Bt cotton was symbolic of the trap that genetically-engineered crops are laying around the food sovereignty in Africa and Asia as well as USA was the overwhelming opinion of speakers at a media meet on genetically-modified (GM) crops held in Hyderabad recently.
The meet was organised by the Deccan Development Society as a precursor to the side event called Bt Cotton Web Around Food, Farming and Livestock Systems: Continental Perspectives From Africa and Asia as per of the CBD COP11.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Francis Moore Lappe, a writer-researcher from USA, referred to the spread of GM crops in USA and said that this had resulted in the loss of biodiversity, family farms and the nation’s health.
P V Satheesh, director, Deccan Development Society, and National Convenor, Southern Action on Genetic Engineering (SAGE), referred to the crisis of Bt cotton in Andhra Pradesh wherein 30% of food production areas have been occupied by Bt cotton in the last 10 years. This was symptomatic of a trend of the domination of GM crops over food crops which eventually would drive out all ecological, organic and safe foods produced by communities in India in order to achieve their food sovereignty.
Satheesh pointed out that recent happenings – Indo-US Knowledge Initiative in Agriculture to the recent FDI in retail – were well designed and crafted to subordinate India’s food sovereignty to the global agrochemical MNCs. The fact that the KIA Board had Walmart, Monsanto and the Archer Daniels Midland alongside the Confederation of Indian Industry in it was no accident but a carefully executed strategy to keep farmers out of food production and hand it over to the industry, he felt.
He added that GM crops would be the final tool of the agro industry to accomplish it. He highlighted the efforts to rubbish the recent report of the Parliamentary Committee which had rejected the need to even conduct field trials on GM crops and had declared that they were not needed for the food security of India.
Dr Nammalwar, organic farming expert from Tamil Nadu, and chairman, Vanagam Foundation, accused the government of being blind to the repeated failures of Bt cotton in Tamil Nadu and serving the industry interests. Most millet areas are getting converted into Bt cotton producing lands which in turn has badly impacted the food and fodder production, according to him.
