Dilip Patel
Gandhinagar, 24 May 2022
Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manhar Patel said that VIP3A gene is not approved in the entire state but 80 per cent Bt cotton seeds are being produced and sold. Due to which there is a big danger to the environment and living beings. No new GM cotton technology has been developed for farmers in India for 13 years.
With the connivance of the government, the business of spurious seeds worth more than Rs 4 thousand crore is going on. If caught, there is a provision of a fine of one lakh rupees. Which is absolutely ridiculous.
Monsanto company has regulated its GM technology from India since 2017. However, the production and sale of Bt cotton seed continues.
The fake seed packets were disclosed by Palbhai Ambalia, President of the Farmers Department. Banned Bt cotton 4G and 5G seeds are being sold openly across the state. Legislative Congress Party leader Amit Chavda said, raid the seed smugglers and put them behind the bars.
Modi did not approved, then Gujarat farmer Bt Bolgard 3 to sow illegally for 4 years
BT became the way of death
Technologies invented for farmers are now killing farmers. financially ruining. Bt cotton is proving fatal for the farmers. However, the biggest company making it is blaming the farmers for it. Since 2015, the mafia selling spurious Bt has increased in Gujarat. These mafias are doing business of spurious seeds worth Rs 4000 crore.
According to data from the NCRB National Crime Records Bureau, from the nineties till December 2017, around 270,000 farmers lost their lives. About 80 percent of these farmers were associated with cotton cultivation.
More than 30 farmers have died after exposure to pesticides sprayed with Bt (Bellis thuringiensis) in cotton fields in Vidarbha, Maharashtra. Hundreds were hospitalized. Although its largest producer Monsanto says that these lives have been lost due to the negligence of the farmers.
Following the deaths in Vidarbha, the government set up an SIT, suspended several officials, canceled licenses of pesticide sellers and jailed those selling the banned pesticide. Why do farmers have to use so many pesticides? Pesticides that should not have been used were also used. Why were the farmers forced to use those pesticides? And the main reason for this is ‘Bt cotton’?
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Gujarat farmers started sowing Bt3 cotton illegally when Modi did not give permission
got sick
One-third of cotton area is infested with pink bollworm. A special kind of worm, locally called Illi or Bondali, has suddenly increased its influence. Along with this, the Pink Wallworm has also started wreaking havoc. Fearing this, farmers are using pesticides in large quantities. But the cotton crop could not be saved and is losing its life. The entire crop is infested with pink bollworm. Pesticides no longer affect Bt cotton.
6 lakh to 15 lakh liters of pesticides are used in growing cotton in any one district. The increasing demand for pesticides can be gauged from these figures. Forced to use pesticides.
The use of Bt cotton seeds as a ‘GM’ ie genetically modified crop has increased in India since 2002 under government policy. Along with Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra is also a leading state in using Bt cotton in cotton cultivation. Bt cotton was introduced in the market to protect the cotton crop from pests. But the use of pesticides is increasing.
poisonous medicine
In India, only Bt cotton is cultivated in the name of genetic crop. 90 percent of the cotton cultivated is Bt cotton. It is grown in five percent of the total cropped area of India. Cotton cultivation accounts for 55 percent of the total pesticides used in agriculture. Very expensive chemicals are used in its cultivation, due to which its cost increases manifold.
breach of promise
Bt now has recessive genes. That’s why companies have introduced Bollgard 2 seeds instead of Bollgard 1. The companies had promised the government that the ‘Bt’ crop would not be affected by the disease. But now it is not so. Many types of diseases and pests are appearing. So ‘bt’ is opposed.
The outbreak of white fly on the crop has increased so much that the entire crop has been ruined. Insects destroy plants. Pesticides are used but to no avail. That’s why more poison is sprinkled. Many farmers have come together to file lawsuits against pesticide companies.
Bt cotton has killed 10,000 farmers in Maharashtra since June 2005. The Bt cotton crop failed on four lakh acres from 2005 to 2018.
Demand for a complete ban on Bt cotton
Wants to shut down Gujarat State Beeja Nigam Limited? Gujarat Seed Certification Agency has closed GLDC. No action is being taken against the mafia producing unauthorized Bt cotton seeds. No sample. For 20 years, lakhs of farmers are victims of spurious Bt cotton seeds. The state government does not have a list of manufacturers producing spurious Bt cotton seeds. That’s why the seed mafia is doing wrong business of 4 thousand crores.
On 4 June 2022, a large quantity of unauthorized spurious Bt cotton seed was seized by the Agriculture Department. Police had taken action against 4 accused. What happened after that?
