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Plant gene will strangle Indian agriculture, warn experts

Indian scientists believe they are facing the greatest threat ever to Indian farming and food security from a plant gene called Terminator.

''It is nothing short of biotechnological warfare,'' says food expert Devinder Sharma, referring to the plant gene that allows seeds to ''self-destruct'' after producing a single crop.

The Terminator was developed by the United States department of agriculture in collaboration with Delta and Pine Land, a seed company now acquired by biotechnology giant Monsanto, which already has extensive interests in India.

Union Minister of State for Agriculture Som Pal told Parliament last week that the Terminator's self-destructive traits could spread through cross-pollination and cause the gradual extinction of India's traditional crop varieties.

''It has been concluded by a number of crop geneticists that there is a likelihood of pollen carrying the Terminator gene to crops in adjoining farmer's fields,'' Som Pal said.

India, Som Pal said, has responded by banning the import of seed containing the Terminator gene and directed the Quarantine Office to ensure that no seed with ''transgenic material'' be released with the approval of the plant protection authority.

But Dr R S Paroda, director general of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, said there is no way to ensure that the Terminator does not cross Indian borders as this can happen by accident or by design. ''It is a customs problem,'' he said.

Sharma criticises the steps announced by Som Pal as ''cosmetic.'' It is always possible for someone to smuggle in seed samples for whatever reason, he said, adding that US seed companies have high stakes in replacing Indian seeds with their own. There were obvious security issues since the country's hard-earned self-sufficiency in food production could come under serious threat.

The independence of the Indian farmer, he said, is anathema to the United States, which has built up a huge biotechnology industry. The US, he said, wants to sell not only genetically engineered seeds but the tailor-made fertilisers and pesticides that go with it as cotton farmers in Andhra Pradesh discovered so painfully.

So far, Indian farmers got by very well, putting by a part of their crops for seed in the time-honoured way and in the process maintaining the rich crop-diversity of their famed varieties of wheat and rice perfected to suit Indian agro-climatic conditions and to local tastes.

The Indian government which has so far been wary of the interests of the United States food lobby has become lax and last year even allowed Monsanto to set up a $ 25 million research laboratory on the Indian Institute of Science campus at Bangalore.

If the Terminator gene does not help the United States destroy India's crop varieties through cross-pollination it can certainly do it by manipulating market forces, he alleged.

According to Sharma, once Indian farmers are hooked to genetically engineered seeds, multinational seed companies can programme such seeds to produce more or less crop, depending on how they want to play the global grain markets.

In any case, the multinationals can easily control the prices of their seeds and even deny them to Indian farmers -- completely undermining food security in this country.

Right now Terminator technology is used to protect other desirable characteristics that a patented seed may have such as better productivity, flavour, size, pest resistance and even shelf life.

But the USDA has already announced that its priorities lie in protecting its rapidly expanding biotechnology seed industry rather than protecting the interests of farmers in countries like India.

Accordingly, patents are being taken out for the Terminator gene in at least 70 countries and it has already been incorporated into non-cross-pollinated crops such as cotton and tobacco.

Introduction of Terminator technology to cross-pollinated crops has serious consequences for Indian consumers and farmers who produce 200 million tonnes of wheat, rice and sorghum annually.

The United States has consistently attacked farmers' rights at international fora, actively supports the interests of private biotechnology and food export lobbies.

''Farmer's rights are incompatible with the intellectual property rights regime which the United States wishes to foist on the world,'' says activist Dr Vandana Shiva.

According to Dr Shiva, agriculture based on globalisation, genetic engineering and corporate monopolies on seeds will eventually establish a food system in which multinationals will control everything grown and eaten.

Currently, Indian agriculture is characterised by diversity, decentralisation. It focuses on improving small farm productivity through ecologically sound methods that are nature-friendly and sustainable.

Small ecological farms are far more productive than the large industrial farms of the United States, although multinationals like Monsanto promote the idea that the world needs biotechnology to be fed, Dr Shiva said.

Private biotechnology firms from the US spells doom for India's estimated 400 million farmers unless the issue is taken to the World Trade Organisation and a moratorium obtained on the application of Terminator technology, she said.

UNI

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