Indian farmers reject GM

[geoguy]

Just a caution:

The idea of 'India' is somewhat broad. It's a bit like claiming 'the Western world' accepts or rejects. I'm sure there is every flavour of every opinion in India just as there is in the West. Does Bush speak for all people in the West. Al Gore for all on the environment? Gerry Falwell on creationism? India is no different. India is not a totalitarian state but a caludron of bubbling democracy and diversity.

[Skeptic]

The acreage planted in GM cotton in India has increased by at least 30% per year since it was introduced. Indian farmers are not idiots. They buy the more expensive seed and plant it because it yields them a benefit. Two benefits.

1. More money.
2. Less insecticide needing to be sprayed.

Since the one million odd Indian cotton farmers are mostly very poor peasant farmers, struggling to support their families, I do not think we should begrudge them a little extra profit.

[screener]

As Geoguy reminded us, it isn't good to generalize skeptic, I'm willing to bet there are idiots in Indian agriculture, probably to the same extent that there is in New Zealand, or god forbid even here in Canada. Some of those idiots are only idiotic about some things possibly for example using untested and unproven technologies like gm foods, or cotton for that matter. You know how some people are just idiots when it comes to money?

[JamesM]

That's the thing, the scientists have told them there are no problems with GM so they don't consider that issue they focus instead on doing what farms have to do, making money.

Personally I'm kind of fussy about the money I accept after all wouldn't want to be in debt to the wrong type of people.

[Skeptic]

Daddy said :

That's the thing, the scientists have told them there are no problems with GM so they don't consider that issue they focus instead on doing what farms have to do, making money.


A dirt poor Indian cotton farmer cannot be expected to understand the science. But what they do understand extremely well is the amount of money they make from a specific crop, and the number of times they have to spray insecticide.

With GM cotton, they make more money (extremely important to someone who is poverty stricken), and they spray insecticide a lot less. It has beeen estimated that, each year, 250,000 Indian cotton farmers end up in free clinics with pesticide poisoning from spraying cotton crops with insecticide, and about 1% of those (2500) die of it.

Research shows that GM cotton can achieve the results required with 20% of the spraying of non GM cotton. If, using GM cotton permits the farmers to cut their spraying by only 50%, this is potentially a reduction of 125,000 people per year in poisonings, and a saving of 1250 lives per year. This benefit MUST be rated as extremely important.

[Cricket Tragic]

There are 2.3 cotton growers in India growing Bt cotton up from 1 million in 2005. http://www.isaaa.org/resources/publi...y/default.html This number increases every year. While Bt cotton may not be right for everybody and some may have unsatisfactory experiences with it, the fact that 2.3 million cotton growers continue to grow the product is testament to the value the product provides to those farmers. Were these farmers all being duded by the multinationals, they would have wised up by now. While all sectors have their share of fools, the vast majority of farmers quickly work out what is right for them.

To claim that GM cotton is an untested or unproven technology belies the facts. Bt cotton has been grown commercially in China, US and Australia for 11 seasons now. It is also grown in South Africa, Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and India. Prior to commercialisation there were years of field trials in US and Australia and intensive regulatory scrutiny. The benefits in terms of reduced insecticide application are huge. Estimates from the Cotton Research and Development Corporation in Australia are that insecticide spraying has declined by 85% on the adoption of Bt cotton. http://www.cottonaustralia.com.au/fa...echnology2.pdf

Daddy, If it is your view that poor Indian cotton farmers should give up the ability to improve income in order to satisfy the ideological positions of rich westerners, it is indeed a sad world we live in.

[JamesM]

No Ct that is not my view, but what will be will be and it's time to move.

[screener]

Hey Cricket Tragic, I remember hearing these same statements about the proven record of bt cotton in the following thread.

http://www.theenvironmentsite.org/Fo...pic.php?t=6365

Do you have some new info you can share with us? It seems that the discussion about gimmied food keeps getting sidetracked to bt cotton, do you own shares or something?

[screener]

Originally Posted by Daddy

That's the thing, the scientists have told them there are no problems with GM so they don't consider that issue they focus instead on doing what farms have to do, making money.

Personally I'm kind of fussy about the money I accept after all wouldn't want to be in debt to the wrong type of people.

Daddy, that's the truth, there are a lot of farmers now who are little more than cogs in the clockwork orange of this modern world. buying and selling to the companies that control their decision making and farm planning.

[Cricket Tragic]

Originally Posted by screener

Hey Cricket Tragic, I remember hearing these same statements about the proven record of bt cotton in the following thread.

http://www.theenvironmentsite.org/Fo...pic.php?t=6365

Do you have some new info you can share with us? It seems that the discussion about gimmied food keeps getting sidetracked to bt cotton, do you own shares or something?

I own no shares.

After all this was a thread about Bt cotton in India!

I have simply seen it happen and understand the value of the crop. I have been to cotton fields in both developed and developing countries and farmers in both generally rave about the advantages of Bt cotton. In developed countries, most of their comments are about the environmental benefits of the crops, in developing countries about the financial benefits. The only complaint I hear is about the cost of the seed. Like all farmers, they would like to get it for nothing if they could.

The ISAAA link I gave you is new and gives a detailed consideration of BT cotton in India. My contacts in India tell me it is a reasonable picture of the situation.

My personal view is that it would be a backward step to remove Bt cotton. I have seen many of the commercialized GM crops on farm. However, if you were to suggest to me that only one trait and one crop were permitted to remain, I would go for Bt cotton - mostly because of its positive impact in developing countries in reducing pesticide application and improving farm incomes.

By the way, the farmers I know and work with would disagree strongly with your assessment that companies control their decision making. They are independent businesses where the family makes decisions with input from advisors.