Farmers in Maharashtra Continue Sowing ‘Banned HT Cotton”, Haryana Joins the “Movement”

Even after the Maharashtra police continue to file cases against farmers sowing prohibited HTBT cotton seeds, farmers union - the Shetkari Sanghatana continues its support to genetically modified (GM) crops. As per initial reports, 25 percent of the cotton fields in the State have been put under HTBT cultivation this season.

According to sources, HTBT cotton seeds are coming to Maharashtra’s farmers from Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat through a well-established network.

The agriculture leaders argued that HTBT cotton seeds are easily available to farmers. Even, the banned seeds had already reached to farmers before February. With the first monsoon shower, farmers kept themselves busy on sowing seeds.

Even farmers in Haryana have joined the movement for GM crops and extend their support to Maharashtra’s farmers.

Question on Farmer’s future and their reaction

Followed by a sit-in protest, HT cotton was sown at Revgaon in Jalna tehsil of the district. HT cotton freed the farmers from labor charges of manual weeding as they can use herbicides instead.

Ganesh Nanote, a farmer from Akola district expressed his concern with this tweet – “My #btcotton sowing date 2 June. Now is doing Handweeding by labor. Its cost is ₹1,000/acre per time. It is very time taking process. If late, weed damage crop. If I have #Htbt technology I will save my time money. There is a tremendous need of #Htbt technology in the future”.

However, the action of the police is not able to stop the farmers from sowing the banned seeds.

The Sanghatana announced their protest against the govt’s decision and will continue to sow HT cotton.

Santosh Mohite, a member of the Sanghatana argued that GM cotton and brinjal are allowed in many countries and there is no further evidence of any harsh impact of such crops.