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Two weeks ago, six farmer organizations demanded government approval to grow GM mustard, developed by Indian scientists. This will raise yields by 20-30%, and improve farm income by over Rs 1,000 crore. It will also reduce India’s dependence on imported edible oil. . . .
International NGOs like Greenpeace have enormous budgets and now channel millions of dollars into developing countries. Many Indian NGOs now depend critically on such dollar inflows for their jobs and budgets. That’s why they exude passion on western green agendas like GM crops, while saying relatively little about environmental disasters that India actually needs to focus on, like the destruction of aquifers by farmers getting free electricity, and diversion of scarce canal water to water-guzzling crops like sugarcane and paddy at the expense of crops like maize needing much less water.
The NGOs claim GM foods are unsafe. This is flatly disproved by the simple fact that in the US, which grows a wide variety of GM foods, over three trillion meals have been eaten without any adverse consequences. . . .
Related on the SLP
The activists seek by hook or crook to delay genetically modified crops, using the courts and rented mobs financed partly by dollar inflows. In consequence, they have increased approval time in many western countries to seven years or more, raising the cost of bringing a new GM crop to market to almost $150 million. This means only the biggest companies like Monsanto can afford to stay in the game. Thus the very activists that demonise Monsanto end up strengthening its market domination.
Read full, original post: Moving matches won’t help farmers, GM crops will
