Indian farmers highlight higher yields from banned GMO herbicide-tolerant, insect-resistant cotton to defy nation’s biotech crop rules

plnting seeds
Farmers plant illegal GMO seeds in protest of India's regulations in the summer of 2019. Image: Cornell Alliance for Science

As farmers [headed] to Yavatmal in Maharashtra to showcase post-harvest success stories of banned [herbicide-tolerant] cotton on [Jan. 5], their act of defiance [was] challenged by different organizations, including …. Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) which has demanded action against such illegality.

“How can the state government allow such illegal activity as [the] cultivation of [an] unapproved …. transgenic crop [that] is banned in the country?” asked SJM national convenor Ashwani Mahajan.

…

Hundreds of farmers [gathered] in Hiwri village of Yavatmal district in Maharashtra on [Jan. 5] in their attempt to prove the unapproved variety of cotton (HTBt) gave higher yields at a more reasonable cost as compared to the approved [insect-resistant] variety (Bt cotton).

…

Though the central regulator, Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), allows commercial cultivation of [an] earlier variety of transgenic cotton (Bt cotton), it has not approved the new GM variety ….

…

Many farmers, led by farmer organization Shetkari Sanghatana …. defied the ban and sowed HTBt cotton …. in as many as 10 districts in Maharashtra in June-July [2019].

Read full, original article: Action against illegal seed growers demanded, Maharashtra farmers gear up to show results of banned HTBT cotton

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