THE TRAGEDY OF Bt COTTON-A CURSE FOR SOME FARMERS?

GM agricultural crops for which seeds have to be purchased every time a farmer wants to sow, are becoming more and more controversial and the latest sour note comes from the Vidharbha region in Maharashtra, India. It appears the wrong policy of indiscriminate encouragement for sowing Bt cotton has resulted in massive losses to many farmers who expected bumper crops by switching over to this GM crop during the last two years. The dramatic decline in yield seems to have pushed many farmers to penury and how the government is going to tackle this human tragedy remains to be seen. How far the government can offer crop subsidy to these unfortunate victims of corporate greed is a policy issue that will create undesirable precedents in future. Here is a commentary on this human drama unfolding in the region.    

"The study, in which farmers and farm labourers in Jalgaon and Yawatmal districts were interviewed, says, "70 per cent of the farmers stated that irrigation expenditure was more on Bt cotton than on non-Bt cotton." Though it claims that productivity increased by 4.49 per cent from the pre-Bt to post-Bt period, costs too increased: especially fertilizer costs, which increased from 29 per cent in the pre-Bt period to 71 per cent in the post-Bt period. In all 140 farmers and 40 agricultural labourers were a part of the study. "Farmers in the central Indian region blamed the suicides mainly on low and erratic nature of rainfall as this was a rainfed region," it states. This adds to many of the recent indicators that question the sustainability of Bt cotton in Vidarbha. Vinayak Deshpande, member of the Kelkar Committee, appointed by the Maharashtra government to study the agrarian crisis in Vidarbha region and professor at the RTM Nagpur University said productivity of Bt cotton is closely linked to irrigation. "The region faces the largest irrigation backlog in the State, at 57.3 per cent. In physical terms, the irrigation backlog is at 10,76,000 hectares. The cost of this in 2008 was Rs. 10,767 crore," Dr. Deshpande told The Hindu on Thursday. The irrigation against potential in Vidarbha is only 40 per cent, whereas in the rest of Maharashtra it is more than 70 per cent, he added. Dr. Deshpande said subsidies for fertilizers and pesticides were also given more in irrigated areas. "High yielding varieties of crops like Bt cotton need more water as well, along with fertilizers. In the end, it is all linked to irrigation," he said. The government itself has acknowledged that irrigation is mandatory for Bt cotton. Speaking at an event organised by seed giant Monsanto in Pune in March this year, Maharashtra Agricultural Commissioner Umakant Dangat urged farmers to plant Bt cotton only in irrigated areas. "The farmers should use their discretion and plant BT cotton on irrigated land. The amount of water needed is definitely more," he had said.

Some body has to answer for this failure on the part of the agriculture department in the state which did nothing to discourage the farmers from using Bt cotton seeds in the first place. A larger question is why the government at the state and federal levels failed to develop the irrigation infrastructure in Vidharbha region, knowing pretty well that this is a drought prone area for the last 5 decades. Placing the blame on the door steps of the farmer is nothing but shirking the responsibility and this issue assumes a dangerous dimension if government does not exercise its power to persuade farmers from courting disaster, knowing pretty well that Bt cotton is not suited to rain fed cultivation. One of the tragedies in the farm front is the failure of the governments to guide farmers to select most profitable crops that will sustain under the conditions prevailing in different areas of the country. Distributing "alms" through massive agricultural subsidies is not governance and such dole out cannot create any permanent impact on agriculture productivity.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
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