Cotton crop disaster: opportunity for global seed corporations

Posted on November 23, 2015 by Roots for Equity

AZRA TALAT SAYEED

NEWSPAPERS have been rife with reports about a pink bollworm attack on the cotton crop this year. The scenario is indeed disastrous on many accounts.

Of course, the very first thing to be destroyed is the livelihood of the country’s millions of small farmers.

With cotton being a major cash crop, millions rely on its harvest for a sizable portion of their income. In fact, they go heavily into debt to not only buy the cotton seed but also expensive inputs like fertilisers and multiple pesticides that are sprayed on cotton. Without these, the seed cannot yield a good harvest.

According to small farmers from Multan and Sahiwal, nearly 90pc of the cotton crop has been destroyed. For farmers in Multan who sowed on leased land, the per-acre loss is approximately Rs40,000. And the loss for those who have their own land runs to about Rs20,000.

Another critical point is the amount of pesticides that have been used on the cotton crop this year. A newspaper advisory from the government mentions the ‘correct’ use of pesticides that farmers should be applying on the beleaguered cotton crop. This is indeed ironic, as one major selling point of Bt cotton is its ability to ward off pest attacks. But the attack of pink bollworms this year has at least put this claim to rest.

There are farmers who also feel that the crop’s failure will be beneficial for the gigantic seed corporations that thrive on their expensive patented seeds.

According to a farmer from the Pakistan Kissan Mazdoor Tehreek, this could be a golden opportunity to push farmers to switch from cotton to corn. Corn is used for making ethanol. Pioneer, an American company, has also been promoting the use of certain branded corn varieties that are used for animal feed.

The animal dung from animals fed these corn varieties yield higher urea content and is considered a good source of biogas. But one has to yet see whether the patented hybrid corn seeds will turn out to be a boon or bane for Pakistan’s agriculture sector.

What is the cost of these branded seeds? Hybrid corn seeds of Pioneer, Syngenta and Monsanto are priced at Rs5,500-6,000 per 10kg; it takes about 10kg of seeds for per-acre sowing. The ‘beauty’ of these seeds is that none of them give seed for next year’s cultivation. Hence, the farmers have to buy new batches of seed every year.

That is the crux of the matter for the agro-chemical and biotechnology firms. No doubt, the ‘commodification’ of natural resources is a key strategy of market-driven forces.

At the moment, all cotton seeds in the market are being sold without trademarks. The price of 1kg of cotton can vary from Rs300 to Rs1,500. If women sow seed by hand, then at least 3kg is needed; if seed drills are used, then 5-8kg is required.

So if patented cotton seed, particularly the genetically modified Bt variety, is introduced next year (a major reason for the passing of the Amended Seed Act 2015), then there is no doubt that seed prices will jump.

The cotton crop’s failure this year can be exactly the kind of situation that benefits multinational corporations: it will now be argued that substandard seed is the cause of the current catastrophe.

However, it needs to be pointed out that Bt cotton has suffered a similar fate in India, where this seed is heavily protected under patents. The Nagpur-based Central Institute for Cotton Research has confirmed the pink bollworm’s resistance to Monsanto’s second generation biotechnology protection Bollgard-II in some parts of Indian Gujarat.

Meanwhile, our textile industry will face a further setback when it is unable to find cotton for local production. According to some newspapers, the All Pakistan Textile Manufacturers Association and the Pakistan Cotton Ginners’ Association are advocating for the import of Bt cotton seeds supported by Monsanto.

At the same time, Pakistan is increasing its sugarcane harvest to produce more ethanol. According to the OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook, Pakistan increased its ethanol production from 97.2m litres in 2004 to 321.8m litres in 2014.

