NEWS FROM INDIA
1.Bayer told to compensate farmers for poor Bt cotton yields
2.Coalition for a GM-Free India demands blacklisting of Monsanto
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1.Bayer Crop Science told to compensate Maharashtra farmers for poor BT cotton yields
Jayashree Bhosale, ET Bureau
The Economic Times, 8 Feb 2012
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/agriculture/bayer-crop-science-told-to-compensate-maharashtra-farmers-for-poor-bt-cotton-yields/articleshow/11799079.cms
PUNE:The Maharashtra government has ordered the Indian unit of Bayer Crop Science, the world's largest agrochemicals company, to pay 45 lakh as compensation to 164 farmers as one of its BT cotton hybrids did not deliver the promised yield, the first instance of a seed company being asked to make good farmers' losses.
"We welcome the fact that the government has taken the side of farmers," said Kavitha Kuruganthi of the Association for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture, an umbrella body for farmer-rights NGOs.
An order passed by Maharashtra's agriculture commissioner, Umakant Dangat, said these farmers belonging to Dhule district had been 'cheated' because the pest resistance capacity of Bayer Bioscience's SurPass 1037, one of its BT cotton variety, failed to meet minimum standards.
"The company had claimed on its label that its seed was less susceptible to pest and disease. But we found that to be not true. It is a fact that farmers suffered losses. We calculated the compensation based on average yield in that region and the average market price," Dangat told ET.
Bayer BioScience has disputed the order and is looking at legal remedies. "As per our investigations, the yields below expectations in a few pockets are due to combination of inadequate crop management and adverse environmental conditions. We are in the process of contesting the unjustifiable claims through a legal course," said the company.
BT cotton is the test case for introduction of biotech food crops in India. KK Kranthi, director of the Central Institute for Cotton Research, said the pest attack in the affected fields was not related to BT. "These could be isolated cases," he said.
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2.Maize trail: Coalition for a GM-Free India demands blacklisting of Monsanto
The Hindu, February 8 2012
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/article2869791.ece
Bangalore – The Coalition for a GM-Free India has demanded that Monsanto be blacklisted in view of the revelations of "illegal" planting of Herbicide Tolerant (HT) maize in its GM maize trial in Karnataka. The revelations came as a response to an RTI application by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC).
Speaking at a press conference here on Monday, Kavitha Kuruganti, a member of the Coalition, said that while the agri-business corporation has been caught violating norms repeatedly.
The RTI response revealed that a team led by Pradyumn Kumar of the Directorate of Maize Research (DMR) had noted the violation in its visit report. "Monsanto's GM maize trials have been going on for several seasons now in various locations across the country. It took a rare scientist in one monitoring team to point out the fact that planting of the herbicide-tolerant GM maize took place without permission from competent authorities. What is more damning is that there is no evidence of any discussion or action by the regulators on this finding," said Ms. Kuruganti.
She also pointed out that this episode was a repetition of Herbicide Tolerant cotton being planted by Monsanto's affiliate, Mahyco, without permission, as well as illegal planting of HT maize in the University of Agricultural Sciences in Dharwad.
Demands
In a letter sent to Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jayanthi Natarajan, Sridhar Radhakrishnan, convener of the Coalition, has demanded inquiry into all GM maize field trials by Monsanto across the country; immediate withdrawal of permission for field trials by Monsanto and its affiliates till all violation issues are investigated and re-examining the monitoring, evaluation mechanism for field trials.
The Coalition also demanded development of "a robust system for acting upon field trial violations, and put in place norms for timely and serious consideration of such violations and for punitive actions."