Bt Brinjal and Alternatives 2.0

8/14/2019 Bt Brinjal and Alternatives 2.0

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Do we need Bt Brinjal ?

Dr. Ramanjaneyulu

Centre for SustainableAgriculture

09000699702

[email protected]


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Bt Brinjal


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Brinjal Fruit and shoot borer


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Mahycos Bt Brinjals-the realstory


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GM Crops: Dreams sold

Increased yields

Reduced chemical use

Food security Environmentally safe


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Genetically modifiedtrait

Area planted (m.ha) %

Herbicide tolerence 72.2 63

Insect tolerence (Bt crops)20.3 18

HT + Bt (stacked traits) 21.8 19

> 70 % still to

promote

chemicals


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GM crop Area planted(m.ha)

% of crop area % in GM crops

Soybean 65.8 70 52.85

Cotton 15.5 46 12.45

Maize 37.3 13 29.96

Canola 5.9 5 04.74Total 124.5 100 100

Only four

crops

mostly for

industrial

use. Where

is foodsecurity?


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Learning from Bt cotton inIndia

Officially introduced in 2003 7.6 mha, ranks second in the world in production

and first in area Monoculturing genes

Monopolising markets AP govt MRTP case to reduce seed royalty Cotton removed from Essential commodities act

nullifying Seed control order-industry pulled govts ofAP and MP to court

Non Bt cotton seed withdrawn from market both bypublic and private sector

GM contamination threatens organic cotton Like pesticides cost of externalities never

accounted for


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Nightmares

More resource use Newer pests and

diseases

Animal morbidity

Skin allergies Reduced soil fertility


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Are we using right lenses?

Bt cotton and now Bt brinjal not tested againstbest practices (IPM/NPM/Organic etc)

No analysis on yield saving vs contributionof varietal/hybrid

More seed: Cotton seed companies changedrecommendation from one 450 g packet to 2450 g packets per acre

More fertiliser: ANGRAU recommends 15 %more chemical fertiliser and Dr. CD Mayee,

earlier GEAC vice-chair says 6 % increase inarea under GE crops will double fertiliser need More water: Rainfed conditions are not

suitable for GE cotton (planning commission)


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say? Not tested against the best practices like NPM and IPM using resistant varieites

and local checks were not used

lack scientificity in terms of maintaining plant population, date of planting (first

year the trials were sown in October, 2009) while the peak infestation was in julyto september

Data on sucking pests is under reported

seedlings are supplied by the company, genuinity of the seedlings not tested, noblindness in the testing, problem with the identity

Impacts on soils:

Root exudates and enzymatic activity not studied.

report suggest that there is no Bt toxin identified in the soil where as many earlier studiesincluding on Bt cotton in India by IARI and in a study by Australian university Bt toxins were foundin the soils for significant time (more than 45 days)

In the case of Bt Brinjal if the reports are saying no Bt toxin was detected, the methodologiesneed to be rechecked. the data presented shows variations between microbial profiles betweensoils growing Bt brinjal and non-brinjal but no statistical analysis was done to say whether it issignificant.

similarly, at 30 DAT sampling point the collembolla population was a little more, & at 60 DAT

sampling point it was quit low as compared to the other time points, and argues that it is an anisolated instance.


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Brinjal Fruit and shoot borer

Adult lays about 250 eggs singly on leafunderside, stems, flower buds and base oftender fruits

New born larvae bores into tender shoots orfruits

Make their way out and pupate in the debris


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MANAGING WITHOUTPESTICIDES

Brinjal Fruit and Shoot Borer


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Non PesticidalManagement

Ecological approach to pest management using knowledge and skill based practicesto prevent insects from reaching damaging stages and damaging

proportions

by making best use of local resources, natural processes and

community action

Uses a set of practices which include

Monitoring methods-trap crops, pheromone traps etc, light traps,

Preventive measures-border rows, sticky plates, resistantvarieties, mixed crops etc

Control measures-hommade biopesticides, mass trapping

Evolved based on experiences from working with small andmarginal farmers in AP


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NPM for Brinjal FSB

Continuous cropping of brinjal on the samepiece of land should be avoided.