Based on media reports, much of the ethanol in the country is being sent to Europe. Do our farmers want to be energy suppliers to the oil-guzzling vehicle industry in the northern hemisphere? What about food for our own people?

azra.sayeed@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, Business & Finance weekly, November 23rd, 2015

National food security policy on its way: Bosan

Posted on November 21, 2015 by Roots for Equity

ISLAMABAD: The national food security policy is being finalised and would be announced after complete consensus, said Minister for National Food Security and Research Sikandar Hayat Bosan.
“We have uploaded the draft on the official website of the ministry for comments and suggestions from the members of parliament and other stakeholders,” he said. The policy would be submitted to the federal cabinet for final approval before its announcement.
He said the National Food Security Council is also being set up, to be headed by the Prime Minister, to further boost the agriculture sector. The council would help resolve issues between the federal and provincial governments, pertaining to agriculture after the 18th Amendment.
“The ministry would also present the Plant Breeders Rights Bill during the upcoming session of the National Assembly, which would revolutionise the agriculture sector within three years,” said Bosan, adding the protection of breeders’ rights would build up confidence among local and foreign breeders and attract investment in the sector.
“Our government to give relief to farmers has announced a ‘Kissan Relief Package worth Rs341 billion, which is a short-term measure to prepare farmers to cultivate the next crop. Under the package, rice and cotton growers having 12.5 acres or less land would be provided Rs5,000 per acre support.”
“We have also tried to reduce the input cost by relieving duties on pesticides and fertilisers,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 21th, 2015.

http://tribune.com.pk/story/995603/agriculture-national-food-security-policy-on-its-way-bosan/

Punjab declares 10-year wheat seed replacement plan

Posted on November 18, 2015 by Roots for Equity

LAHORE: The Punjab on Thursday declared its massive wheat seed replacement plan, spanning a decade, to multiply it’s per acre yield by almost three times — from current just under 30 maunds up to 80 maunds.

According to departmental statistics, it has already transported over 70,000 bags and the rest 30,000 bags would be transported in next two to three days, covering all 23,800 villages in the province, and meeting the most propitious sowing deadline of Nov 30.

The seed replacement programme was necessitated as almost all seed varieties currently under usage, which cover 80 per cent of 17.20 million acres, have become susceptible to a variety of diseases, like rust.

According to Punjab Agriculture Minister Farrukh Javed, these 100,000 bags would be sufficient to produce five million bags of seed, which would replace the current seed.

The Punjab plans to take per acre yield to 100 maunds, and the programme is an effort in this regard, he said and added: “The Punjab has spared Rs300 million for the project this year, out of which Rs240 million have gone for seed procurement.”

Envisages three times rise in per acre yield
Under the programme, one progressive farmer in each village would get four bags of seed for free, and would sell multiplied seed in his village from next year.

The department has prepared a data base of around 200,000 progressive farmers for the purpose and 23,800 of them would get four bags each this year. Next year, these farmers would be replaced with another 23,800, and the department hopes to replace the entire seed in next 10 years.

The framers, while praising the move, suggest that instead of providing four bags in each village, the distribution should be linked to acreage in every village. “It would be much more efficient way of seed replacement,” says Muhammad Azam of Narowal district.

There are 811 villages in the Faisalabad district and more than 1,200 in Narowal, but the cropping area in the Faisalabad district is 755,000 acres, whereas it is 400,000 acres in Narowal. Thus the seed requirements of both differ widely, which should be factored in.

The current distribution plan averages out at 165 acres per bag. There are districts like Faisalabad where seed requirement is much more than other districts.

If the Punjab government adjusts its distribution plan according to the acreage, its replacement plan could be shortened to less than 10 years and it is better advised to reconsider the distribution pattern, he said.

“But apart from re-calculating the requirement, the seed replacement plan could, and should, only be welcomed, as it has been long overdue,” says Naeem Hotiana of Pakpattan.

Almost entire range of seeds have become susceptible to diseases and needed to be replaced in the last decade or so. “It is a case of proverbial better late than never.”

He said if the province can triple its yield, as being claimed by the minister, it could easily spare huge acreage for diversification for other crops like vegetable and pulses.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2015

http://www.dawn.com/news/1219571/punjab-declares-10-year-wheat-seed-replacement-plan

Destruction of the Cotton Harvest: A Golden Opportunity for Transnational Corporations?

Posted on November 14, 2015 by Roots for Equity

Dr. Azra Talat Sayeed

In Pakistan, newspapers have been rife with news on the pink bollworm attack on the cotton harvest this year. The scenario is indeed disastrous on many accounts. Of course, the very first in line to be caught in the destruction are Pakistan’s millions of small farmers. With cotton being a major cash crop, millions rely on the cotton harvest to provide them with a sizeable amount of their income. In fact, they go heavily into debt to not only buy the cottonseed but also very expensive fertilizers and the many types of pesticides that are sprayed on cotton, without which conventional or genetically modified seeds will not yield a harvest. According to small farmers from Multan and Sahiwal, nearly 90 percent of crop has been destroyed. For farmers who have leased land their loss per acre is approximately Rs 40,000 in Multan. For those, who have their own land loss is about Rs 20,000 per acre.

