Latha Jishnu: Playing with fire in Orissa's farmland

The unchecked spread of illegal Bt cotton cultivation is a serious threat to the state’s agriculture, warns Latha Jishnu

Orissa’s farmlands have become the battleground for several conflicting interests. There is the familiar battle over what should be grown — traditional food grains versus the more rewarding cash crops — but the more insidious battle is being waged over how the crops should be grown and what technology should be used. Cotton is the focus of this largely covert operation to wean farmers on a genetically modified (GM) regimen in a state which maintains that it intends to remain GM-free.

Over the past five years there have been significant shifts in the agricultural landscape of Orissa which has taken rather enthusiastically to cotton cultivation. From less than 30,000 hectares in 2002-03, the area under cotton has expanded to over 63,000 hectares in 2007-2008. By the end of the 11th Plan, the state intends to double this figure, according to a paper prepared by the department of agriculture. But the extraordinary aspect of Orissa’s growing appetite for cotton is that almost the entire crop is being grown under contract, either for mills, traders or in small measure for research institutes. Farm experts say this is an unusual phenomenon.

The figures revealed by the department are eye-popping. In response to a right to information (RTI) petition filed by a voluntary organisation, it disclosed that 58,255 farmers were contracted by 15 companies to grow cotton on 60,371 hectares during 2007-08. That’s a cool 95 per cent of the total area under cotton but a chunk of this is devoted to growing organic cotton which is turning into a money-spinner. The concern, and a serious worry, is that a substantial number of the farmers are using illegal GM seeds to cultivate cotton. The seeds, according to sources in Orissa, are supplied either by the contracting company or bought by the farmers themselves. Officials have turned a blind eye to this by claiming they are helpless in the matter although there have been reports of several seizures of GM seeds by the police. Little is being done to check this proliferation or to warn farmers about the hazards of Bt cotton. Field visits by agriculture experts have shown that farmers have not been instructed in biosafety protocols and have completely ignored the mandatory regulations.

The irony is that Orissa has been proclaiming rather loudly that it is against GM crops. Not only has the agriculture minister stated on the floor of the assembly that he would not allow GM crops into the state but the chief minister himself has issued a memo that GM crops should be discouraged in the state. To make its stand very clear, the directorate of agriculture and food production issued a notice in August this year declaring that the cultivation of Bt cotton was illegal. All of this begs the question why no punitive action is being taken against the companies and farmers who are contravening the law. In parts of Bolangir district, a major hotspot for cultivation of GM cotton, the authorities say they have conducted raids but were unsuccessful in unearthing illegal seeds.

Talking to this newspaper, U P Singh, agriculture commissioner and secretary to the Orissa government, sidestepped the issue by saying it was “mostly under contract farming”. Orissa’s policy, he insists, is to disallow GM crops because of the environmental and health hazards they pose. There was no case for adopting Bt cotton since the state was keen on pushing organic cotton to tap into a growing market. His contention: why go for expensive Bt cotton when you can exploit a profitable niche market (organic cotton)?

But whatever officials may say, Orissa is known to have been a hotbed of GM testing for companies producing Bt cotton since 2002 — and that, too, without clearance from the Genetic Engineering Approvals Committee (GEAC), the regulator. Activist Debjeet Sarangi, founder of Living Farms which campaigns for organic farming, says almost all the brands of Bt cotton seeds are available in Rayagada and Bolangir. He believes it is part of a tested strategy — Gujarat was the testing ground in the early 2000s — by companies to capture the market. The ploy is simple: Release GM seeds clandestinely and then seek to make it legal by saying it is already widespread and farmers are demanding it.

But the lax regulation and enforcement underline a deeper worry for Orissa which has become the third largest grower of organic cotton in the country. The lack of a specific liability regime for GM organisms means that the state, like the rest of the country, can make no claims on companies supplying GM seeds in the case of environmental damage. Experts say the potential extent of the harm and its timeline are a matter of uncertainty at this point although evidence is coming in of the ill-effects of GM crops on the human system. For this backward state, there is the potential impact of contamination of other crops. There have been several instances where countries have barred imports of agricultural products contaminated with GMOs.

Sarangi says RTI petitions have revealed that extensive field testing of Bt cotton varieties has been underway in Orissa since 2004 are not being discontinued despite the state’s declared intention of barring GMOs. A proposal for the field trial of Bt Cotton in Bhawanipatna for the current year has been accepted and the Orissa University for Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) is set to start testing of a GM food crop, the controversial Bt eggplant or brinjal.

This has provoked widespread protests across Orissa because the state’s rich biodiversity boasts close to 200 varieties of eggplants. There is no way that it can prevent contamination from GM varieties through gene flow when over 80 per cent of its farmers are marginal cultivators with holdings that are less than two hectares. Surely, Orissa understands that it cannot resolve the paradox of promoting organic cultivation while playing footsie with genetically engineered crops?