Having made inroads into several developing countries, Monsanto, the leading GM seed multinational, has been trying over the years to enter into Pakistan market to sell its Bt cotton and other GM seeds despite reservations of the country’s scientists and cotton growers.
Initially, the hybrid was welcomed everywhere for the promises of higher yields but later scorned when it began playing havoc with crops.
The American multinational, whose GM products have not been without controversy for their effects on crops, human health, environment and land despite a dramatic rise in output, is still resisted in Europe. United Kingdom’s ministry of agriculture had, in recent past, issued a strongly worded advice against any approval of a multinational’s GM cotton. Monsanto has been pursuing its case with the officials concerned in Pakistan for long and using various means and skills to win a favourable contract.
In May last year, the company succeeded in getting a Letter of Intent from the ministry of food, agriculture and livestock (Minfal) for marketing certified Bt cottonseed in the country. On December 4, its officials gave a briefing to the Steering Committee on Bt Cotton which was also attended by the federal agriculture minister and it is believed the ministry was greatly inclined to finally let it enter the Pakistan market.Which kind of seeds it would be allowed to sell is not clear although domestic research has been going on for long to determine or evolve the varieties that would suit Pakistani soil and environment. The National Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE), Faisalabad, Central Cotton Research Institute in Multan and Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology(CEMB), University of Punjab, Lahore, have been engaged in developing varieties through genetic engineering with a view to combating various diseases. NIBGE, in particular, is said to have made considerable progress in that direction.The institutes are trying to blend foreign genetically modified seeds with local input to make Bt seeds more economical with a better yield and effective pest resistant. Both India and China have adopted modified seeds but are entirely dependent on the foreign multinationals.
A news report on January 20 stated that an agreement between Islamabad and Monsanto was about to be signed for purchase of its Bt cottonseeds worth one billion dollars that would enhance the country’s cotton production by 40 per cent.
The seeds are to be produced under weed control technology called ‘Bollguard II with round-up ready flex’, which, it is claimed, would save up to $250 million now spent on pest control. The multinational would charge $21 for sowing its inputs over one acre. Of that amount, it would return $4.2 to the farmer for research purpose. The proposed or expected deal has been declared as ‘a milestone’ in agriculture in general and cotton cultivation in particular.
Monsanto, it may be mentioned, dominates the global Bt cottonseed market and that about two thirds of such cotton seeds sold in the world come from it or its subsidiaries. Bt cotton is grown in a number of countries, particularly in the US, Australia, China and India.
Pakistan has been producing small quantities of a variety of biotech crops on experimental basis but none have been commercialised yet despite the issuance of National Biosafety Guidelines in April 2005. The National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE) had even submitted in the recent past an application to the National Biosafety Committee (NBC) for the approval of a GM cotton variety. There had been efforts in recent years to cultivate Bt cotton in some areas illegally under an assumption that it would give much higher yield. In the year 200102, for instance, its cultivation was undertaken in the lower and upper Sindh areas from the seeds smuggled from India.The ministry of agriculture did not take notice of it. Two years’ observation of this transgenic variety, under the climatic conditions of upper Sindh, showed its performance was very erratic.
Latest reports say the smuggled Bt cot ton is being cultivated on about 2.7 million acres of land against total cotton cultivation over eight million acres.The current requirement is 16 million bales but nearly 12 million bales are produced. So, the shortfall of about four million bales have to be imported. An official says that the country can save $5 billion annually by increasing the yield by cultivating Bt cotton. Scientifically speaking, the Bt or Bacillus thuringiensis is a toxin-producing bacterium found naturally in soils. Scientists have isolated certain genes responsible for the production of these toxins and have then used genetic engineering techniques to insert them into cotton. The resulting cotton plants produce the Bt toxins and susceptible
pests die when they eat them. In 2002, Bt cotton was cultivated on 4.6 million hectares around the world, roughly 13 per cent of the total cotton acreage.
In China and the US, two countries with a long experience of growing the crop, Bt cotton initially brought down the use of pesticides. But before long, pests not controlled by the Bt plants, which had once been of minor importance, started to cause serious crop damage, and farmers were soon back to their former levels of pesticide use. In a recent study of the experiences of 481 cotton farmers in five provinces of China, researchers from Cornell University found that the early income gains that the farmers had achieved with Bt cotton during the 2000–2001 season had completely disappeared three years later.
In Pakistan, there are two major types of pests that are damaging our cotton crops – sucking and chewing. To certain extent, it is easier to control sucking pest by strong pesticides but it is difficult to control chewing pests – American bollworms,Army, Pink and Spotted – causing major devastations in the cotton crop fields. The recently emerged Burewala strain of the cotton leaf curl virus (CLCV) is attributed to the unauthorised cultivation of imported Bt cotton by growers.
According to P.V. Satheesh, Convenor of the Andhra Pradesh Coalition in Defence of Diversity, India’s experience in the first year (2002) was a disaster, yielding 35 per cent less than the non-Bt cotton, even while costing four times more.
In the third year, new diseases spread through the soils and the plant. Cattle which grazed Bt cotton plants started dying. And in 2006, Bt plants started wilting, forcing farmers to uproot them. The disease spread to nearby villages, spreading panic among farmers.
