Tamil Nadu - Cuddalore   

Shun GM seeds, experts urge farmers

CUDDALORE: Agriculture scientist and president of Indian Organic Farmers’ Association, G. Nammalwar, has called upon the farmers to shun genetically modified (GM) seeds being marketed by multinational companies, and continue to raise traditional crops.

Mr. Nammalwar was addressing a seminar on ‘Save our rice campaign,’ and ‘Impact of GM technology,’ jointly organised here on Saturday by the Federation of Consumer Organisations — Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry (FEDCOT), the Consumer Research Education Action Training and Empowerment Trust (CREATE) and Thanal, Kerala.

Excessive use of fertilizers, chemicals and insecticides had poisoned the soil and made it barren. Dependence on GM seeds had destroyed traditional seed stocks and modified the gene structure of rice, resulting in low yield, lesser starch content and, above all, posing health hazards.

He further said these exotic seeds had an adverse impact on soil and environment, causing irreversible damage to agriculture.

He cited the instance of the farmers in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, who succumbed to aggressive marketing strategies of MNCs to take to Bt cotton cultivation, incurring heavy losses that led to suicides.

In Tamil Nadu, too, a section of farmers in Salem and Dharmapuri districts had sown GM seeds with high expectations of getting a bumper yield of 15 quintals of cotton an acre, but were gravely disappointed by getting less than a quintal of crop per acre.

Only on the intervention of the Agriculture Department did the companies concerned compensate the farmers. Farmers who were raising these crops might be in for disappointment, besides exposing their fortunes and the health of the consumers to risks. No laboratories were equipped to test GM products. The Indian Medical Association had also joined in the campaign against the GM technology, Mr. Nammalwar added.

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