HYDERABAD: Noted environmentalist Vandana Shiva has said that there was a clear relationship between high cost seeds and chemicals and farm indebtedness and farmers' suicides.

"Bt cotton is responsible for increased cost of agricultural production and for ryots falling into debt trap leading to their suicides", Dr. Vandana told reporters here on Thursday. She was in the city as part of the 20-day `Beej Yatra' covering three States and aimed at promoting `native seeds' and sustainable agriculture. The yatra would also promote GMO-free, patent-free, debt-free and suicide-free zones.

Moratorium favoured

She favoured a moratorium on cotton planting and commissioning of an independent study of socio- economic, environmental and health impact of Bt cotton. She noted that there was growing dependence of farmers, in the suicide belt, on hybrid and GMO seeds which were costly. She said Monsanto's Bt cotton was intimately connected to rising cost of production, increased crop failure and rising incidents of suicides.

Dr. Vandana, who heads the New Delhi-based Navdhanya Trust, said since the entry of Monsanto, a seed famine had been created in spite of India's rich biodiversity and abundance in seeds among farmers and in public sector research institutions. "Seed saving and sharing among farmers and adoption of ecological, organic farming will stop the vicious cycle of debt and create a virtuous cycle of prosperity", she added.

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