New Technologies, New Risks: Green Revolution to GM Food

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New Technologies, New RisksGreen Revolution to
GM Food

• Craig Jeffrey

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Aims of this lecture

• 1. Green Revolution revision
• 2. To identify three new key questions in
  studies of South Asian agriculture and society
• 3. To introduce the topic of GM in India
• 4. To introduce the structure of the next two
  lectures

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Structure of Lecture

• 1. Green Revolution revisited
• 2. Three new key questions in studies of South
  Asian agriculture and society
• 3. Introducing GM
• 4. Introducing the next two lectures

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Reading for this week

• 1. Jeffrey (2001), circulated this morning by
  email
• 2. S.T. Madsen (2005) (by email tomorrow)

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How did rich farmers invest their money in
Western Uttar Pradesh?

• Had moved away from reinvesting in agriculture
• Invested instead in conspicuous consumption,
  education and dowries
• Had the effect of strengthening Jats control
  over the local state and marginalizing lower
  castes and women

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Green Revolution Conclusions

• 1. The GR in north India tended to create a class
  of rich farmers capable of oppressing the poor
  and responsible for the transformation of rural
  areas
• 2. This does not mean that the GR failed but
  that we need to think about its success/failure
  from multiple perspectives
• Further Reading Jeffrey 2001

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Three new key questions in the study of South
Asian agriculture and society

• 1. How are new technologies, like genetic
  modification, impacting upon rural societies?
• 2. How is the politics of agriculture changing?
• 3. How is agricultural production linked to
  social reproduction issues like education,
  marriage, and access to non-farm employment?

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Introduction to Genetic Modification in India
Cotton

• GM in India mainly associated with cotton
• Cotton is grown in many parts of India, including
  Punjab, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and
  Haryana
• India has a larger cultivated area under cotton
  than any other nation
• Competition with other countries is tough,
  especially since Govt stopped subsidies in 2003

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Cotton and the Bollworm

• Cotton is vulnerable to a lot of diseases,
  especially the American Bollworm (Heliothis
  armigera)
• Farmers in India have traditionally used chemical
  pesticides to control the bollworm but only a
  50 - 70 success rate

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Cotton and Monsanto

• Monsanto developed transgenic Bollgard cotton by
  inserting genes from a soil microbe called
  Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) into cotton.
• The Bt microbe has properties which allow it to
  kill insects like Bollworm
• The resulting GM cotton is therefore protected
  from Bollworm

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India and Bt Cotton

• By mid-1990s many in India were predicting that
  Indian famers could save billions of dollars by
  buying this technology from Monsanto
• The government wavered about whether or not to
  support the introduction of Bt Cotton in India
• 2002 Indian Governments Genetic Engineering
  Approval committee gave permission for the
  commercial release of Bt Cotton hybrids

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Bt Cotton Controversy

• Strongest opposition to GM in India came from
  farmers organizations and Non-Governmental
  Organizations
• One farmers organization Karnataka Rajya
  Ryotha Sangha (KRRS) - based in Karnataka has
  been especially active in criticizing GM
• Vandana Shiva also been a vocal critic.
• Shiva and KRRS Cremate Monsanto!

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Are Shiva and the KRRS right in their criticism
of Monsanto?

• Reflects real fears about international
  interference in India colonial ransacking of
  India, Gandhian ideas
• Reflects concern about the environmental effects
  of rapid technological change
• But might GM actually benefit some farmers?
• How far can Shiva and the KRRS claim to speak for
  the Indian poor?

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Two lectures, two stories

• Tomorrow Interpreting agricultural crisis the
  story of farming crisis in late 1990s Karnataka
• Wednesday Rethinking Biopiracy Indian farmers
  fight back?