Another critical point is the amount of pesticides that have been used on the cotton crop this year. A newspaper advisory from the government mentions the ‘correct’ use of pesticides that farmer should be applying on cotton. That is indeed ironical: one of the hypes used for promotion of Bt cotton has been its ability to ward off pest attack. But this year the attack of pink bollworms has put to rest this myth, at least.

For those of us who have long critiqued the promotion of genetically modified seeds one does not know whether to rejoice the failure of the harvest or to mourn the loss of livelihood and further ecological harm that this crop has been able to havoc on the environment?

There are farmers who also feel that this failure can be beneficial to gigantic seed corporations who thrive on their patented very expensive seeds. Next year would be an ideal year for seed giants such as Monsanto to insist on selling very expensive branded Bt Cotton.

According to a farmer from a small farmers alliance namely Pakistan Kissan Mazdoor Tehreek (PKMT), this could be a golden opportunity for the push to change from cotton to corn sowing. As we all know, corn is being used for making ethanol. Pioneer, another American company has been promoting the use of certain branded corn varieties that are used for animal feed. The animal dung from these animals yield higher urea content and is considered to be a good source of biogas.

What is the cost of these branded seeds? An example is of hybrid corn seeds in the market. Seeds by Pioneer, Syngenta and Monsanto are priced at Rs 5,500 to Rs 6,000 per 10 kg which is what is needed per acre. The ‘beauty of these seeds is that none of them give seed for next year cultivation. Hence the farmer has to buy seeds every year. This was the main pivot for pushing for intellectual property rights on seeds under the TRIPs agreement in the WTO.

At the moment all cottonseed in the market is being sold with out trade marks. For one kilogram of cotton seed the price can vary from Rs 300 to Rs 1500/kg. If women sow seed by hand than at least 3 kg seed is needed; if seed drills are used than 5-8 kg is used. Of course if patented cotton seed is introduced next year, the reason for passing the Amended Seed Act 2015, then there is no doubt that cotton seed costs will jump sky high.

So indeed, the cotton crop failure this year could be exactly the kind of situation that the multinational corporations have been advocating: substandard seed is the cause of the current catostrope. However, it needs to be pointed out that Bt Cotton has suffered a similar fate in India where Bt Cotton seed is very much under patent protection. The Nagpur-based Central Institute for Cotton Research (CICR) has confirmed the pink bollworm resistance to Monsanto’s second-generation biotechnology protection Bollgard-II in some parts of Indian Gujarat

So on one hand Pakistan’s agriculture faces crop failure due to malfunctioning hybrid and GM seeds although the corporations continue the propaganda that patented seeds will not give very high yields. On the hand, crop pattern in itself is changing: there is increasing push to grow sugar cane ethanol. According to OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook, Pakistan has increased it ethanol production from 97.2 million litres in 2004 to 321.8 million litres in 2014. Based on newspaper reporting much of the ethanol in Pakistan is being sent to Europe.

There is every chance that corn will also gain ground for ethanol and/or as feed and urea production. If indeed, western countries in their ‘addiction’ to energy are looking for markets for not only their seeds but also land for growing ethanol, then Pakistan’s agricultural production is most probably fall back on colonial production and trade patterns. We will be once again a cash crop supplier to Europe and other rich nations, as in the days of colonization.

Do our farmers want to be energy suppliers to the oil-guzzling vehicle industry in the North? What about food for our people? What is the cost of producing clean energy for Northern ‘democracies’? What are the chances for equitable land distribution in this current scenario? Will the landlords not be even more strong now? And of course the onslaught of land grabbing will certainly gain momentum to gain maximum profits from oil producing crops not to mention other lucrative corporate agriculture ventures? In how many more ways are we going to suffer from the imperialist nations’ constant plundering from our soils?

