India: Action against illegal seed growers demanded, Maharashtra farmers gear up to show results of banner HTBT cotton

New Delhi: As farmers head to Yavatmal in Maharashtra to showcase post-harvest success stories of banned HTBT cotton on Sunday, their act of defiance is being challenged by different organisations, including the RSS-linked outfit Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) which has demanded action against such illegality.

“How can the state government allow such illegal activity as cultivation of unapproved variety of transgenic crop is banned in the country?,” asked SJM national convenor Ashwani Mahajan.

Mahajan while talking to TOI on Saturday pointed to his existing online petition urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a ban on herbicide glyphosate, currently being used by farmers for several crops including HTBt cotton.

He said, “Nearly 2 lakh people have already supported the petition on change.org while a handful of farmers in Maharashtra are trying to misguide cultivators through such illegal acts by openly defying the ban on cultivation of unapproved variety of cotton.”

Hundreds of farmers will gather in Hiwri village of Yavatmal district in Maharashtra on Sunday in their attempt to prove the unapproved variety of cotton (HTBt) gave higher yields at a more reasonable cost as compared to the approved variety (Bt cotton).

At present, cotton is the only crop where cultivation of transgenic variety is allowed in India. Though the central regulator, Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), allows commercial cultivation of earlier variety of transgenic cotton (Bt cotton), it has not approved the new GM variety of cotton (HTBt cotton). Cultivation of any unapproved variety of transgenic crop is banned in India.

“We are expecting more than 500 farmers from 10 districts of Maharashtra. We’ll share our experience with them, showing the benefits of HTBt cotton,” said Vijay Niwal, one of the farmers who had sown the banned variety on his land in Hiwari village.

The National Seed Association of India (NSAI), an apex body representing public and private seed companies, has also demanded action against illegal seed growers and noted that the cultivation of illegal variety will contaminate the farmers' fields.

“Farmers won’t get extra money for growing HTBt cotton, but they will get more if the quality of cotton and yield is better. The HTBt has none of these. But, the Indian private sector and ICAR have many varieties that give higher yields and better quality cotton,” said Indra Shekhar Singh, director-policy and outreach, NSAI, while urging farmers “to choose science not propaganda, before they are robbed not just of their land but also their health”.

Many farmers, led by farmer organisation Shetkari Sanghatana, had, however, defied the ban and sowed HTBt cotton in their farms in as many as 10 districts in Maharashtra in June-July last year. Now, they want to show its results on Sunday.

Reacting to the proposed event, Mahajan said, “Majority of farmers don’t know about the risk of cultivating HTBt cotton and using Glyphosate on human health and environment. That is why I have started the online petition asking the Prime Minister to immediately ban Glyphosate and all its forms to save lives.”

Elaborating on the NSAI’s views, its executive director R K Trivedi said the entire cotton seed sector was at stake as the pollen of the illegal variety would contaminate the farmers' fields.

“The legal seed business is threatened as seed breeders are double victims - first of the contamination and second when they face ire of the state agencies, who punish them and threaten to suspend licenses in the case of accidental contamination. The government should punish the illegal seed growers and treat the victims of the contamination with fairness,” said Trivedi.