Read this also…………
Pink caterpillars advance on Bt cotton in 6 lakh hectares in Saurashtra
Attack, loss of crores of rupees to farmers
मोदीने मंजूरी न दी तो गुजरात के किसान बीटी बोलगार्ड 3 अवैध तरीके से 4 साल से बोने लगे
The Pink Caterpillar and the Mafia
When pink bollworm infection was reported in Gujarat for the first time in 2010, it was in a very small area and B.
Gee- I was on cotton. Between 2012 and 2014, it was expanded over a large area on BG-II. In 2015-16 season, surveys conducted by CICR revealed that the survival of pink bollworm larvae was significantly higher on BG-II across Gujarat and the pest showed resistance to Cry1Ac, Cry2Ab and Cry1Ac+Cry2Ab (three different species). resistance had developed. Infections increased particularly in Amreli, Bhavnagar district and across Saurashtra. Since then the seed mafia has been born.
Farmers were already using insecticides to control the pink bollworm, among other pests. They were looking for other seeds. Which came to the notice of the mafia.
The seed mafia in Gujarat was born only after 2016 when the pink caterpillars started attacking again.
No other new GM cotton technology by the Indian public sector or private sector is up for commercial acceptance as of 2020. There is no public sector presence in GM seed markets yet, although some agricultural organizations are conducting GM research on various crops, including maize, soybeans, eggplant and rice.
Loose cotton plants and worn bolls during the winter crop of 2017-18, when farmers expected a bountiful harvest but found pink bollworms
Bt-cotton failure
The technology [BT-Cotton or BG-I and its second generation BG-II] has failed. Farmers in Gujarat are planting illegal cotton because they have to use pesticides to control pests. The cotton mafia is taking full advantage of this.
American seed biotechnology multinational Monsanto has monopolized India’s Bt-cotton seed market. On the other hand, other seed mafias are taking advantage of this.
Since 2002-03, Monsanto has taken a royalty of about 20 percent from the US on every bag of seed sold to Indian seed companies.
Indian Bt-cotton seed market Rs. 4,800 crore is estimated. In which Gujarat’s share is 20 percent. Which is in the hands of the mafia.
appeal
Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson Manhar Patel urged the Gujarat State Seed Producers Association to disclose the names of companies manufacturing spurious Bt cotton seeds among the member companies of the organisation. All the representatives of the company should be urged not to produce Bt cotton seeds illegally.
Gujarat
In 2009, when Mosanto conducted a field survey in India, it was found that insects planted in Bt cotton in Gujarat’s Amreli, Bhavnagar, Junagadh and Rajkot districts had developed resistance. They’re destroying it. Mosanto also advised farmers to use insecticide chemicals.
US seed firm Monsanto said the cotton pest – the pink bollworm – has developed resistance to its much-hyped Bt cotton variety in Gujarat.
The company informed the regulator, Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC). Pink bollworm has developed resistance to its genetically modified (GM) cotton variety, Bollgard I, in Amreli, Bhavnagar, Junagadh and Rajkot districts of Gujarat.
It was discovered by the company during field monitoring in the 2009 cotton season.
Farmers should maintain distance between Bt cotton fields and other fields as a “refuge”.
The company said that no resistance has been found in this variety anywhere in the country including Gujarat.
Monsanto follows the same pattern everywhere. Once Bollguard 1 fails, they start rolling out Bollguard 2 and farmers are forced to use more pesticides. It is a vicious cycle in which farmers are trapped.
In a report submitted to Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, K.R. Kranti of the Central Cotton Research Institute warned of the possible failure of Bt cotton.
Bt cotton has not only become ineffective, but it has also introduced some new pests to India that were never known before. It is toxic only to the bollworm and does not control any other pest of cotton. The report states that new sucking insects have emerged as major pests causing huge economic losses.
In the last week of November 2015, facts came to light in Gujarat’s Bhavnagar district.
Dr. Kranti, the chief scientist leading the team, was then the director of the country’s apex Central Institute of Cotton Research (CICR), Nagpur, and later became the director (technical) of the Washington-based International Cotton Advisory Committee.
Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders), popularly known as pink worm. He returned to Gujarat and India after three decades in Veravala.
The pink bollworm is believed to be of Indo-Pakistani origin and the American bollworm was one of the deadliest pests to kill cotton farmers in India in the 1970s and 1980s. Hence the hybrid was developed by Navsari Agricultural University, the first in the world in Gujarat, and reduced the infestation of caterpillars. Hybrid cotton has been cultivated for decades. When Bt cotton was introduced in 2000, the gene was added to this Gujarat hybrid 6.
