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| Bt crops Madhya Pradesh says no, favours organic farming |
| Press Trust Of India / Indore Feb 08, 2010, 00:58 IST |
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Three days before the Centre’s possible announcement of its decision on Bt Brinjal, Madhya Pradesh’s Agriculture Minister Ramkrishna Kusumaria today reiterated that Genetically Modified (GM) crops had no place in the state.
“I have already written a letter to the Centre against the commercialisation of Bt Brinjal in country, as it wasn’t good for human health and environment,” the minister said.
“We want to make Madhya Pradesh, the country’s first model organic farming state,” Kusmaria added.
He said the state government had prepared a detailed organic farming policy and it would be announced in a week or two.
Organic farming was being carried out in 425,000 hectares, he said adding that there was a need to increase this area.
Kusumaria said the chemical fertilisers and pesticides had affected the agriculture land in the last 30-40 years.
Meanwhile, Bhartendu Prakash, Northern India unit director, Organic Farming Association of India (OFAI), has claimed the productivity of the fertile land in Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh has dipped following the unchecked use of chemical fertiliser.
“A wrong impression was being created that the country could not strengthen its food security without the help of GM crops and chemical fertilisers,” Prakash said.
Meanwhile, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) today joined the chorus, strongly opposing any move to commercialise Bt brinjal. It likened the genetically-modified crops to infiltration of terrorists.
“Bt brinjal has to be clearly rejected,” RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat told ‘Seva Sangama’ programme of the Rashtriya Seva Bharathi here.
“People are being consulted only now,” he said, and alleged brinjal had been taken out of the bio-diversity list to facilitate the introduction of its genetically-modified variety.
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