Sorry Monsanto: Govt Admits GM Bt Cotton Crops Fail 40% | NationofChange
The government of Maharashtra, a state in western India, has acknowledged for the first time that
Bt cotton is a failure that will likely reduce yields by 40%, from 3.5 to 2.2 million quintal. The region’s cotton farmers will face about Rs6,000 crore, over 1 billion USD. Accumulated losses are to be even more staggering: Rs 20,000 crore, or about 3.6 billion USD, due to rising cultivation costs.
Faced with unbearable debt and health problems, the National Crime Records Bureau predicts that 5,000 farmers will have committed suicide by the end of the year, compared to last year’s 3,500. If you’re surprised by this number, know that
Monsanto’s cost-inflated and ineffective seeds have been driving farmers to suicide for quite some time, and is considered to be one of the largest — if not the largest — cause of the quarter of a million farmer suicides over the past 16 years.
“The agrarian crisis sweeping through the state due to Bt cotton failure has only widened,” says Kishore Tiwari from the farm advocacy group Vidarbha Janandolan Samiti. “Unlike when cotton crop failure was reported only from Vidarbha and Marathawada, reports of such crop failure are now coming in from Khandesh in north Maharashtra, too.”
Government Role in GMOs
Maharashtra dedicates 4.2 million hectares to Bt cotton production, but has been reporting the lowest yield of 5 quintal per hectare since 2006. Tiwari adds that the number is likely to fall to 3 quintal this year, meaning “a net loss of more than Rs38,000 per hectare.”
Bt cotton has failed the region for three consecutive years. The Mahahrashtra state government compensated 4 million farmers Rs2,000 crore last year This year, even farmers with adequate irrigation are facing crop failure.