Amidst a raging debate over illegal Bt Brinjal and Bt Cotton, opinion is split amongst farmers’ groups even as the Centre has maintained that it is the responsibility of the state governments to take action against such cultivators.
Shetkari Sanghatana leader, Anil Ghanwat… carried out an agitation in Maharashtra [recently] wherein he and his team had publicly planted the seeds.
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“Almost 50 per cent cotton sowing is of HtBT cotton. Almost 15 lakh packets of HtBt cotton seeds have been sold in the market. There is lot of corruption and black marketing going on as there is a demand for this seed,” Ghanwat told IANS on phone from Maharashtra.
He also claimed that an Indian company has come up with Bt Brinjal seeds in association with an Agriculture University. “Farmers from Bangladesh are benefitting with those seeds and here you are damning our agitation.”
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Kishor Tiwari, who heads the Maharashtra Farm Taskforce, alleged that it is only a handful of farmers that are sowing these illegal seeds and claimed that “the agitation that happened last week was sponsored by seed companies”.
The farmers have a right to technology, but it is for the Centre to decide with a larger discussion on the topic, he said.
