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Failed Promises

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Failed Promises Failed promises the rise and fall of GM cotton in India October 2017 1 Executive Summary GM cotton fails and farmers die The beginning of the end for • In 2014, 80% of the cotton crop failed in the GM cotton? 150,000 acres of the Raichur district. Farmers • By 2012 non-GM and organic farmers faced GM cotton and dancing girls The pink bollworm strikes back incurred massive losses of over $4 million. huge problems as supplies of non-GM, and • This report explores the astronomical rise and • GM (Bt) cotton was claimed to be resistant to particularly organic seed became scarcer. GM catastrophic fall of GM cotton in India - the the most common pest of cotton in India, the • The Cotton Advisory Board of India has found was then considered one of the biggest threats world’s largest producer and second biggest pink bollworm. Nature abhors a vacuum, and a threefold increase in the cost of growing to the future of sustainable organic cotton in exporter of cotton. Supporters of Genetically when one pest is eradicated another is likely to cotton, due to the high price of Bt seeds, and the country and elsewhere. All that has now Modified (GM) crops claim they will solve take its place. While the GM technology was other input costs such as fertilisers and the changed – the 2016-17 cotton season saw a a range of problems – feeding the world, successfully keeping pink bollworm numbers pesticides needed to deal with the serious pest drop in Indian Bt cotton sales of about 15%. eradicating poverty in developing countries, at bay, other insects stepped into the gap, and problems. and increasing crop yields. In reality, the the crops were attacked by pests like whitefly, • In Andhra Pradesh, the government planned technology has consistently failed to deliver jassid and thrips, requiring additional pesticide • Pro-GM advocates claim Bt cotton has to reduce Bt cotton cultivation in 2016-17 from on these promises, and instead some of the applications. In Punjab in 2015, whitefly increased yields, but most of the recent 670,000 hectares to 450,000 hectares following poorest people in the world have paid a heavy destroyed two-thirds of the cotton crop, yield increases in India happened between the 2016 devastation by pink bollworm, in price for the industry’s hype. causing an estimated loss of $629 million and 2002-5 when Bt comprised only 0.4-5.6% of addition to suggesting alternative crops for leading to the suicide of 15 farmers. India’s cotton. From 2008 to 2012 as Bt cotton farmers to cultivate such as millet and pulses. • GM cotton was first introduced to India in production rose from 67% to 92%, yields In Punjab and Haryana, the cotton growing 2002 by Mahyco Monsanto Biotech (India) Ltd, • In 2006, just four years after Monsanto steadily dropped. area has declined by 27% as farmers move away backed by an aggressive advertising campaign released its first-generation GM cotton, the from cotton following last season’s whitefly involving everything from dancing girls to pink bollworm had become resistant to it in • A 2015 study led by a scientist from the devastation. In Uttar Pradesh it has dropped by celebrity endorsement. The technology soon Western India. Monsanto then released a more University of California - Berkeley, found that 19% for the same reasons. became the dominant force in Indian cotton expensive, second generation Bt cotton, but annual suicide rates in rain-fed areas of India production, and today, about 90% of India’s within a few years, the pink bollworm had are directly related to increases in Bt cotton • Overall, the area planted with Monsanto’s cotton area of 11.8 million hectares is GM. developed resistance to it too. adoption. The study found that four of the seeds has declined by roughly 10 percent seven factors that influence suicides are driven either because farmers have switched to desi • Rapid development of resistance occurs by the GM industry. (local strains of) cotton or have moved away because Bt cotton plants are engineered to from growing cotton altogether. As the Times continuously release toxins, and this constant, • In the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra of India reports, ‘At one time Bt seeds were long term exposure encourages the survival of province, factors linked to the cultivation of Bt available at a premium… Now traders are any pests that are genetically resistant to the cotton are reported to have led to 7,992 farmer offering them at a discount’. toxin. As a result, insecticide use has increased suicides between 2006 and 2011. in recent years, from a reported 0.5 kg per • Farmers report comparable yields of desi hectare in 2006 up to 1.20 kg per hectare • The chairman of a mission working to stop cotton, at nearly half the input costs compared in 2015. farmer suicides said: ‘The downtrend started to Bt cotton. in 2006 when Bt cotton was introduced.