Interview with Shamika Mone

Yes, definitely. Growing cotton with organic practices, which involves the use of non-Bt cotton seeds, is one of the solutions to the problem of cotton farmers in India. Bt Cotton, with the trade name Bollgard-I and developed by Mahyco-Monsanto Biotech Ltd, is genetically engineered with the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) gene with a protein that is toxic to the bollworm pest. Bt Cotton is often portrayed as that technological revolution in Indian cotton cultivation which changed the cotton scenario and pushed it to higher yields, making farmers well and prosperous. But various studies, including a 10 year review of Bt Cotton by the Central Institute of Cotton Research (CICR), Nagpur in 2012, showed that the yield increase due to Bt Cotton is a myth and substantial yield increases had happened in the years before Bt cotton was adopted in a reasonably big area. The reason for the growing suicidal desperation over the years was the failure of the Bt Cotton crop due to lack of irrigation, scanty rainfall, hail storm, inferior quality seeds and massive debt. The bad performance of cotton crop has led to lowering of the production estimates significantly in spite of increase in the area of cotton cultivation. There is an inbuilt unsustainable approach in the very science of pesticides and Bt crops, whether as external sprays or produced inside the Bt plants. Non Pesticide Management (NPM) and agro-ecological approaches are the only permanent answers to pest issues in farming.

The high-input requirements of Bt cotton, in terms of fertilisers and water, make the crop an increasingly risky investment for small farmers, particularly in rain-fed areas which constitute a majority of the cotton-growing area in India. The depletion of nutrients and soil health is also a related problem. The experience of farmers clearly shows that while a lower number of pesticide sprays were required in the first two years of Bt cotton adoption, thereafter the pesticide requirement have increased. And now, the number of pesticide sprays required is equal to or more than that in the pre-Bt cotton period. Emergence of secondary pests and eventual increase in pesticide expenditure has been the major issue. A major advantage in growing organic cotton is the drastic reduction in input costs involved in seeds and pesticides with an increase in the net income per year.

Farmers cultivated Bt cotton on a large scale because initial production was high, given that the crop was pest-resistant. However, eventually small and marginal farmers suffered losses because of high-input costs and yield loss due to the development of resistance in the targeted pests. Moreover, the cultivation of Bt cotton caused traditional local cotton varieties to be wiped out. These factors combined with indebtedness caused 7,992 farmer suicides in the region between 2006 and 2011. Organic cotton cultivation cannot only give emotional support, but a financial practical support to the cotton farmers in Vidarbha.

Yes, obviously. Our country had a lot of traditional cotton varieties that got contaminated with the advent of Bt cotton and chemical farming. Our traditional methods of cultivating cotton were all organic. India had become the largest organic cotton producer in the world in 2007-08. In 2008-09, accounting for nearly 65 per cent of the world's organic cotton production. In 2009-10, it was widely acknowledged that production in India propelled world organic cotton production to an all-time high of 241,697 tonnes (81 per cent from India). In 2010-11, organic cotton and textiles constituted 25 per cent of the organic exports from India, amounting to 17,363 mT of export. Organic cotton segment has seen a stupendous increase of 152 per cent year-on-year growth in some recent years. Nearly 200,000 farmers are a part of the organic cotton movement in the country today. So yes, to answer your question, it is definitely conducive to grow cotton with organic practices.

The biggest problem that organic cotton growers and their support groups in the civil society face is lack of supply of non-Bt cotton seeds in the market. The government has not pro-actively done anything so far to address the issue, as per organic cotton industry players; and the effort is falling on the organic farmers community itself. Many small farmer groups and producer companies are setting up to sell organic non-Bt cotton seeds for organic farmers. Additionally, there is the major issue of contamination (on the fields as well as physical mix-up), and problems with segregation of organic cotton and Bt cotton in all the post-harvest processes. In 2008, two certification agencies had their accreditation suspended with APEDA for failing to detect such Bt cotton contamination in organic cotton. These certification agencies were fined Rs 15 lakh and Rs 7.5 lakh for this failure. This Bt cotton contamination scandal affected organic cotton consumption in general as well as the Indian organic cotton exports substantially in the subsequent years too, with the controversy refusing to die down even by 2010.

Sorry, I am not aware of these variants that you seem to talk about. Manipulation by seed companies with aggressive and unethical promotion of Bt cotton, windfall profits for seed companies, monopolistic control over seed market and exorbitant seed prices are still the major problems.