Islamabad, Pakistan
May 3, 2008
Source:
Daily Times via
Pakistan Biotechnology
Information Center (PABIC)
By Ijaz Kakakhel
The
Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal) is
preparing a summary to the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC)
of the Cabinet for approval to sign a memorandum of
understanding (MoU) with Monsanto for provision of Bt
cottonseed.
After approval from the ECC, the MINFAL would sign a MoU with
Monsanto for increasing the cotton production across the
country. Monsanto is a leading provider of agricultural
solutions to farmers worldwide to help secure future of
agriculture. The country witnessed a declined cotton production
of 11.6 million bales against the target of 14.11 million bales
last year due to multiple factors. One of the main reasons of
low cotton production was contributed to the use of fake Bt
cottonseed besides attack of mealy bug, CLCV and others.
Bt (Bacillus Thuringiensis) cotton is an economic incentive for
the poor farmers due to lower usage of pesticide and lesser
damage to the crop. Bt cotton is developed by Genetic
Engineering techniques (Biotechnology) and world eight countries
commercially grew Bt cotton including USA, Australia, China,
India and other countries.
Some Bt cotton varieties may have lower expression of Bt toxin
proteins and can lead to the development of resistance in
chewing pest. In Pakistan, experts said most of the Bt cotton
varieties were marketed with wrong notation of resistance to all
pests. In some instances Bt cottonseed was mixed with non-Bt
cottonseed and affect the yield.
According to a survey by National Agricultural Research Center
(NARC) in Sindh and Punjab, it was observed almost 80 percent of
cotton growing area in Sindh has become under unapproved Bt
cotton (Ausralian Bt) with high incidence (60-100 percent) of
Cotton Leaf Curl Virus (CLCV) infection.
In Punjab, unapproved varieties of Bt cotton was grown with
different names, however, Bt-121 has occupied major area with a
range of segregation (10-20 percent) in the fields of Bt cotton,
not Bt. As in other parts of the world, environmentalists and
consumer rights groups in Pakistan have mounted protests against
the introduction of transgenic crop varieties into farmland,
fearing such crops will have severe impact on the environment
and human health.
Monsanto claims that Bt cotton is genetically enhanced to resist
major caterpillar pests, including tobacco bollworm, bollworm
and pink bollworm, among the most damaging insect pests
worldwide. Food rights activists claim multinational companies
are in Pakistan to capture lucrative seed markets, upsetting
traditional farming systems in the process. They say the
country’s food security lies in empowering farmers and giving
them more control over natural resources rather than
facilitating foreign companies to market products that have
unknown impact. |
|