Bt cotton responsible for suicides in India's rain-fed areas

GMWatch previously reported on the study showing farmer suicides in rainfed areas of India increase with Bt cotton adoption.

1. Maharashtra records most farmer suicides
2. Bt cotton responsible for suicides in rain-fed areas, says study
—

1. Maharashtra records most farmer suicides

The Hindu, 19 July 2015
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/maharashtra-records-most-farmer-suicides-ncrb/article7438954.ece

* Chhattisgarh records the fourth highest in the country

With 2,568 farmers’ suicides during 2014, Maharashtra recorded the highest number in the country, though activists pointed out that the number was far higher.

The data released on Friday by the National Crime Records Bureau also show that Chhattisgarh is among the top four States in farmers’ suicides.

According to the NCRB, Maharashtra recorded 578 fewer suicides than 2013, when 3,146 farmers ended their lives.

Activists, however, criticised the NCRB for “manipulating” the data to paint a “rosy picture”.

“They [the NCRB] have deliberately divided the suicides under different heads. The report says 4,004 agriculture-related suicides were recorded in Maharashtra during 2014 and then subtracts agricultural workers from the number and gives 2,568 as the total figure. But even with 2,568, Maharashtra tops the country, and for the first time, the government has admitted that the landless farmers are also dying,” said Kishor Tiwari, who runs Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, a farmers’ advocacy group.

“The total number of farmers’ suicides in Maharashtra should be 4,004, which is almost 1,000 more than the 2013 figure. It’s shameful if the government takes credit for 500-odd fewer suicides. The issue is getting complicated everyday in Maharashtra. Farmers are not getting proper prices for their produce, but input costs are rising. Maharashtra has recorded over 2,000 farmers’ suicide until June this year. Over 800 farmers have killed themselves in Vidarbha and over 600 farmers committed suicide in Marathwada,” Mr. Tiwari said.

Chattisgarh’s entry

According to the data, 443 farmers committed suicide in Chhattisgarh during 2014, making it the State with the fourth highest number after Maharashtra, Telangana and Madhya Pradesh. The State has rarely figured in the list of farm suicides earlier. State Agriculture Minister Brijmohan Agrwal, however, termed the NCRB data “misleading and based on a wrong analysis.”

“These numbers are wrong, and there are no such incidents in Chhattisgarh,” he told The Hindu.

He questioned the authenticity of the data and said: “I don’t know how they [the NCRB] issued it. As per our knowledge, there are no farmers’ suicides in the State.”
—

2. Bt cotton responsible for suicides in rain-fed areas, says study

Vidya Venkat
The Hindu, 24 June 2015
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/bt-cotton-responsible-for-suicides-in-rainfed-areas-says-study/article7337684.ece

* ‘Suicides decrease with increasing farm size and yield, but increase with the area under Bt Cotton’

The cultivation of Bt cotton, a genetically modified, insect-resistant cotton variety, is a risky affair for Indian farmers practising rain-fed agriculture, according to a latest study published by California-based agricultural scientists in the journal Environmental Sciences Europe.

Annual suicide rates of farmers in rain-fed areas are directly related to increase in Bt cotton adoption, say the study’s authors Andrew Paul Gutierrez, Luigi Ponti, Hans R. Herren, Johann Baumgärtner and Peter E. Kenmore, who are associated with the University of California, Berkeley, and the Centre for the Analysis of Sustainable Agricultural Systems, California.

Revisiting the raw annual suicide data for Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, and Maharashtra during the period 2001–2010, the authors found 86,607 of 549,414 suicides were by farmers, and 87% were males with the numbers peaking in the 30–44 age class. Total suicides per year per state were regressed singly on states averages of proportion of area seeded to rainfed cotton, average farm size, cotton growing area, area of Bt cotton, proportion of area with Bt cotton, and simulated average yield/ha that includes the effects of weather. Excluding the proportion of area seeded to rainfed cotton, linear multiple regression shows suicides decrease with increasing farm size and yield but increase with the area under Bt cotton, the authors note.

The study is significant for two reasons: first, most cotton cultivation in India is rain-fed. Second, between 2002 and 2010, the adoption of Bt cotton hybrid went up significantly to 86 per cent of the total cultivated area of cotton in India, according to International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications.

Though cultivating the Bt cotton variety may be economic in irrigated areas, the costs of Bt seed and insecticide increase the risk of farmer bankruptcy in low-yield rain-fed settings. Further the inability to “use saved seed and inadequate agronomic information trap cotton farmers on biotechnology and insecticide treadmills,” the authors note.

The study also challenges the common assumption in economic analyses that cotton pests must be controlled to prevent monetary losses, thus encouraging Bt cotton adoption. The annual emergence of the key cotton pest pink bollworm in spring is poorly timed to attack rain-fed cotton and large populations of the pest fail to develop in non-Bt rain-fed cotton, the authors note. This reduces and usually prevents the need for Bt cotton and disruptive insecticides. The authors recommend that high-density short-season cottons could increase yields and reduce input costs in irrigated and rain-fed cotton.

Bt cotton has been shown to improve cotton yields by past studies, such as the one conducted by the International Food Policy Research Institute in 2012. This study, examining the contribution of Bt cotton adoption to long-term average cotton yields in India in nine cotton-producing States from 1975 to 2009, showed that Bt cotton contributed 19 per cent of total yield growth over time, since its introduction in 2002.

However, experts have responded to the new Berkeley study with concern. Former Union Environment and Rural Development Minister and Rajya Sabha member Jairam Ramesh told The Hindu that India, now being the second largest country in the world cultivating Bt cotton, cannot afford to ignore the findings of this new study. “These findings call for serious discussion relating to the GM crop’s long-term sustainability in Indian agriculture,” he said.

Agricultural expert M.S. Swaminathan said the merits of Bt cotton adoption remain debatable as some have approved it for giving better yield, while some question the claim. “However, I support the adoption of higher yielding crop varieties as most of our cotton farmers are small farmers who need better yields to earn profits. Back in 2004, I had advised seed companies selling hybrid cotton to farmers to also sell insurance schemes alongside, so that if crops fail for reasons beyond the farmer’s control, they can recover losses. But these recommendations remain to be adopted widely.”