NEW DELHI: Up to 75 per cent of the Bt cotton seeds in 35 per cent of the area sown in parts of Salem and Namakkal districts of Tamil Nadu is said to have failed to germinate this season, according to the Monitoring and Evaluation Committee comprising 20 civil society groups led by the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture and Greenpeace India.

The MEC, which is monitoring Bt cotton in five States, (to make up for lack of monitoring by the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee) found that the situation on the ground seemed to be a repetition of the failure of the Bt cotton hybrids of Naziveedu seeds in Andhra Pradesh where the story began with germination failure. However, while in Andhra Pradesh, farmers agitated for compensation and obtained it in some places, the story of germination failure in Tamil Nadu has not been highlighted much except for some local media reports, the MEC said.

Kavitha Kuruganti of Centre for Sustainable Agriculture and Sekhar and Sakthivel of Pasumai Tayagam visited the visit to Attur division of Salem district. The findings, based on interviews with seed dealers, officials and farmers confirmed that there had been a germination failure. "While this failure of germination is being attributed to excessive rainfall, deeper discussions with farmers and field visits revealed a different picture," they said in their report.

In this area, Bt Cotton hybrids of Rasi Seeds like RCH2 Bt, RCH 20 Bt etc., are being grown on around 6000 hectares (in addition to Mahyco varieties like MECH 184 Bt etc.), out of a total area of 9000 hectares of cotton, as per the district administration's office in Attur. The regular cotton includes popular varieties like Suvin, LRA 5166.

The various findings of the MEC report showed that while the Rasi hybrids exhibited the highest degree of problem in terms of germination failure, there were a few cases of germination failure with Mahyco hybrids too. Several farmers had to sow up to three times, to address the problem. Farmers had ended up purchasing two containers of Bt Cotton per acre to address the problem involving an expense of nearly Rs. 3500 rupees on the seed cost alone. Even after re-sowing, there had not always been full germination.

Visits to the fields and discussions with farmers, especially the ones who had sown Bt Cotton and non-Bt Cotton clearly showed that with the same soil conditions [adjacent plots] and rainfall conditions, Bt Cotton seed had failed to germinate, while non-Bt Cotton varieties had shown 100 per cent germination. Incidentally, the non-Bt cotton varieties in question like the LRA varieties were available at Rs. 70 per kg, with the seed rate being around two kg per acre, whereas Bt Cotton seed were available for Rs. 1725.00 per 450 gms, on an average.

The MEC have rued the lack of scientific mechanisms that would assess the correct reasons for germination failure on the ground. Comparable data between Bt Cotton farmers and non-Bt Cotton farmers in terms of sowing date, soil quality, germination percentage etc., should be drawn officially. Particular batches/lots of seed should be further analysed, they said.

`Bonus for companies'

Companies seemed to have made a lot of sales and money due to the germination problem. Where a farmer would have bought one container of seeds, two had to be bought. "Instead of the liability being fixed, the problem is actually a bonus for the companies, where it is being conveniently blamed on excessive rains."

They have demanded that the GEAC and the State Government should investigate whether the seed production permissions given to the companies and the actual supply of seed made available by them meet the market demand to rule out the possibility of Bt Cotton seeds being adulterated.

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