Monsanto faces challenge from CICR’s Bt cotton varieties

This could turn out to be the biggest challenge yet in India to Monsanto. And, this comes from a government institute.

The Central Institute of Cotton Research(CICR) in Nagpur has introduced Bt genes into 21 cotton seed varieties, which scientists say can be provided to farmers at 10% of the price of hybrid seeds. These also offer better pest resistance, they claim.

The Bt varieties are being provided this year to the state agricultural departments of Telangana and Maharashtra for multi-location testing to be carried out by the state agricultural universities.

The best Bt-varieties will be identified from the multi-location field trial results of 2016 and the seeds will be made available to farmers from 2017. "After the Ministry of Agriculture confirmed that there was no patent on genetically modified (GM) Bt Cotton (Bollgard-mon 531) brought by MonsantoBSE -0.60 % 14 years ago to India, we will now be introducing Bt genes to traditional Indian cotton varieties," said KR Kranthi, director of the Central Institute for Cotton Research (CICR).

Trials will be conducted in the 2016 season by Dr Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola; Maharashtra Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri; Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Agricultural University, Parbhani; and Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University, Telangana.

"We expect that with Bt genes, high yields can be obtained from these Bt varieties at low production cost, even under rain-fed farming, particularly in states such as Maharashtra and Telangana," said a scientist from the Indian Council of Agriculture Research in New Delhi.

He said a majority of the varieties are short-duration crops of 150-180 days, because of which they escape late season moisture stress and drought during the critical flowering and boll formation stages. "Short-duration varieties are best suited for rain-fed conditions to obtain high yields," the scientist said.

The agriculture ministry is closely watching the progress of research by the universities on cotton seed with an aim to protect farmers' interest, said an official. The seeds of Bt varieties can be priced at Rs 150 to Rs 200 per kg and reused every year, compared with the Bt-cotton hybrid seeds, which cost Rs 2,000 a kg and can be used only once, said the official.

Unlike a majority of the Bt hybrids available in the market that are susceptible to sap-sucking insect pests and diseases, almost all the public sector non-Bt cotton varieties have a broad range of natural tolerance, said a CICR scientist. "Pyramiding these traits with Bt genes will provide broad-spectrum resistance against bollworms, whiteflies, leaf hoppers and the cotton leaf curl virus."

Plans are afoot also to introduce multiple Bt gene events developed by CICR, Delhi University, Tamil Nadu Agriculture University, National Botanical Research Institute Lucknow and the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, into elite cotton varieties. "This will help in delaying in resistance development by insects to the toxins and also enhance the efficacy of bollworm control. However the gene pyramiding may take four-five years from now for the varieties to be available to farmers," said CICR's Kranthi.