Amidst destruction of cotton crops by whitefly in Punjab leading to reported suicides by farmers, a green body today blamed industrial agriculture and GM seeds for the "reign of death" and debt of farmers and said that the state is headed for an agrarian crisis.
Green NGO Navdanya, led by environment activist Vandana Shiva, accused the genetically modified (GM) seed companies of "luring" the farmers with "false" promises and demanded fair compensation and promotion of local varieties of seeds to prevent another "catastrophe".
"Navdanya stands against the victimisation of Punjab farmers, who were lured by GM seed companies' false promises of 800 Kg yield per acre.
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"We demand that fair compensation be given to these farmers and local varieties of seeds should be promoted by the agricultural departments to prevent another catastrophe in the future," Navdanya said in a statement.
It said two-third of cotton crop has been destroyed by whitefly. Punjab has over 12 lakh acres under cotton cultivation, most of which is of Bt cotton variety.
Farmers are now worried that the pests may attack other crops such as chilli, vegetables leading to further losses.
"With 15 cotton farmers committing suicides, the estimated losses are pegged at Rs 4,200 crore. Punjab is headed for another agrarian crisis," the statement said.
"Ecological erosion and destruction of livelihood are directly linked to one another. Each time we act against the nature, our farmers pay a heavy price for it.
"It is evident that industrial agriculture and GM seeds instead of ameliorating rural conditions have once again brought a reign of death and debt to the farmers of Punjab," said Vandana Shiva, Director, Navdanya.
She said Bt Cotton was directly responsible for farmer's suicides all over the world and the current situation in Punjab proves that the chemical pesticides, genetically modified organism were not an efficient solution to control pests.
She said, in fact they (chemical pesticides) have made the problem worse by have giving rise to new pesticide resistant super pests.
"The government should learn from this disaster and actively promote ecological methods of farming which make the crops and soil more resilient to climate and pests," she said.
Whiteflies are small hemipterans (true bugs) that typically feed on the undersides of plant leaves. In the tropics and subtropics, whiteflies have become one of the most serious crop protection problems.
