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Gujarat in no hurry to crush GM cotton

Our Bureau

GANDHINAGAR, Oct. 22

THE Gujarat Government may not be in a hurry to destroy the genetically modified (GM) cotton grown across the State. The Agriculture Minister, Mr Purshottam Rupala, indicated this to the media as he underlined the need to ascertain the extent of GM cotto n cultivation. There was also the need to pinpoint the areas where it has been grown before any action is precipitated to destroy the crop, he said.

``The transgenic cotton crop in the State will not be destroyed without first ensuring the payment of compensation to the farmers. For that we have to ensure the extent of the cultivation and its exact location across the State. Since the first harvest o f this cotton is already over there may not be a case for showing any undue haste.''

``No time frame has been fixed as to when the survey of the GM cotton cultivation will get over and the destruction of the crop can begin. The matter is under investigation by the Agriculture Department as also the State co-ordination committee on biotec hnology'', Mr Rupala said.

The information that is trickling in various parts of the State indicate that in many places the first harvest of GM cotton was not only over but much of the crop had already gone in for ginning. The farmers who have admitted to taking up cultivation of the GM cotton are an irate lot today as they were convinced that this breed was perhaps the answer to much of their complaints including thousands of rupees spend per acre on pesticides.

Meanwhile, it is reliably understood that the arid regions of Kutch have been exposed to the GM cotton for not less than three years now. According to some farmers in and around Kutch, the seeds were made available to them over a period of 3-4 years. ``T he aggregate land that is now under the GM cotton cultivation in the rain scanty district has not happened overnight. Many farmers in Kutch took to this strain of cotton seed only after seeing for themselves the crop output'', said a farmer in Rajkot who claims not to have taken to the transgenic cotton himself.