Open Access
Subscription Access
Hybrid Bt Cotton:A Stranglehold on Subsistence Farmers in India
Cultivation of long season hybrid and GMO Bt-hybrid cottons is unique to India. The hybrid technology prevents seed saving, requires annual purchases of high cost seed that leads to sub optimal planting densities. These factors contribute to stagnant low yields and to increases in insecticide use that induce new pests that are increasingly resistant to insecticide and Bt toxins. Subsistence farmers growing rainfed Bt cotton in south and central India have been particularly affected by this hybrid technology.
Pure line high-density short-season (HD-SS) rainfed cotton varieties are available or in development that would greatly increase yields, reduce yield variability, decrease costs of seed and insecticides and increase profits. The high costs of Bt hybrid seed make the technology incompatible with the HD-SS applications. The article questions why pure line HD-SS technology has not been implemented in India.
Keywords
Bt Cotton, Hybrid Seed, High Density Short Season Cotton, Farmer Suicides.
User
Font Size
Information
- Gutierrez, A. P., Ponti, L., Herren, H. R., Baumgärtner, J. U. and Kenmore, P. E., Deconstructing Indian cotton: weather, yields, and suicides. Environ. Sci. Eur., 2015, 27(12), 17; doi:10.1186/ s12302-015-0043-8.
- Kranthi, K. R., Cotton Statistics and News, 27 December 2016, pp. 1–6; http://www.cicr.org.in/pdf/Kranthi_art/Fertilizers_and_Bt.pdf
- van den Bosch, R., The Pesticide Conspiracy, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1978.
- Kukanur, V. S., Singh, T. V. K., Kranthi, K. R., Andow, A. and David, A., Cry1Ac resistance allele frequency in field populations of Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) collected in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, India. Crop Prot., 2018, 107, 34–40.
- Mohan, K. S., Ravi, K. C., Suresh, P. J., Sumerford, D. and Head, G. P., Field resistance to the Bacillus thuringiensis protein Cry1Ac expressed in Bollgard® hybrid cotton in pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders), populations in India. Pest Mgmt. Sci., 2016, 72(4), 738–746.
- Dhurua, S. and Gujar, G. T., Field-evolved resistance to Bt toxin Cry1Ac in the pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), from India. Pest Mgmt Sci., 2011, 67(8), 898–903.
- Ranjith, M. T., Prabhuraj, A. and Srinivasa, Y. B., Survival and reproduction of natural populations of Helicoverpa armigera on Bt-cotton hybrids in Raichur, India. Curr. Sci., 2010, 99(11), 1602–1606.
- Tabashnik, B. E. and Carriere, Y., Field-evolved resistance to Bt cotton: bollworm in the US and pink bollworm in India. Southwest. Entomol., 2010, 35(3), 417–424.
- Kranthi, S. et al., Susceptibility of the cotton boll-worm, Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) to the Bacillus thuringiensis toxin Cry2Ab before and after the introduction of Bollgard-II. Crop Prot., 2009, 28(5), 371–375.
- Kranthi, K. R., Bollworm resistance to Bt cotton in India. Nature Biotechnol., 2005, 23(12), 1476–1477.
- Gutierrez, A. P., Ponti, L. and Baumgartner, J., A critique on the paper ‘Agricultural biotechnology and crop productivity: macrolevel evidences on contribution of Bt cotton in India’. Curr. Sci., 2017, 112, 690–693; http://www.currentscience.ac.in/Volumes/112/04/0690.pdf
- Kranthi, K. R., Cotton Statistics and News, 16 December 2014, pp. 4–7; http://www.cicr.org.in/pdf/Kranthi_art/cotton_prod_system_dec_2014.pdf
- Chu C. C. et al., Reduction of pink bollworm (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) populations in the Imperial Valley, California, following mandatory short-season cotton management systems. J. Econ. Entomol., 1996, 89, 175–182.
- Kranthi, K. R., Cotton Statistics and News, 21 February 2017, pp. 1–8; http://www.cicr.org.in/pdf/Kranthi_art/learn_unlearn_part2.pdf
- Venugopalan, M. V., Prakash, A. H., Kranthi, K. R., Deshmukh, R., Yadav, M. S. and Tandulkar, N. R., In World Cotton Research Conference (eds Kranthi, K. R. et al.), International Cotton Advisory Committee, Mumbai, 2011, pp. 341–346.
- Venugopalan, M. V., Kranthi, K. R., Blaise, D., Lakde, S. and Shankaranarayanan, K., High density planting system in cotton – the Brazil experience and Indian initiatives. J. Cotton Res., 2013, 5(2), 172–185.
- https://www.smartindianagriculture.com/cicr-recommends-high-density-cotton-planting-for-vidarbha-telangana/ (accessed on 25 July 2018).
- https://www.icac.org/getattachment/mtgs/Plenary/74th/BS1Venogupolan.pdf (accessed on 25 July 2018).
- Stone, G. D., Biotechnology and the political ecology of information in India. Human Organization, 2004, 63(2), 127–140.
- Thomas, G. and De Tavernier, J., Farmer-suicide in India: debating the role of biotechnology. Life Sciences, Society and Policy, 2017, 13(8), doi:10.1186/s40504-017-0052-z
- http://indiagminfo.org/uoi-counter-to-mmbl-wp-21-1-2016/; http://indiagminfo.org/bt-cotton-official-reports/: The High Court of Delhi At New Delhi, Extra Ordinary Civil Writ Jurisdiction W.P(C) No. 12069 of 2015.In the Matter of: Mahyco Monsanto Biotech: (India) Private Ltd. & Anr… Petitioners versus Union of India And Others…Respondents. Filed by Dev P. Bhardwa, Central Govt Standing Counsel, Ch. No. 459, Delhi High Court, Block-1, Delhi High Court, New Delhi. (accessed on 8 September 2018 – copy available).
Abstract Views: 452
PDF Views: 121