|
Official Reports on Bt Cotton performance from various state governments |
|
There is no state government or monitoring team constituted by the GEAC/DBT which scientifically monitored and reviewed the performance of Bt Cotton along a variety of parameters including economics, ecological changes, socio-cultural impacts, health impacts etc., right from the beginning. Any surveys, if at all, were taken up in response to farmers resorting to agitations in case of failures or if civil society groups pointed out to particular problems. However, there are reports that exist of each state's observations and feedback on the crop performance. These reports, though not scientific in terms of sample sizes or sampling or data collection/analysis, give an indication of the issues that arose from the ground, related to Bt Cotton cultivation. The following links lead the reader to reports from various state governments to the GEAC where references exist to some problems evolving out of Bt Cotton cultivation - wilting, failure of the crop, newer diseases, intolerance to heavy rains or heat etc. What is interesting to note is that GEAC, which has collected these reports from the state governments, fails to see a larger picture about Bt Cotton and its specific vulnerabilities emerging from these individual reports. State governments have also gone on record officially to say that productivity increases in cotton cannot be attributed to Bt Cotton cultivation. We have highlighted certain portions in these reports to draw the attention of the reader to specific issues which need to be investigated systematically for any early warnings and lessons. Bt Cotton failure admission and compensation orders (2004-05) Bt Cotton extent and performance report (2005-06) Bt cotton performance report 2006-07 Gujarat: Bt Cotton performance report indicating problems with wilt etc., and de-linking increases in productivity to Bt Cotton Official monitoring report for 2006-07 and 2007-08 Bt Cotton performance report and extent in 2005 Bt Cotton performance report recommending that Bt Cotton is suitable only under certain conditions Bt Cotton performance report admitting that farmers get higher yields with organic cotton
|