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Journalism of Courage
The heated battle between Bt and organic cotton has just got a new twist in Punjab, with organic farmers claiming neighbouring fields growing Bt cotton were a threat to their certification8212;and, consequently, their prices and sales.
Though various certification agencies have their own criteria, the most common one requires farmers to grow their produce under controlled conditions for at least three years. With a section of cotton farmers of the state now reaching the crucial third year, widespread introduction of Bt cotton, they say, could endanger their status.
As evidence of the new fears of farming in a globalised world, the farmers hold up the example of a papaya farmer in Hawaii, whose clients refused to give him the price for organic produce since the fields around his were growing biotransgenic foods.
8216;8216;The state government has nothing by way of a safety net for us. In fact, it is pushing Bt cotton without regard for how it may impact us,8217;8217; Gupta said, adding that his group represents about 80 organic cotton farmers in the districts of Mansa, Faridkot, Muktsar, Moga and Bathinda.
Organic cotton fetches higher prices in the export market8212;upto 100 per cent more, depending on a variety of criteria8212;and also in the domestic arena.
B S Sidhu, director, Agriculture, agrees Bt could well be a threat to neighbouring organic farms. 8216;8216;At the moment, though, we have no system to tackle the issue. We advise Bt farmers to grow at least five rows of refuge a non-Bt strain of the same variety of the particular crop on all sides of their fields. Organic farmers, too, can fall back on some such method,8217;8217; he says, adding that the subject needed to be studied in detail.
BUILDING BARRIERS
Cotton farmers could take a leaf out of the book of Khanna-based organic wheat farmer Charan Gill. Perturbed by his neighbours8217; polluting practice of burning post-harvest crop stubbles8212;he himself reploughs the remnants8212;he announced through the Panchayat that if the fire spread in his fields, the farmer responsible would have to pay him compensation. 8216;8216;So far, no nearby farmer has set their crop-leftovers on fire,8217;8217; says the Lasera villager.
