The Hindu : Opinion / Leader Page Articles : Keeping off the GM bandwagon

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 15, 2004

Opinion

Opinion - Leader Page Articles

Keeping off the GM bandwagon

By Suman Sahai

It is embarrassing that India, with such agricultural strengths and dependencies, is lurching from biotech product to product with no defined policy to guide it.

THE TASK force on the Applications of Biotechnology in Agriculture chaired by M.S. Swaminathan has just submitted its report to the Government. An important recommendation in the report is that India's programme for developing genetically modified (GM) crops should acknowledge the reality of the market. One of the crops mentioned in the report as needing special attention is soybean. This should be taken serious note of by the policy planners. India is a tiny producer of soybean; the total output last year was about 3.5 million tonnes. India's soybean is completely GM-free. The United States produces over 32 million tonnes of soya a year, 75 per cent of which is genetically modified; 98 per cent of Argentina's 28 million tonnes is genetically modified and other cultivators such as Brazil are expanding their acreage of GM soya rapidly.

Should India start cultivating GM soya as the Department of Biotechnology and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research are promoting? What is a better course of action for our farmers? At present India's entire soybean crop is sold (3 tonnes in 2002-03). If it were to double its production, every single bean would still be sold. The reason is that it is one of the few countries from where non-GM soya can be sourced without risk of contamination. India does not cultivate GM soya at all and can certify its soybean GM-free.

Indian soya is supplied to niche markets seeking assured GM-free produce. The bulk of the soybean cultivated in the world now is genetically modified and when GM-free soya is available, it is from countries that are large producers of GM soya where a mixture is certain. Even in the European Union, where there was a de facto moratorium on GM foods, 25 per cent of the soya produced is genetically modified and in Japan, where there is a growing opposition to GM foods, 40 per cent of the crop is genetically engineered.

India is the only country in the world that produces 100 per cent GM-free soybean. Even if it were to increase its production several fold, all the soya would still be sold because the international market is increasingly seeking GM-free foods due to the growing rejection by consumers. Manufacturers of baby foods and housewives in countries such as Japan and Korea, large soya consumers, prefer GM-free soya.

Under these circumstances, resolutely remaining a non-GM producer of soybean best serves the interest of Indian farmers. If the country were to become a producer of GM soya, it would lose its special markets. Its GM soya would not be able to compete with large producers such as the U.S. and their highly subsidised, low-cost soya. So does it make sense for India to forego its special status, lose a secure market for its produce and incomes for its farmers and start cultivating GM soybean that no one will buy?

In the case of rice, India exports basmati as well as non-basmati rice, largely to Europe and West Asia, and also to Africa. The total annual value of its rice export is in the vicinity of Rs. 6,000 crores. The importers of Indian rice are countries where there is mounting opposition to GM foods. Indian rice enjoys assured markets today and there is a distinct upward trend in exports of both basmati and non-basmati rice.

Does it seem like an intelligent act to jeopardise this assured market and start cultivating GM rice? Who will make up for the revenue losses to the farmers that will result from countries declining the import of GM rice from India?

As against this push-GM-at-all-costs approach, it would be wise to take cognisance of the burgeoning organic sector and respond to it. The hill States have understood this simple logic. Sikkim, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Uttaranchal have decided to go organic.

The international organic market does not permit GM contamination in organic produce. So organic and GM-free products have to go hand in hand.

This would appear to be the future that the markets are pointing to but India's biotech policy-makers seem to be oblivious to the reality of the world. Full of misplaced zeal and the desire to join the GM bandwagon at all costs, even if through copycat research with borrowed genes, this bunch is willing to play with the livelihood of farmers by chasing a personal agenda rather that looking at the public interest.

Given the ad hoc nature of the decisions that are being taken on GM crops and foods by a small coterie of people, it has become a critical imperative to conduct a broadbased and transparent debate on what should constitute the nation's policy on GM crops.

It is embarrassing that a country of this size and with once formidable skills, with such agricultural strengths and dependencies, is lurching from biotech product to product with no defined policy to guide it and no consultation with the public to ask what it wants.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Opinion