Fw: [ecoisla] Biotechnology's broken promises

[Guest guest]

-

Carmelo Ruiz

Eco-Isla Alianza Ambiental

Tuesday, May 18, 2004 2:56 PM

[ecoisla] Biotechnology's broken promises

 

 

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/BrokenPromises.php

 

BIOTECHNOLOGY'S BROKEN PROMISES

 

Will GM crops really help developing countries? Lim Li

Ching, of the London-based Institute of Science in

Society, looks at some telling examples in Kenya,

Indonesia and India.

 

 

 

" Monsanto's showcase project in Africa fails " ,

runs the headline in the magazine, New Scientist,

pronouncing the project to develop genetically

modified (GM) sweet potatoes a flop. The GM sweet

potatoes, modified to be resistant to the feathery

mottle virus, had undergone three years of field

trials. However, the Kenya Agriculture Research

Institute (KARI) had to report that the GM sweet

potatoes were as vulnerable to the virus as ordinary

varieties, and sometimes their yield was lower.

 

In December 2003, the Indonesian Minister of

Agriculture announced that Monsanto had pulled out of

South Sulawesi. In fact, Bt cottonseeds were no longer

supplied to farmers as of February that year. Monsanto

said that its cotton business there was no longer

economically viable. After two years of planting,

Indonesia, the first Southeast Asian country to

commercially approve Bt cotton, was pulling the plug

on that GM crop, and switching to a locally-developed

non-GM cotton variety.

 

The Indonesian experience is mirrored by that of

many farmers in India, where three varieties of Bt

cotton were commercially planted for the first time in

2002 in the central and southern parts of the country.

Mahyco-Monsanto, a joint venture between an Indian

seed company and Monsanto, promoted Bt cotton as

environmentally safe and economically beneficial,

claiming it would reduce pesticide use and cultivation

costs, while resulting in increased yields.

 

But reports from state governments, academic

researchers, NGOs and farmers' organisations indicate

that, in many areas, Bt cotton performed poorly, and

at times failed completely in the 2002/2003 growing

season. So much so that a panel set up by the Gujarat

government under the Joint Director of Agriculture

(Oilseeds) said that Bt cotton " is unfit for

cultivation and should be banned in the State " .

 

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