- Archived campaign -

Farmers in India were promised higher yields and less pesticide use with Monsanto’s Bt cotton which is modified to be resistant to the bollworm pest. But Bt cotton failed dramatically and Indian farmers paid dearly.

Monsanto introduced Bt cotton varieties with huge marketing hype. The corporation advertised that Bt cotton would increase farmer’s cotton yields by 50%. In fact, farmers who have planted Bt cotton saw their yields drop by up to 35% in the first season. Yields rose marginally by about 2% in the second season but failed again in the third season.

Studies and farmers’ experiences have shown that Bt cotton in India has resulted in lower yields than conventional cotton, significantly lower financial returns for farmers and has not reduced pesticide sprays.

Farmers are obliged to pay technology fees that are added to the price of seeds. Indian farmers pay the same price for Bt cotton seed as US farmers.

FARMER SUICIDES:

Bt cotton was introduced as a solution for desperate farmers. It failed. Cotton farmers have been under severe stress due to erratic monsoons and attack of the bollworm pests (the target of the Bt trait) for the last several years. The financial stress led many farmers to commit suicide in Andhra Pradesh – more than 500 farmers committed suicide in Warangal district alone. Indebted farmers committed suicide by consuming the pesticides which they had bought to fight the pests on their cotton fields.

Bt COTTON FAILURE:

• Bt cotton resulted in fewer and smaller cotton bolls, and lower financial returns for farmers than conventional cotton. Farmers in the Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh complained that their Bt-cotton plants were very short in stature and had fewer bolls than their conventional plants growing in adjacent fields. A 2003 comparative study of Bt and conventional cotton demonstrated that conventional varieties produced more bolls (95 bolls per plant for conventional varieties vs. 50 bolls per plant for Bt) and that the bolls of the conventional varieties were larger.1
• A study from August 2002 to April 2003 involving 225 farmers in the Warangal District of Andhra Pradesh showed that the farmers’ yields fell by 35% when they grew Bt cotton.2
• The cotton bolls were difficult to pluck and labour expenses increased 25%.
• Farmers got 20% less that usual at market because of its shorter staple lengths.

Bt COTTON IN AFRICA:

Farmers in Mali, and elsewhere in Africa, are now debating the introduction of Bt cotton.

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1. Suman Sahai and Shakeelur Rahman, Performance of Bt cotton in India: Data from the first commercial crop, Gene Campaign, India, Aug 2003: www.genecampaign.org

2 .Abdul Qayam and Kiran Sakkhari, “Did Bt Cotton Save Farmers in Warangal? A season long impact study of Bt Cotton - Kharif 2002 in Warangal District of Andhra Pradesh “, AP Coalition in Defence of Diversity and Deccan Development Society, Hyderabad, June 2003 : www.ddsindia.com