Approval of Bt seeds

By Ahmad Fraz Khan



THE federal government approved nine Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) varieties, four of them permanently and five for one year, in the last week of March.
Though the decision came a bit late if taken in the backdrop of current year’s sowing, it would initiate the crop into technologically more advanced stage and provide new opportunities for the cotton growers.

Cotton cultivation was swarmed by 33 Bt cotton varieties of unknown parentage and production protocol. With these so-called Bt varieties in vogue, the country saw its cotton production plunging and pesticides usage increasing, thus defeating the Bt advantage. Though the genes of new nine varieties are also unknown, they have at least been made part of a process and have come under some kind of official monitoring process.

In choosing nine varieties of doubtful parentage, the country, in fact, has opted for lesser evil: deal with nine varieties, and have knowledge about them. It provides a good starting point.

The five varieties, which have been put on deadline for a year, had conflicting lab reports. They would be monitored for a year and re-tested at the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) laboratory before being reconsidered next year.

It would benefit cotton growers only if the federal and provincial governments follow it in tandem. They need to put in place a monitoring mechanism that documents “results of every variety, every year.” All these varieties are also of unknown parentage, and can falter at any stage of production. At the best, they have had “Bt expression” in them, as put by official reports. Their vigour and quality characters are untested. If the government loses sight of them, results may be undesirable.

It is a new experiment for the government, farmers, industry and seed companies involved in the business. The situation calls for new mechanisms to record the crop at every stage of development, and brings some stability to the cotton market.

The government departments, with owners of the nine varieties, must develop system of traceability, where it could be known which acre had which variety so that “results of each of them can be tested and verified.” Only then it would be able to avoid pitfalls of previous years.

The crop documentation should then be used to refine already approved varieties every year. It should also keep approving more and better varieties every year so that a “narrow pool of varieties does not lead to a monopoly situation, leading to price escalation.” The socalled Bt varieties have already multiplied seed price by 10 to 15 times, any monopoly situation would hurt the cotton growers badly. In order to avoid such an eventuality, the certification process must continue and it should not only allow more varieties in the market but also refine the existing ones.

The local companies must be encouraged to develop hybrid varieties as well. The process should also be extended to other crops like wheat, rice and vegetables. The hybrid varieties yield results within a year, making decision on them easier and quick. That is why the western world keeps coming up with new hybrid varieties every second or third year.

The local companies would have to keep pace with the world, and certification mechanism has to be responsive. That is the only way to revolutionise agriculture.

The approval of these varieties also open two more possibilities for government: developing modern seed industry and cast companies in the role of extension service provid ers. The Bt and hybrid seeds are expensive propositions. Granted they make up for farmers’ investment by adding to the yield, but the companies still make billions: financial balance sheets of these companies can testify the claim. The government must make it mandatory for the companies to get into extension service to “each growers they sell their seed to, and put its extension departments in the monitoring role.” These Bt varieties need special agronomic practices and each one of them has an exclusive production protocol - pesticides and fertiliser applications. These companies must train their clients in new agronomic practices and protocols. All provincial extension wings are grossly under-staffed and even poorly-trained. They can hardly help farmers when it comes to Bt. In Punjab, one extension worker covers around 10,000 farming families. Thus, they could assume the monitoring role.

Along with the seed companies, fertiliser and pesticides sellers must develop their own research and demonstration farms at district level, which are open to farmers. These research and demonstration farms could become “model for modern practices so that growers quickly learn and adopt good agriculture practices.”

It was criticised by the world environmental agencies that BT cotton contains a poisonous ingredient which are harmful for human if used in Ghee manufacturing or even if used garmets.

is it True???

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Anyone who thinks the sky is the limit, has limited imagination.
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Muhammad Irfan Arshad

if anyone having knowledge in this field share your comments on th articles posted thanks zash