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THIRD WORLD NETWORK BIOSAFETY INFORMATION SERVICE 20 April 2005
RE: STUDY ON BT COTTON IN ANDHRA PRADESH, INDIA We would like to bring to your attention the results of a three-year study (2002-2005) of the impact of bollworm resistant Bt cotton in Andhra Pradesh in India by the Deccan Development Society and the AP Coalition in Defence of Diversity. The study, undertaken by scientists Dr Abdul Qayum, and Mr Kiran Sakkhari, in collaboration with village based grassroots researchers, examined the agro-socio-economic impact of three genetically engineered Bt cotton hybrids viz., MECH-12, MECH-162 and MECH 184. These are marketed under the brand name "Bollgard". The study is the outcome of a transparent and open methodology, which involved interviewing farmers, and gathering information from them on a fortnightly basis over the three-year period. The study "Bt Cotton in Andhra Pradesh: a three year assessment" captures farmers' engagement with Bt cotton, the resultant economics of the cultivation, and the ultimate desperation when crop failures hit the farmers. There is also available a film "Bt Cotton in AP: a three year fraud", which captures the mood and feelings of the farmers caught up in the false promises of Bt cotton. As PV Satheesh, Director of the Deccan Development Society, puts it, this is "a story of terrible loss, deep pain, and cold anger, leading to explosive violence and even death". Monsanto Inc, through its joint venture Mahyco-Monsanto Biotech Ltd, is responsible for the supply of Bt cotton for commercial cultivation in the country. Monsanto in its website claims that "Bt cotton returns socio- economic benefits to smallholder farmers globally". The study is an evaluation of this claim by recording the experiences of Bt cotton growers in Andhra Pradesh. The study found that: * Mahyco-Monsanto Bt cotton, Bollgard, has failed miserably for small farmers in Andhra Pradesh, India, in terms of yields While the three year average yield from Bollgard cotton for small farmers, has remained at around 650 kg per acre, the yield for small farmers under rainfed conditions in 2005 from Bt is just about 535 kg. The same farmers got 150 kg more yield from growing non-Bt hybrids under the same conditions as the Bt cotton. Therefore non-Bt has surpassed Bt in terms of yield by nearly 30% with 10% less expense. Therefore Bt has failed the farmers twice over in terms of yield. * Bollgard cotton did not reduce pesticide use Actually the volume of pesticide use by Bt farmers and Non Bt farmers was so thin that it was untraceable. Bt farmers on an average bought and used Rs. 2571 worth of pesticide while the non Bt farmers bought and used Rs.2766 worth of pesticides over three years. The difference is barely around 7% of the pest management costs and an invisible 2% of their total cultivation costs. * Bollgard did not bring profit to farmers The three year average revealed that the non-Bt farmers earned 60% more than Bt farmers. In actual fact, in place of profit, Bt cotton, especially the Mahyco Monsanto varieties, brought untold miseries to farmers culminating in violent street protests and the burning of seed outlets in the city of Warangal. * Bollgard did not reduce the cost of cultivation Farmers had to spend not only 3-4 times more for the Mahyco-Monsanto's proprietary Bollgard seeds but had to take extra care to manure, irrigate and look after their precious Bt crop. Many farmers, especially in the rainfed areas, spent at least a couple of thousand rupees more per acre in comparison to their non Bt hybrids. On an average, the Bt farmers had incurred 12% more costs in cultivating their Bt crops in comparison with their non Bt fraternity. * Bollgard did not generate healthier environment The researchers felt that a special kind of root rot was being spread by Bollgard cotton. Farmers came out with complaints that they were not able to grow other crops after Bt because it had infected their soil very badly. As against this, the soil in which the farmers grew non-Bt hybrids was extremely friendly to other crops. This is an early warning and needs active research by soil scientists immediately. Attached below is the Executive Summary of the report. If you wish to receive a soft copy of the study, please let us know and we'll send you a copy. Details can also be obtained from the website of the Deccan Development Society http://www.ddsindia.com/ With best wishes, REF: Doc.TWN/Biosafety/2005/H Executive Summary Cotton crop occupies about 10% of the total area in Andhra Pradesh. Warangal has a prominent place in the cotton cultivation in Andhra Pradesh covering 18% of the total state's cotton acreage. It has acquired a very bad name with more than 200 farmers committing suicides due to heavy pest infestations leading to irrevocable losses. Responding to the crisis in cotton cultivation, some NGOs in Warangal district have initiated alternative pest management approaches (Non Pesticidal methods popularly known as NPM) using cost effective, locally available resources, which proved to be successful