‘Seedy’ Business

Posted on November 14, 2015 by Roots for Equity

ZUBEIDA MUSTAFA
www.zubeidamustafa.com

COTTON growers in southern Punjab are facing a serious crisis. Their crop production has shrunk drastically. The reasons stated, among others, are poor quality seeds and severe pest attack.

These factors can be addressed, provided the will exists. Poor seeds and pest attacks that are interconnected have a causal link with the rapid spread of genetically modified organisms (GMO) that have begun to shake public confidence the world over.

The tide is now turning as demonstrations have been held against GMOs, which shot to fame when they were promoted as the miracle seed to eliminate hunger. But the fact is that hybrid plants in which genomes from different species are mixed are too new and untested a technology to win universal acceptance.

Hybrid plants are too untested a technology to win universal acceptance.
Awareness is growing and people have begun to question the wisdom of genetic modification of seeds to increase agricultural production and pre-empt pest attacks. WHO has also cast doubts on health-related issues linked to GMOs. Many countries have banned their cultivation.

Pakistan has a different story. The GM seed producing biotech multinationals in the country appear to be doing well. Pakistan’s agriculture faces an existential threat as the GMO seeds being used widely in cotton plantation have not been tested rigorously in local conditions. Their impact is not fully understood.

This makes our economy very vulnerable as nearly 70pc of the population depends on agriculture for its livelihood with cotton occupying a pivotal place. It constitutes 10pc of the GDP, while cotton exports account for 55pc of the country’s foreign exchange earnings.

Pakistan’s GMO story is a relatively new one. Yet we failed to learn from the terrible experience of others who jumped onto the GMO bandwagon before us. Bt cotton seeds were smuggled into Pakistan in 2005. In the absence of a legal regulatory framework for the transfer and use of genetically modified seeds in the country, this was risky business especially in light of the earlier news of peasant suicides in India.

The authorities proceeded to approve Bt cotton for planting in Pakistan in 2010. By the government’s own admission — the illegality of the process notwithstanding — by then the GM brand of cotton was covering 60pc of Pakistan’s cotton acreage. Today, that figure is said to be 85 pc. Matters have now taken a serious turn. Ignoring the advice of experts for strong regulatory oversight, the government took up in 2014 24 pending applications for commercial licences for Bt cotton and genetically modified corn.

It appears to be going all out to accommodate the seed manufacturers that included biotech multinationals. A court battle has, meanwhile, ensued that has acted somewhat as a dampener, and no new licences have been issued recently. But Bt has penetrated the seed sector in a big way.

Ground-breaking research on GMOs by Tahir Hasnain, an agriculture expert, should explode many myths. He writes that cultivating Bt cotton is more expensive. The price of seeds is higher and the greater need for fertiliser, water and pesticides pushes up the costs. Ironically, new pests have emerged as the genetically modified varieties of cotton that have a low expression of the required toxins make the bugs resistant to them. GM was supposed to minimise pest attacks. Now the sale of pesticide manufactured by the same biotech companies has shot up.

A new phenomenon which could have grim repercussions is the shift to cash crops away from food that is beginning to take place on account of different harvesting seasons of GMOs leaving no time for wheat sowing. In 2014-15, wheat production declined in Pakistan. Meanwhile, cotton has failed to reach the production level it had achieved in 2004, before the advent of the age of Bt.

The government is protecting the interests of the biotech multinationals whose financially underpinned ‘lobbying’ powers match the capacity of our policymakers to accept ‘favours’. The parliamentarians have been no different and have adopted a bill amending the Seeds Act, 1976, to “improve the existing law so as to enable it to meet the requirements of the modern seed industry”.

Pressure for change comes from the US which wants Pakistan to meet its ‘obligations’ under WTO regulations and create a larger market for the private seed producers. Previously, seed manufacturing was primarily in the public sector, The amended law now opens the door to giant biotech companies to enter the Pakistan seed market.

Since much of the criticism focuses on the absence of research and tests on the Bt cotton seeds in local conditions, in 2011 the US paid $5.5 million to Pakistani agricultural institutes to do research on Bt cotton. Unsurprisingly, this has produced no results.

Bt cotton is a good example of how corporate domination is secured by circumventing weak regulatory mechanisms and manipulating the corrupt ruling classes who are co-opted as lobbyists to pave the way for corporate goals.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2015

http://www.dawn.com/news/1219280/seedy-business