A farmer couple from H.D. Kote in Mysuru district practising organic farming have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the dangers of Bt.Cotton and transgenic seeds, including manipulating seed supply, to generate artificial scarcity for a price rise.
Mr. Vivek Cariappa and Ms. Julie Cariappa, who cultivate organic cotton among other crops, said that past experience has shown how seed monopoly had lead to its scarcity and price rise. Despite that laws are being amended to promote seed monopoly leading to manipulated seed scarcity and sharp rise in prices. And, laws are being amended to protect seed companies against the interest of farming communities, and leading to loss of traditional bio-diversity in cotton, increased distress and risk in cotton farming, non-availability of non-GM cotton seed, corruption in the agri-scientific community and bio-piracy.
Mr. Cariappa said these negative experiences are being touted as success and alleged that people involved in scientific and bio-piracy frauds were being posted to powerful advisory and directional roles.
“As India’s sustainability and well-being is still dependent on agriculture, we fear to think what the effect would be if the same experiences are forced on the rest of our agriculture”, said the Cariappa couple. Sensing a dichotomy between urban and rural India leading to a perception of “domestic colonialism”, the farmers said they stand to lose sovereignty over the seeds which they have protected and developed for centuries. “By allowing field trials of genetically modified seeds in the final days of its tenure, the UPA government sounded the death knell for us farmers”, they added.
The letter questioned whether the government would promote a technology that was inherently weak and would claim profits for its patent owners and their shareholders by debilitating the farmers and their agriculture. Calling upon the PM to protect the interest of the farming communities, the letter said until genetic science was more proven, irrefutable and accepted knowledge and the nation had better regulatory mechanisms in place, the authorities should tread cautiously in the realm of genetically engineered food crops.
A couple from H.D. Kote writes to Modi urging him to protect the interests of farmers
