The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : ‘ASSOCHAM report on Bt cotton incredulous’

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Tuesday, Jul 31, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

‘ASSOCHAM report on Bt cotton incredulous’

APCDD ridicules survey report

HYDERABAD: AP Coalition in Defence of Diversity (APCDD), representing civil society groups against genetically modified crops, has challenged the recent Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM)’s survey report on Bt cotton farming and termed it “incredulous.”

At a press conference here on Monday, P.V. Satheesh, convenor of the APCDD, said the survey was part of a huge campaign launched by the genetic engineering industry to bamboozle public opinion. The seed major, Monsanto has produced 29 short films to counter the APCDD’s film, “A disaster in search of success: Bt cotton in global south”, he added.

Wrong priorities

“For Monsanto and the ASSOCHAM, foreign direct investment is far more important than the lives of the farmers lost in the pursuit of Bt cotton that left a trail of Bt-infected toxicity in the soils and plants leading to livestock morbidity.”

Releasing the findings of the APCDD’s own survey, he said the Bt cotton farmers earned just nine per cent more, a paltry difference of Rs. 380 per acre between Bt and non-Bt and not “additional income of Rs. 7039 crore as claimed by ASSOCHAM.” Similarly cultivating Bt cotton was more expensive as farmers have to spend more on pest control than others.

New diseases

The raising of Bt cotton has brought to the fore diseases like “root rot”, not seen by cotton farmers before, he said.

The survey also found that genetically engineered seed industry was deliberately closing all non-Bt options to farmers, forcing them to go in for Bt cotton.

The APCDD wanted the Government to promulgate a law to ensure production and distribution of non-Bt seed up to 50 per cent of their trade volume and to ask National Institute of Nutrition to investigate death of cattle after grazing in areas where Bt cotton was grown.

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