… It led to massive economic losses, from which they [farmers] never came up. Subsequently, mounting debts and distress took their toll… Multinational companies showed them big dreams about crops like Bt cotton and ruined their lives completely’. • One of the ministers responsible for the introduction of Bt cotton into India, former cabinet secretary TSR Subramanian, recently expressed his regret for the decision: ‘In the 1990s, I introduced GM cotton in India. Twenty years later, I regret...I am responsible for suicide of thousands of cotton farmers’. 1 2 Executive Summary Continued GM cotton – in a mess worldwide A non-GM and organic future • GM cotton has caused problems world-wide. • In India, organic cotton production is in a Between 2011 and 2016 Burkina Faso lost good position - before GM ran into difficulties $82.4 million, and as a result, implemented organic cotton yields were just 14% lower a complete phase out of GM cotton for the than GM cotton, and the associated costs of 2017/18 season. Early indications suggest organic were 38% lower, which puts organic the phase out has been a success, with at least on a par with conventional cotton in cotton output predicted to rise by 20% in the terms of profitability. India is the world’s largest 2017/18 season. The introduction of GM into producer of organic cotton – responsible for Nigeria was rejected by more than a hundred around 70% of organic cotton worldwide. groups representing over 5 million Nigerians, on environmental and health grounds, • The organic market has been growing for and heeding the experiences of their near several years and reached $15.7 billion in 2015. neighbour Burkina Faso. India’s neighbour Brands across the world are adding organic Pakistan, where 86% of the cotton crop is GM, cotton to their portfolio, and top companies has also been badly hit by the cotton crisis, already using organic cotton are expanding its with a 27.8% decline in cotton production share within their overall fibre purchasing. during 2015. • To allow farmers to continue to switch from the • In the USA – Monsanto’s home territory – the failing GM technology, consumers need to buy cotton bollworm is leading an assault on Bt organic cotton products and ask their favourite cotton across the cotton growing belt from the brands and retailers to stock them, and brands Carolinas to Texas. Due to increasing problems need to include or increase organic cotton in with pest resistance, Southern states are facing their sourcing portfolio. another year of large pest populations. In Texas, some bollworm populations are resistant to both the original Bt cotton and its replacement. Introduction Genetically Modified (GM) crops have long been claimed by supporters of the biotechnology industry as the answer to a range of issues – feeding the world, eradicating poverty in developing countries, and increasing crop yields. Yet, in reality, the technology has consistently failed to deliver on these promises, and instead some of the poorest people in the world have paid the price for the industry’s hype. This report explores the astronomical rise and catastrophic fall of GM cotton in India which is the world’s largest producer and second biggest exporter of cotton1. 3 4 Backed by an aggressive advertising campaign GM in India GM cotton was first introduced to India in 2002 involving everything from by Mahyco Monsanto Biotech (India) Ltd which is a joint venture between Mahyco Seeds and dancing girls to celebrity Monsanto India. The company sub-licences the GM technology to 49 Indian seed firms2. Backed endorsement, Bt cotton by an aggressive advertising campaign involving became the dominant force everything from dancing girls to celebrity endorsement, Bt cotton became the dominant in Indian cotton production. force in Indian cotton production3. About 90% of the India’s cotton area of 11.8 million hectares is GM4. Today about 90% of India’s Such market domination became a big threat to the cotton area of 11.8 million non-GM and organic cotton seed market, making it harder and harder for farmers to source local hectares is GM varieties of non-GM seed, thus cutting their choices and threatening seed sovereignty in the country. In 2012, Textile Exchange – a global non-profit organization that works to make the textile industry more sustainable - put out a call to action and established a multi-stakeholder roundtable to try to address the problems faced by farmers as supply of non-GM, and particularly organic seed became scarcer. At that time GM was considered one of the biggest threats to the future of sustainable organic cotton in the country and elsewhere. However, just five years later, the story is very different.
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