on community basis. Under these circumstances, Monsanto Inc through its joint venture Mahyco-Monsanto Biotech Ltd has introduced three Bt cotton hybrids viz., MECH-12, MECH-162 and MECH 184 for commercial cultivation with the approval from Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) of Ministry of Environments and Forests of Government of India in March 2002 despite lot of resistance from different corners such as Environmentalists, NGOs to these Genetically Modified Crops as it is not a sustainable technology and will only increase the costs of cultivation. Bt cotton was given a wide publicity both on visual and print media as great a saviour of cotton farmers from the bollworms. Bollworms are major devastating pests on cotton causing lot of damage to the crops. Advertisements and press releases like "Bollworm resistant Bt varieties could increase the yields by 30 to 40 per cent and require 70 per cent less pesticide" (statement given by Raju Barwale, Managing Director of the company which released the Bt cotton seeds in India -The Biotech Advantage June 12, 2002) naturally attract farmers and tend them to grow Bt cotton. AP Coalition in Defence of Diversity in association with Deccan Development Society constituted a scientific team in August 2002 to look in to the performance of the Bt crop and also to verify the truthfulness of the claims made by Monsanto about the Bt cotton. The study team in collaboration with the NGOs identified two villages and tracked its performance vis-à-vis Non-Bt hybrids till end of the crop season. A mid season study was also conducted in the November 2002 covering 11 villages. Later at the end of the cotton season, a large scale survey had been conducted covering 225 farmers who had grown both Bt and Non-Bt hybrids. The results of the survey revealed that Monsanto hybrids were utter failure compared to the Non-Bt hybrids. Despite that fact that, the season 2002-03 was a drought year, farmers could harvest reasonable harvests from Non-Bt hybrids, while loosing heavily from Monsanto Hybrids. In spite of the catastrophic failure, industry continued the false propaganda, through advertisements in the media. During the second year i.e., kharif 2003-04, in order to cover wider area, two more districts were roped in order to have a wider representation from different agro climatic areas of the state. The study was conducted by taking a sample of 164 farmers from three cotton-growing districts viz., Warangal, Adilabad and Kurnool. The crop economics data was sourced from all these 164 farmers at fortnightly intervals, so as to capture even the minutest details of the crop economics without any memory bias. The season long study revealed that, * Farmers had to incur an expenditure
that was 230% more for Bt seeds than Non Bt hybrids. * Total investments
for Bt ware 8% higher than for the cultivation of non-Bt cotton. In fact, 2003-04 was a year of timely & good rains, least pest infestations and unusually with good market price for cotton throughout the season, making the cotton farmers a happy lot with bountiful returns. Even under these conditions, the Monsanto Bt hybrids failed miserably in delivering its promises of reduced pesticide usage, and increase in yields. Despite the fact that yield is not an attribute of the Bt gene inserted in to the cotton hybrid, the continued ad propaganda both in the print and visual media about the bumper yields from Bt cotton, backed by the AC Neilson's study caught a wide spread attraction among the farming community especially who are literate and can influence the decisions of the fellow farmers in their vicinity. As these Monsanto hybrids were given permission for a period of three years for commercial sales, we also thought of continuing he study for one more year and to track the performance of the Monsato hybrids in the third year also, and continued study in three cotton growing areas. The earlier studies revealed that these Monsanto hybrids proved to be fatal for the small and medium farming categories; this year study (2004-05) was mainly focused on the small and medium farmers growing Monsanto hybrids. As more than 60% of the cotton is grown under rainfed conditions, Nalgonda district has been selected for the study by dropping Kurnool district from the study areas. Data collection was done as was done in 2003-04, at fortnightly intervals. The results of the study are as follows: * The Monsanto Bt seed was
3 times costlier than Non-Bt hybrids The main reason for the lowest net benefit was market glut with cotton crop due to 36% more area brought under cotton cultivation in the year 2004-05 compared to the last year. The season long studies in 2002, 2003 and 2004 proved beyond doubt dismal performance of the Monsanto Bt hybrids. The three hybrids released by Monsanto were accorded permission in 2002 for commercial cultivation for a period of three years, till March 2005. These hybrids proved to be a failure in not just Warangal but across India. Many independent studies done in different states revealed the same.
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