The success of Bt cotton has set an excellent example in the past decade as to how GM technology can turn around our agriculture sector. This success needs to be broadened

CD Mayee

Agriculture in the country is facing several challenges be it drought, scanty rainfall, new pests and diseases creating havoc to plants, farmer suicides, shrinking land due to booming real estate development, and so on. India is primarily an agriculture-based economy, and has 25% of the world?s farmers. However, we have not been able to fully utilise the potential of safe and modern agriculture technologies to address the various challenges faced by our farmers to improve productivity.

To feed a billion-plus population of our country by relying on conventional methods of cultivation is next to impossible, and it is important for us to use agriculture biotechnology to increase our food production to feed the growing population. It has been rightly said that the food security of the country should be through self-sufficiency in agriculture and home-grown food and not through imports.

Agriculture biotechnology such as genetically modified (GM) crops has been cultivated globally for the past 16 years with no negative impact on human beings, animals and the environment. According to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), of the 29 countries that had adopted biotech crops in 2011, 19 were developing countries and 10 were industrialised nations. India and China lead Asian adoption, Brazil and Argentina lead Latin American adoption, and South Africa leads adoption in Africa. A growth rate for biotech crops in developing countries at 11%, or 8.2 million hectares during 2011, was twice as fast and twice as large as that in industrial countries at 5% or 3.8 million hectares. P Chengal Reddy, secretary general of the Consortium of Indian Farmers? Associations (CIFA) says that we must enable India’s 600 million small farmers to compete with farmers in the US, Brazil and China. And for that, GM crops are an absolute must.

Science and technology has benefited every sector and has been embraced by people worldwide. We cannot deprive our farmers of using this promising technology while their counterparts in other countries are using and reaping crops with high yield. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has spoken strongly in support of a technological intervention in our agriculture, specially genetically modified crops. And, as he rightly stressed, it is important that we adopt a scientific and practical approach and not an emotional route while debating and discussing the safety of GM crops, which have the potential to answer our food security needs.

India?s first and only GM crop to be commercially released is Bt cotton that has set an excellent example in the past decade as to how GM technology can turn around our agriculture sector. Bt cotton has not only reduced bollworm incidence but has also helped increase our yield and has placed India second only to China in terms of production with no scientific negative impact on health and environment. Today, more than 90% of the cotton area in the country is under Bt cotton. Cultivation of Bt cotton has decreased the use of pesticides considerably and has improved the standard of living of cotton farmers.

Recommendations for a 10-year moratorium on field trials of GM crops, especially GM food by the Technical Expert Committee (TEC) appointed by Supreme Court is based more on emotions than science. Verdicts like these will only take us back 50 years and farmers will struggle to find solutions to the growing challenges on the farm. Let farmers decide what technology is good for them as they are much more knowledgeable and smart than us when it comes to farming.

Anti-GM campaigns have become a business today, not just in India but across the globe. They are being funded and managed by the vested interest groups who do not want developing countries like India to grow and be self-sufficient in food production. Their only objective is to create fear and doubts through emotional blackmail about newer technologies without giving any scientific evidence to support their allegations. A case in point is the British environmentalist and author Mark Lynas who had campaigned against GM crops globally for several years, but has now realised that there was not a single scientific evidence available anywhere in the world to prove that GM technology is harmful. This has compelled him to change his stand in favour of the technology. Like Lynas, there would be several other environmentalists who may become pro-technology as they cannot continue to rely for long on false propaganda.

We need an enabling environment based on science and technology to help the country to be self-reliant in food. Such an inclusive environment will allow this agriculturally-rich country to not only provide better crop output but also provide employment opportunities to the rural population and thereby strengthen our economy.

It is high time that we let the farmers decide what they want and not take decisions on their behalf.

The author is former chairman, Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board (ASRB), New Delhi