Some crops like cotton, okra, mulberry and jute are affected by the pink ball.
Worm larvae are found. It lays eggs inside flowers, new buds, axils, petioles and young leaves. The young larvae enter the ovary of a flower or young sycamore within two days of egg laying. The larvae turn pink in 3-4 days and their color depends on the food they eat – black after eating the mature seeds.
pink Colour. Infected buds open prematurely or rot. The quality of the fiber, such as its length and strength, is reduced. A contaminating fungus infects the cotton.
This pest is spread by seeds carried by cotton to the market yards. The pink ball usually comes with the onset of winter. In the absence of crops, this insect is genetically adapted to hibernate or diapause; This allows it to lie dormant for 6-8 months until the next season.
Following the CICR report that the pink bollworm is back, two high-level meetings of the country’s two premier agricultural and scientific research organizations – the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the Indian Council of Scientific Research (ICSR) will be held. , This concern was evident at the New Delhi level meetings in May 2016. Officials discussed whether a public sector project on GM crops could soon provide an alternative.
An army of pink bollworms destroyed the cotton fields. Such devastation was not seen in 35 years. Attacks of pink bollworm, black boll weevils, poor quality cotton started happening.
Pink bollworm will not die from heavy spraying of deadly pesticides from 2014 to 2017. What is the use of Bt-cotton now?
One acre of cotton used to be 15 to 25 quintals. Its yield was reduced by five quintals. Each farmer reportedly suffered losses of 33 to 50 percent. Farmers in Gujarat resorted to unapproved Bt cotton due to crop losses. In which the seed mafia was born.
Farmers in Gujarat started sowing cotton before the onset of monsoon. So that the loss of pink caterpillar coming later can be reduced. The problem was partially resolved. Alarm bells were first rung in 2015 with the return of pink bugs. There are reports of re-emergence of pink bollworm in crops from all the major cotton growing states including Gujarat and Maharashtra.
the return of the pink worm
Pink bollworm first appeared sporadically on Bt-cotton between 2007–10. In November 2015, farmers in Gujarat reported widespread pest infestations on their cotton crops. The one-inch-long worm eating the bolls from the inside looked perfectly healthy, indicating the failure of this powerful and expensive GM cotton – even though no compensation was offered by the company or the government.
On the other hand, cotton productivity declined from 560 kg lint per hectare in 2007 to 512 kg lint per hectare in 2009. In 2002 the expenditure on pesticides was Rs. 597 crores in 2009. 791 crore has been done.
insufficiency of water
In 2006, Bollgard 2, another Bt cotton variety, was introduced by combining two proteins in Cry 2 Ab.
Cotton needs constant water. Can’t tolerate drought at all. There is a big water problem in Gujarat. Farmers are dependent on monsoon. Wrong choice of GM technology in arid region. Where Bt cotton fails, conventional cotton excels.
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Insects in Bt cotton become Btproof
cotton in the country
The global trade of Bt-cotton is spread over 22.6 million hectares. In 2014-15, the Bt-cotton area in India was 11.5 million hectares. In 2006-07, Monsanto released the BG-II hybrid, saying the new technology was more powerful, more durable. BG-II hybrids occupy more than 90 percent of the country’s nearly 13 million hectares of cotton. There is no roadmap for sustainable use of BT technology in India. Still the government is allowing it.
Cotton is cultivated in 1 crore 20 lakh hectare. 2-2.5 crore farmer families are dependent on Bt cotton cultivation. Most of the farmers have less than two hectares of land. A packet of Bt cotton weighs about 450 grams. The cost of Bt cotton is one thousand rupees. At least three packets of seeds are required in one acre of land.
Being more productive and pest-resistant, they have proven to be false. The insect has become a symbol of indebted farmers and poverty. Big companies like Monsanto are looting in the name of Bt. Time has come for the government to save the country from this vicious cycle of loot.
Agriculture has become important as about 64 percent of the country’s population is engaged in agriculture and as a source of about 27.4 percent of the total national income. Agriculture contributes 18 percent to the country’s total exports. Agriculture is the only source of direct or indirect livelihood for 75 per cent of the country’s more than 5.5 lakh villages.
