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Question

What is Monsanto going to do to support the desperate and debt ridden farmers in Punjab, India whose total btCotton crops were destroyed by Whitefly ? How will Monsanto PREVENT Further Suicides by GMO and Pesticide farming customers world wide?

Submitted by: Steve


Answer

Expert response from Community Manager

Moderator for GMOAnswers.com

Thursday, 25/02/2016 17:11

You raise several good points. First, we’d like to address your first question regarding Bt cotton crops being destroyed by Whitefly in Punjab, India.

 

Whiteflies have regularly attacked cotton crops over the years, but the result and reasoning behind the recent mass outbreak of them as well as their destruction in India is still unclear. The 2015 cotton growing season in North India has witnessed extended dry spells which has created a favorable environment for unprecedented whitefly infestation. At this time, there are no approved agriculture biotechnology solutions to counter this infestation. The recommended solution for farmers is spraying approved pesticides.

 

You asked about Bt cotton. Bt technology in cotton provides resistance against specific types of insects, namely Bollworms, while whitefly is a different category of insects called sucking pests. "The recent outbreak of whitefly attack has no relation with Bt technology in cotton," ABLE-AG Executive Director Shivendra Bajaj said. More on whiteflies included in this article.

 

To address your second question regarding how Monsanto is working to prevent farmer suicides in India, Janice Person, Online Engagement Director at Monsanto, speaks to Indian suicides specifically in another question on GMO Answers, and in the following statement:

 

“Suicide has been a problem in the Indian farming community for a long time, well before the first GM crops (specifically, cotton) were introduced in 2002. The fact is, farming in India is very, very hard.  There is a set of systemic and social issues that can lead to hopelessness among farmers, which has in turn led to suicides. 

 

It’s important to look for the root causes of Indian farmer suicides in order to find solutions. Numerous international organizations have been doing just that. Their research has shown that the suicide problem is complex, and that it is not the result of planting GM seeds.” 

 

Dan Goldstein has answered a question on this topic and discusses a recent study titled ‘Socio-Economic Impact Assessment of Bt Cotton in India’ by the Council for Social Development (CSD) which analyzes the key reasons leading to farmer suicides as lack of irrigation facilities, unavailability of timely credit and fluctuating cotton prices over the years. He writes:

 

This claim was studied by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington, D.C., which found that, if anything, suicides among farmers have been decreasing since the introduction of GM cotton.” The report states, “It is not only inaccurate but simply wrong to blame the use of Bt cotton as the primary cause of farmer suicides in India.”  The report can be found here:  IFPRI discussion paper: Bt Cotton and Farmer Suicides in India - Reviewing the Evidence (Oct. 2008).

 

Suicide is a tragic topic that the agriculture industry will continue to address into the future.

 

In closing, we wanted to include some additional information on Bt cotton, a staple crop in India.

 

Bt cotton crops play a large part in genetic engineering conversations and in India. Ronald Herring, Professor of Government and International Professor Agriculture and Rural Development at Cornell University, explains Bt cotton facts and misconceptions. Read more in his published discussion paper found here: Reconstructing Facts in Bt Cotton

 

In Ron Herring’s paper The Genomics Revolution and Development Studies: Science, Poverty and Politics he examines how the issues of environmental integrity, income, health and nutrition, Bio Institutions and Bio Politics (just to name a few) factor into farming in a societies similar to India.

 

We encourage you to read more of Herring’s published articles that delve further into politics in India, cotton farmers and market struggles in India.

 

Answer

Expert response from Community Manager

Moderator for GMOAnswers.com

Thursday, 25/02/2016 17:11

You raise several good points. First, we’d like to address your first question regarding Bt cotton crops being destroyed by Whitefly in Punjab, India.

 

Whiteflies have regularly attacked cotton crops over the years, but the result and reasoning behind the recent mass outbreak of them as well as their destruction in India is still unclear. The 2015 cotton growing season in North India has witnessed extended dry spells which has created a favorable environment for unprecedented whitefly infestation. At this time, there are no approved agriculture biotechnology solutions to counter this infestation. The recommended solution for farmers is spraying approved pesticides.

 

You asked about Bt cotton. Bt technology in cotton provides resistance against specific types of insects, namely Bollworms, while whitefly is a different category of insects called sucking pests. "The recent outbreak of whitefly attack has no relation with Bt technology in cotton," ABLE-AG Executive Director Shivendra Bajaj said. More on whiteflies included in this article.

 

To address your second question regarding how Monsanto is working to prevent farmer suicides in India, Janice Person, Online Engagement Director at Monsanto, speaks to Indian suicides specifically in another question on GMO Answers, and in the following statement:

 

“Suicide has been a problem in the Indian farming community for a long time, well before the first GM crops (specifically, cotton) were introduced in 2002. The fact is, farming in India is very, very hard.  There is a set of systemic and social issues that can lead to hopelessness among farmers, which has in turn led to suicides. 

 

It’s important to look for the root causes of Indian farmer suicides in order to find solutions. Numerous international organizations have been doing just that. Their research has shown that the suicide problem is complex, and that it is not the result of planting GM seeds.” 

 

Dan Goldstein has answered a question on this topic and discusses a recent study titled ‘Socio-Economic Impact Assessment of Bt Cotton in India’ by the Council for Social Development (CSD) which analyzes the key reasons leading to farmer suicides as lack of irrigation facilities, unavailability of timely credit and fluctuating cotton prices over the years. He writes:

 

This claim was studied by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington, D.C., which found that, if anything, suicides among farmers have been decreasing since the introduction of GM cotton.” The report states, “It is not only inaccurate but simply wrong to blame the use of Bt cotton as the primary cause of farmer suicides in India.”  The report can be found here:  IFPRI discussion paper: Bt Cotton and Farmer Suicides in India - Reviewing the Evidence (Oct. 2008).

 

Suicide is a tragic topic that the agriculture industry will continue to address into the future.

 

In closing, we wanted to include some additional information on Bt cotton, a staple crop in India.

 

Bt cotton crops play a large part in genetic engineering conversations and in India. Ronald Herring, Professor of Government and International Professor Agriculture and Rural Development at Cornell University, explains Bt cotton facts and misconceptions. Read more in his published discussion paper found here: Reconstructing Facts in Bt Cotton

 

In Ron Herring’s paper The Genomics Revolution and Development Studies: Science, Poverty and Politics he examines how the issues of environmental integrity, income, health and nutrition, Bio Institutions and Bio Politics (just to name a few) factor into farming in a societies similar to India.

 

We encourage you to read more of Herring’s published articles that delve further into politics in India, cotton farmers and market struggles in India.