Deep summer ploughing before the season oronce the crop is harvested to expose the resting

pupae in soil. Bon-fires with the onset of first showers

Potato, voluntary brinjal plants (those brinjalplants which are germinated on their own) and

other wild brinjal plants act as alternate hostshave to be removed.

Intercropping with coriander reduces incidenceby more than 50 %


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Mass trapping

Mass trapping of adults using pheromone trapsreduce the chances of female moths finding a mate

Research by AVRDC suggests that female L. orbonalisonly mate once and from otherresearch we know thateven delayed mating can significantly reduce thenumber of viable eggs female moths can produce(fecundity)

A range of designs of traps has been found to besuitable for Leucinodes orbonalis.

Water traps prepared from plastic bottles arerecommended (40 pheromone traps(5m apart) peracre kept 1 ft above the crop height and the lureshave to be changed at 20 days interval

If it is taken on community basis, the number of

pheromones by each farmer could be reduced.


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Brinjal FSB management As soon as the insect is detected, the affected parts should be clipped

along with the insect and destroyed

Fruits showing any boring symptoms should be picked and destroyed.

Spraying neem oil @25ml per litre of water during vegetative stage willprevent the moth laying eggs on the crop. This may be taken when thepheromone catch is observed.

To prevent neonate larvae boring into the fruit or shoot, Neem seed kernelextract (NSKE) 5% or agniastra may be sprayed.

Chilli-garlic extract may be used to control shoot and fruit borer; but this

has to be used only twice during crop period. 5 days after using chilli-garlicextract, cowdung-urine solution has to be used

These sprays are necessarily be done in the evening times.


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Yenabavi -Organic Villa

Entire village (55 farmers 228 acres) organic for

last five years Most of the inputs internalised into farming Land Productivity increased, crop yields

maintained In SRI paddy 44 bags were also recorded Recently awarded Krishi Gaurav Award by Baba

Ramdevs Patanjali Trust for their role inpromoting organic farming

More than 30 thousand farmers visited thevillage in last three years

Community Managed Sustainable


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aiming to reach 100 lakh acres across crops in all districts of AP in by 2014

Community Managed SustainableAgriculture

pilot

CSA handholding support

NGOs technical support at field level

SHG groups ind. handling

RKVY fundsRs. 167 Cr.

for 5 yr


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Area under different crops(2007-08)


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NPM vs conventional pestmanagement

Strategy Genotype No. of chemicalsprays

Cost ofcultivation(Rs/acre)

Yield(kg/acre)

Grossreturns(Rs/acre)

Net returns(Rs/acre)

NPM Non Bt 0 6524 889 18036 11512

NPM Bt 0 6222 888 17469 11247

Control Non Bt 5.0 6555 835 16500 9945

Control Bt 3.8 7235 897 17786 10551

omparative economics in cotton

urce: Study by CRIDA in WWF project on Sustainable Cotton production, Warangal, 2007

Di i i h d i i


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Distinguished visitors

Dr. V L Chopra,

Member Planning Commission

Jairam Ramesh, Honble Minister for Commerce

T. Nandakumar

Secretary AgricultureGOI


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NPM Scaling up in AndhraPradesh

CSA worked with SERP in promoting Nonpesticidal Management designed the systemand provided handholding support for 4 years

2004-05 started with 225 acres in one distand reached 7 lakh acres in 2007-08 in 18dist. today the prog covers 20 lakh acres in 18dist

National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture isconsidering this model

World Bank says this is a good tool for povertyeradication

2004

2009

2006


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hank you

www.takingroots.inwww.takingroots.in

[email protected]@csa-india.org

www.csa-india.orgwww.csa-india.org

Bt Brinjal and Alternatives 2.0

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