Cotton production in the country in the last 12 years
year, – area – million hectares, production – million bales)
2002-03 7.67 8.62
2003-04 7.60 13.73
2004-05 8.79 16.43
2005-06 8.68 18.50
2006-07 9.14 22.63
2007-08 9.41 25.88
2008-09 9.41 22.28
2009-10 10.13 24.02
2010-11 11.24 33.00
2011-12 12.18 35.20
2012-13 11.98 34.22
2013-14 11.69 36.59
2014-15 11.69 36.59
2015-16 11.91 33.80
2016-17 —- 32.12
(Source- Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India)
law of development and mafia
More than a thousand varieties of hybrid Bt-cotton—crossing Bt events with its own seeds—were produced in India in just four to five years.
were approved by private companies. This led to chaos in agriculture and pest management. As a result, Indian cotton farmers’ inability to manage pests will continue to grow. The seed mafia of Gujarat is taking advantage of this.
herbicide-tolerant seeds
Herbicide-tolerant (HT) cotton seeds were widely planted in India in 2017. HT-Cotton is Monsanto’s new cotton seed. It has not yet been approved by the government for commercial sale. But seed companies and unregistered companies are selling these seeds to farmers. HT-cotton seed bollworm or
There is no antidote for these insects. Plants grown from such seeds are resistant to weeds and chemicals used to eliminate weeds, without affecting cotton plants.
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New two varieties of Desi Vagad cotton will revolutionize jeans fabric and silk fabric
put the gin in the native cotton
In India, Bt-cotton should be released into open-pollinated species or native cotton, not hybrids. India is the only country that has allowed the Bt gene to be planted in hybrids instead of direct lines. If farmers sow indigenous cotton, they do not need to buy seeds from the market again, but for hybrids, they have to plant seeds every year. The mafia is taking advantage of it.
50 companies protested
About 50 Indian cotton seed companies have protested against Monsanto over losses caused to farmers in three years due to pink bollworm. He adopted BG-I and BG-II cotton technology. At least 46 companies refused to pay royalties to Monsanto in 2016-17. There is no new GM technology that can replace the BG-II now or in the near future. That’s why farmers are being cheated by the seed mafia. In such a situation, the cotton fields are in deep trouble. Cotton is completely ruined by pink bollworms that go inside the boll.
What is Bt cotton?
The American company Monsanto inserted the gene of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) bacteria into cotton seeds to protect the plant from pests. This cotton seed is expensive. India is a big market for Monsanto. Produced by deleting a gene from a soil bacterium called Bellis thuringiensis. The name of this gene is Cry. 1ac. given. It is believed that these seeds cannot be damaged by insects. But within a few years, insects were able to damage crops made from this gene. Bt cotton seeds were produced here by crossbreeding with several varieties already existing in India. many different names. Mahiko’s total stake in this game is only 26%. Mahiko did its first field trials in 1999. Large scale field trials were conducted in the next year i.e. 2000.
In the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, the gene produces a protein that acts as an anti-bollworm toxin. Scientists develop gene constructs that can be transferred into cotton seeds to make plants resistant to bollworms. This is GM cotton. When such a gene structure takes its place on the chromosome of the plant genome, it is called an ‘event’. Some seed companies in Gujarat have turned into a mafia by privately introducing such genes and giving the seeds to farmers at high prices.
case against company
Monsanto’s patent on Bt cotton seed
In India, only Bt cotton is cultivated in the name of genetic crop.
On 08th January 2019, The Supreme Court set aside the Delhi High Court order invalidating the patent rights of technology giant Monsanto’s Bollgard technology on Bt cotton seeds.
In 2018, the Delhi High Court declared invalid the patent rights of Monsanto technology on Bt cotton seeds for Bollgard technology. According to the Delhi High Court, the gene sequence responsible for the Bt trait that eradicates pests affecting cotton plants is part of the seed and therefore illegal under section 3(j) of the Indian Patents Act, 1970. Under this it cannot be patented.
American agriculture giant Monsanto Technology has acquired its Indian subsidiary Monsanto Mahiko Biotechnology Ltd. Filed a petition in 2015 against Nujiveedu Seeds and its subsidiaries.
According to the petition, despite the expiry of the license agreement for Bt cotton seeds, Nujiveedu Seeds and its subsidiaries were selling seeds using the patented technology of Monsanto Technologies.
Assembly Congress Party leader Amit Chavda, Kisan Cell President Palbhai Ambalia and Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manhar Patel raised their voice on the issue of spurious seeds in Gujarat. It is necessary to stop the trade of spurious seeds by raiding the seed smugglers and not only imposing fines on them but also putting those smugglers behind the bars. Seed smugglers are doing business under the supervision of the government in Gujarat. Fake seeds and fertilizers are being sold indiscriminately in the entire state. The government is doing injustice to the farmers.
Production of 10 thousand tons of pesticides and 4 lakh tons of tobacco in the fields makes Gujarat number 1 in cancer. (translated by google from Gujarati)