With Bangladesh prone to approve business cultivation of genetically modified (GM) Bt cotton varieties sourced from an Indian firm quickly, seed producers within the nation have urged for regulatory approval of the brand new era of herbicide-tolerant Bt (HTBt) cotton varieties whose utility is pending with Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC).
According to Ram Kaundinya, director basic, Federation of Seed Industry for India, the federal government has to go forward with deployment of contemporary GM know-how urgently to chop down on rising price of pesticides and labour in cotton cultivation.
Commercial cultivation of two GM meals crops – brinjal and mustard – accepted by GEAC are but to begin in India even a decade after the approvals as a result of the federal government hasn’t but determined in favour of GM meals.
“In case of oilseed crops like mustard, vegetable crops with huge pesticide consumption like Brinjal, which were already cleared by GEAC, must be given approval so that Indian farmers can benefit,”Kaundinya instructed FE.
Since the introduction of Bollgard-I, which was the nation’s first GM crop accepted for commercialisation in 2002, adopted by Bollgard-II,a pest-resistant cotton selection, which protects the crop from bollworm, in 2006, the GEAC has not accepted any new varieties.
The approval for HTBt cotton was first sought by Bayer (then Monsanto) in 2016, but it surely withdrew the applying within the subsequent 12 months, citing delays within the course of. Though the applying was re-submitted by Bayer-Mahyco in December final 12 months, the regulator is but to take a name.
As just lately reported by FE, due to GEAC’s non-approval of recent era Bt cotton seeds equivalent to HTBt cotton, a flourishing unlawful commerce in a brand new unapproved herbicide-tolerant selection has come to occupy practically a fifth of the GM cotton seeds market in India.
Over three dozen seed corporations, that are authorised to promote the transgenic Bt cotton by licence-holder Bayer Crop Science-Mahyco,warn that the unlawful seeds, first seen available in the market in 2019, might contaminate the common Bt seed and result in “heavy losses” for cotton growers.
“Bangladesh’s preference of Indian Bt technology in the past should be a wake up call for the environment ministry to seriously evaluate pending biotechnological applications and facilitate the process of approval of next generation Bt technologies,” Bhagirath Choudhary, founder director, South Asia Biotechnology Centre, mentioned.
Since its introduction twenty years in the past, Bt cotton has led to a dramatic rise in India’s cotton yield and thereby, manufacturing, however during the last two-three years, the yield has come down marginally. The cotton manufacturing rose from 8.62 million bales (of 170 kg every) in 2002-03 to 34.04 MB in 2021-22.
In a report in Dhaka Tribune final week, the Bangladesh National Technical Committee on Crop Biotechnology has given a nod for 2 Bt cotton varieties, sourced from the Hyderabad-based JK Agri Genetics.
Once launched for business cultivation, Bt cotton shall be Bangladesh’s second GM crop after Bt brinjal which was accepted in 2013.
The report said that by introducing high-yielding and pest-resistant Bt cotton in 2002, India made a whole turnaround from a cotton importing nation to an exporting nation. “Over the past two decades, India has emerged as the world’s number one exporter of cotton and also commands nearly a third of Bangladesh’s total import volume of the natural fibre,”it said.
Source: www.financialexpress.com”