reduction in fertilizer subsidies.

Cotton cultivation is woefully inefficient. India has more land under cotton cultivation than any country in the world, yet ranks lowest in productivity, according to Agriculture Minister Ajit Singh.

A recent World Bank report said the biggest obstacle to higher yields in Indian cotton is the increasing frequency of pest attacks, leading to a level of pesticide use that has depleted the soil and strained water resources. Moreover, pests develop immunity to the chemicals.

Genetically modified cotton was proposed as a possible solution.

"India is an importer of cotton today," said Sekhar Natarajan, head of Monsanto India. "But with Bt cotton, like China, it can become a major player in the international cotton market in the next five years."

Opponents, however, compared Bollgard's entry into Indian agriculture to colonization by the British East India Co. in the 17th century. Others claimed that the environmental impact of genetically modified crops amounted to "bioterrorism." Ecologists said altered genes may enter the food chain, as
many Indian villagers use cottonseed oil in their cooking.

Last year, India rejected a large American aid consignment of soy-corn blend, imported by CARE and Catholic Relief Services, on the ground that it may have contained the banned GM corn, StarLink.

Still others pointed out that Bollgard seeds cost four times as much as regular seeds -- and suggested that the cotton harvested from them would fetch a lower price.

"I got less money for my Bt cotton because the buyers at the market said the staple fiber length was shorter," Penta Lingamurthy, 33, a farmer in Damera village in Andhra Pradesh, said after the first harvest in March. "The yield also did not improve. The price of the seed is so high, now I wonder if it
was really worth it."

On the contrary, said Monsanto's Natarajan, the first Bt cotton harvest achieved a 30 percent increase in yield and a 65 percent reduction in pesticide use. Nevertheless, the Andhra Pradesh state agriculture minister assured farmers that the state will ask Monsanto to compensate them for losses that are proved to be the company's fault.

In a major setback for supporters of GM seed technology, India recently withheld approval for planting genetically modified mustard, citing possible health risks. Fearing adverse impact on yield, the government also rejected Monsanto's proposal to extend use of GM cotton to two of India's most important agricultural states, Punjab and Haryana, reported the Washington Post.

Until fact and fiction are sorted out over time, genetically modified crops will remain controversial and India will exercise caution, said Singh, the national agriculture minister.

"We would be foolish to turn away from biotechnology," he said. "But the stakes are much higher in this new science. So much is still unknown about the effects of GM crop. We have to take one step at a time."

As Reported in the News is a weekday feature that summarizes one of the most interesting stories of the day, as reported by media from around the world, and selected by Initiative staff from a scan of the
news wires. The Initiative is not a news organization and does not have reporters on its staff: Posting of these stories should not be interpreted as an endorsement of a particular viewpoint, but merely as a summary of news reported by legitimate news-gathering organizations or from press releases sent out by other organizations.