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BT cotton can be helpful in economic growth
Monitoring Report
COTTON cultivation plays a vital role in the economic growth of the
country and the management of this crop in Punjab is a crucial issue
as it is the major cotton-producing province. Cotton sowing starts
immediately after wheat harvesting. Punjab on an average cultivates
cotton on 5.5 to 5.7 million acres every year. Farmers in Punjab
face multiple problems in management of this crop. The provincial
government would have to keep its Agricultural Extension Department
alert right from the sowing until the harvesting of cotton. Pest
attacks would have to be controlled without waiting for the pest
population to reach injury level.
The main role of the Punjab government would be to promote modern
cotton cultivation technologies, in which Pakistan lags far behind
all other cotton producing countries of the world. The province
should be the driver of agriculture reforms and should press the
federal government to remove all hurdles that impede sowing of BT
cotton. Pakistan as fourth largest producer and third largest
consumer of cotton has not adopted BT cotton since its introduction
in 1996 emerged as one of the leading genetically engineered crop
technologies ever devised. There is no denying the fact that
insecticides are harmful to beneficial insects, pollute the
environment, create resistance and most of the time are so expensive
that poor farmers cannot afford them.
Farmers world over have reason to shift to this new technology as it
has saved them from a number of pests that often used to destroy
mature crop despite costly pesticide sprays. In India the GM cotton
production trounced conventional cotton, providing a 34 per cent
increase in yield and increased a farmer’s revenue by 69 per cent.
By using BT Cotton, farmer benefits accrue through reductions in
pesticide use, equal or higher yields, no impact on fibre quality
and increased income, while clear environmental benefits are
delivered through reduced pesticide input. Farmers in Punjab apply
minimum five pesticide sprays in rare seasons when there is no pest
attack. Normally, the number of pesticide spays on crop ranges from
15 to 17 during the cultivation cycle of cotton crop. One spray
costs on average Rs750 (using cheapest pesticides) per acre. The
total amount spent on pesticide spray on one acre amounts to
Rs11,250 to Rs12,500.
If BT cotton is introduced in the province, the frequency of spray
would drop to three to five and the cost of on one acre would come
down to Rs22,50 to Rs3,750 - saving Rs8,750 to Rs9,000 per acre.
This amounts to a saving of Rs49.87 billion-Rs51.3 billion on 5.7
million acres of land in Punjab on which cotton is sown. Besides
benefits in cost of production that would go in the pocket of
farmers, the lesser use of pesticide would be an
environment-friendly measure. The use of pesticides in Punjab has
increased from 11,800 tonnes in 1990 to over 42,000 tonnes in 2008.
It has decreased in all other cotton growing countries substantially
ever since they started sowing BT cotton. This higher use is
enriching pesticide companies but making the farmers poor. Biotech
cotton varieties should not be perceived as “magic bullets” for pest
control in cotton, but be recognised as a valuable component of
integrated pest management (IPM) systems which can reduce the impact
of key pests and address significant environmental concerns.
The agricultural planners in Punjab should realise insect resistance
and herbicide tolerance were not the only traits currently available
in biotech cottons, a broad range of other traits that have been
developed that have impacted agronomic performance, stress
tolerance, fibre quality and yield potential directly. Intellectual
property rights are essential for the protection of innovation in
biotechnology. The Pakistan government should ensure that
legislation is introduced to protect both the germ-plasm and the
technology. Pakistan is yet to provide comfort in this regard to the
global biotech concerns. The federal government should be requested
by the provincial government to resolve this issue urgently.
The well-established specificity of BT proteins is that these
greatly reduce risks of direct effects on non-target species.
Likewise there is no evidence for indirect effects on beneficial
species through consumption of BT intoxicated prey. More than 85 per
cent of the farmers using biotech crops last year were resource-poor
farmers planting BT cotton, mainly in China (Mainland), India and
the Makhathin flats region of South Africa. There is a need to
include Pakistani farmers in this process as well.
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