Biowatch, Seed Groups At Odds Over Gene-Cotton Success
allAfrica.com, May 31, 2005
Tamar Kahn
Cape Town

Seed companies Monsanto and Delta & Pineland have disputed the findings of a study by lobby group Biowatch, which found genetically modified cotton had not improved income for small-scale farmers in Kwa-Zulu-Natal's Makhathini flats.
The companies also rebuffed claims that the farmers were failing to take adequate care to protect the environment.
Since the introduction, in 1998, of genetically modified Bt-cotton to the Makhathini flats, its farmers have been showcased by the biotechnology industry as a success story.
Bt-cotton contains a built-in insecticide that kills bollworms, a common cotton pest in SA. The technology was developed by seed group Monsanto, which has appointed Delta & Pineland as its licensed distributor in SA.
Biowatch's five-year study challenges University of Pretoria research that showed Makhatini's cotton farmers enjoyed yields 18% higher than would be produced from normal cotton, used less chemicals on their modified cotton crops and were financially better off than before.
Only four out of 36 farmers interviewed by Biowatch had made profits on their Bt-cotton, and only 20% were still growing the crop five years down the line.
The farmers were on average R8645 in the red, and about 80% of them had defaulted on their loans from the Land Bank.
Bt-cotton seeds are double the price of nongenetically modified cotton seeds, so farmers took on more debt to plant them and exposed themselves to more risk, said Biowatch researcher Elfrieda Pschorn-Strauss.
Delta & Pineland GM Danie Olivier attributed the fall in the number of Makhathini farmers planting Bt-cotton to depressed cotton prices and drought, rather than inherent problems with the modified cotton.
There were 4000 farmers growing Bt-cotton several years ago, but only 1200 today, he said.
Biowatch found farmers were using as much pesticide as they did before planting Bt-cotton, Pschorn-Strauss said. Poor farmers continued to spray broad-spectrum chemicals, as they still had to counter aphids and jassids, she said.
Biowatch also claimed there was no environmental monitoring and farmers had failed to plant "refugia" of normal cotton next to their Bt-cotton, which help to limit insect resistance to the Bt-gene. Refugia is not required by law, but the farmers signed contracts with Monsanto agreeing to plant them.
The agriculture department's senior manager for genetic resources, Julian Jaftha, said that he was unaware of any cases of noncompliance with refugia planting, and further investigations were planned.