GM WATCH COMMENT: The following opinion piece is by Felipe Osorio, the director of Mahyco Monsanto Biotech (India) Limited. It was published by the Indian daily paper, the Financial Express, as part of a special feature that also included pieces by Dr Suman Sahai and Bhaskar Goswami.

Many of Osorio's key claims are open to question, to the point where its title - "Clothed in genetic success, Modified cotton has seen phenomenal production" - may put some in mind of the Emperor's New Clothes.

Here are a few examples.

*Osorio: Indian farmers want GM crops because they reduce costs and increase productivity.

Comment: Could Mahyco Monsanto's massive campaign of hype, which has included everything from dancing girls to a touring Bollywood star, have had anything to do with why Indian farmers want GM crops?

Mahyco Monsanto, and its sub-licensee Bt seed companies, have been accused of pulling every dirty trick in the PR book in order to lure India's farmers into using GM cotton.

http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5741

*Osorio: Biotechnology in Indian agriculture is playing a vital role in rural areas

Comment: It's certainly hard to tally Osorio's statement with India's agrarian crisis or the spiralling numbers of Bt cotton farmers who've taken their own lives.

The Rural Affairs editor of The Hindu, P Sainath, has described the impact in some parts of rural India of multinationals like Monsanto as "devastating".

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main19.asp?filename=Ne090906The_relief_CS.asp

The Times of India has noted that most farmer suicides "relate to those farming families which have run up huge debts because of the high cost in using the expensive genetically-modified cotton seeds."

http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7087

That's why Sainath describes the promotion of Bt cotton in some areas of rural India as simply "murderous... killing," which is somewhat different from "vital".

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main19.asp?filename=Ne090906The_relief_CS.asp

*Osorio: The steadily increasing Bollgard acres being planted by increasing numbers of Indian farmers bear testimony to its success.

Comment: The same could have been said about the ever increasing number of investors caught up in any stock market bubble - before it finally burst, that is.

Donald White, a University of Illinois plant pathologist, describes the way that hype and fashion can drive farmer choices as "a herd mentality". "Everyone has to have a biotech program", he says, and that chimes in with a University of Iowa study on farmers growing GM soya. The study found that while increasing yields was cited by the majority of farmers in the study as the reason for their choosing GM soya, the research showed they were actually getting lower yields!

http://www.lobbywatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=49&page=1

*Osorio: The second IMRB study conducted in 2005 reconfirms that for the fourth successive year, the benefits of Bollgard cotton to Indian farmers included better yields, reduced pesticides use and higher profits.

Comment: What Osorio doesn't tell the reader is that IMRB are a market research company hired by Monsanto. Nor does he mention that the company's methods and findings have been heavily contested. A number of other studies - some involving significantly greater farmer contact then the IMRB surveys - have consistently shown higher net profits from non-Bt cotton.

*Roundup Ready soyabeans, corn, cotton and insect protection in YieldGard corn enable farmers to produce crops more efficiently, reduce their tillage and pesticide use.

Again these assertions are open to question. For instance, a US Dept of Agriculture (USDA) report contested the claim about reduced tillage. To quote, "Using herbicide-tolerant seed did not significantly affect no-till adoption"

The same USDA report also concluded:

+GM crops do not increase yield potential and may reduce yields.

+Bt insecticide GM corn has had a negative economic impact on farms.

+GM herbicide-tolerant crops have produced no reduction in herbicide active ingredient applied.

+"Change in pesticide use from the adoption of herbicide-tolerant cotton was not significant."

+For herbicide-tolerant soya, active ingredient of herbicide applied has increased.

+"The adoption of herbicide-tolerant soybeans does not have a statistically significant effect on net returns."

The report also says, "Perhaps the biggest issue raised by these results is how to explain the rapid adoption of GE crops when farm financial impacts appear to be mixed or even negative." ('The Adoption of Bioengineered Crops', US Department of Agriculture Report) http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/usdagmeconomics.htm

*Osorio: GM is the single most powerful tool available at present to address India's food and fibre requirements

Comment: No evidence is produced to support this assertion.

*Osorio: Monsanto is committed to serving farmers

Comment: Several Indian State governments would beg to differ, to judge by the case they have successfully taken to the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) over the excessive charges Monsanto levies on farmers for its Bt cotton.

Go to a Print friendly Page