Initially, the hybrid was welcomed everywhere for the promises of higher yields but later scorned when it began playing havoc with crops.
The American multinational, whose GM products have not been without controversy for their effects on crops, human health, environment and land despite a dramatic rise in output, is still resisted in Europe. United Kingdom’s ministry of agriculture had, in recent past, issued a strongly worded advice against any approval of a multinational’s GM cotton. Monsanto has been pursuing its case with the officials concerned in Pakistan for long and using various means and skills to win a favourable contract.
In May last year, the company succeeded in getting a Letter of Intent from the ministry of food, agriculture and livestock (Minfal) for marketing certified Bt cottonseed in the country. On December 4, its officials gave a briefing to the Steering Committee on Bt Cotton which was also attended by the federal agriculture minister and it is believed the ministry was greatly inclined to finally let it enter the Pakistan market.Which kind of seeds it would be allowed to sell is not clear although domestic research has been going on for long to determine or evolve the varieties that would suit Pakistani soil and environment. The National Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE), Faisalabad, Central Cotton Research Institute in Multan and Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology(CEMB), University of Punjab, Lahore, have been engaged in developing varieties through genetic engineering with a view to combating various diseases. NIBGE, in particular, is said to have made considerable progress in that direction.The institutes are trying to blend foreign genetically modified seeds with local input to make Bt seeds more economical with a better yield and effective pest resistant. Both India and China have adopted modified seeds but are entirely dependent on the foreign multinationals.
A news report on January 20 stated that an agreement between Islamabad and Monsanto was about to be signed for purchase of its Bt cottonseeds worth one billion dollars that would enhance the country’s cotton production by 40 per cent.
The seeds are to be produced under weed control technology called ‘Bollguard II with round-up ready flex’, which, it is claimed, would save up to $250 million now spent on pest control. The multinational would charge $21 for sowing its inputs over one acre. Of that amount, it would return $4.2 to the farmer for research purpose. The proposed or expected deal has been declared as ‘a milestone’ in agriculture in general and cotton cultivation in particular.
Monsanto, it may be mentioned, dominates the global Bt cottonseed market and that about two thirds of such cotton seeds sold in the world come from it or its subsidiaries. Bt cotton is grown in a number of countries, particularly in the US, Australia, China and India.
Pakistan has been producing small quantities of a variety of biotech crops on experimental basis but none have been commercialised yet despite the issuance of National Biosafety Guidelines in April 2005. The National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE) had even submitted in the recent past an application to the National Biosafety Committee (NBC) for the approval of a GM cotton variety. There had been efforts in recent years to cultivate Bt cotton in some areas illegally under an assumption that it would give much higher yield. In the year 200102, for instance, its cultivation was undertaken in the lower and upper Sindh areas from the seeds smuggled from India.The ministry of agriculture did not take notice of it. Two years’ observation of this transgenic variety, under the climatic conditions of upper Sindh, showed its performance was very erratic.
Latest reports say the smuggled Bt cot ton is being cultivated on about 2.7 million acres of land against total cotton cultivation over eight million acres.The current requirement is 16 million bales but nearly 12 million bales are produced. So, the shortfall of about four million bales have to be imported. An official says that the country can save $5 billion annually by increasing the yield by cultivating Bt cotton. Scientifically speaking, the Bt or Bacillus thuringiensis is a toxin-producing bacterium found naturally in soils. Scientists have isolated certain genes responsible for the production of these toxins and have then used genetic engineering techniques to insert them into cotton. The resulting cotton plants produce the Bt toxins and susceptible
pests die when they eat them. In 2002, Bt cotton was cultivated on 4.6 million hectares around the world, roughly 13 per cent of the total cotton acreage.
In China and the US, two countries with a long experience of growing the crop, Bt cotton initially brought down the use of pesticides. But before long, pests not controlled by the Bt plants, which had once been of minor importance, started to cause serious crop damage, and farmers were soon back to their former levels of pesticide use. In a recent study of the experiences of 481 cotton farmers in five provinces of China, researchers from Cornell University found that the early income gains that the farmers had achieved with Bt cotton during the 2000–2001 season had completely disappeared three years later.
In Pakistan, there are two major types of pests that are damaging our cotton crops – sucking and chewing. To certain extent, it is easier to control sucking pest by strong pesticides but it is difficult to control chewing pests – American bollworms,Army, Pink and Spotted – causing major devastations in the cotton crop fields. The recently emerged Burewala strain of the cotton leaf curl virus (CLCV) is attributed to the unauthorised cultivation of imported Bt cotton by growers.
According to P.V. Satheesh, Convenor of the Andhra Pradesh Coalition in Defence of Diversity, India’s experience in the first year (2002) was a disaster, yielding 35 per cent less than the non-Bt cotton, even while costing four times more.
In the third year, new diseases spread through the soils and the plant. Cattle which grazed Bt cotton plants started dying. And in 2006, Bt plants started wilting, forcing farmers to uproot them. The disease spread to nearby villages, spreading panic among farmers.
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