The Moot Issue: Organics Vs Transgenics

By Ashok B. Sharma
Published by The Financial Express, Monday, May 03, 2004

The MS Swaminathan taskforce on applications of biotechnology in agriculture while making its recommendations has brought into focus a very vital issue which is yet to be addressed by the country's policymakers. The issue is what should be the future orientation of Indian agriculture: towards organic farming or transgenic crops cultivation.

Particularly, in the pertaining situation in the country, we cannot reap the best of the both. A mix of both the situations, however judicious it seems to be, will land us nowhere. The policymakers, therefore, have to decide which way to go.

There is a lucrative $37 billion global market for organic food which is growing day by day. Even in US which is considered as a world leader in transgenic technology, the growing consumer craze has made the country the world's largest importer of organic foods. The European Union ranks second to US as the world market for organic foods.

Equally too is the growing market size for organic herbal plants and medicines. The global market size for herbal plants is currently estimated at $14 billion, growing at the rate of 15 to 25 per cent a year and is likely to increase to $ 5 trillion in 2050, according to the World Health Organisation. The global trade in processed herbal medicines and food supplements is estimated at $ 60 billion.

Unfortunately, India has not yet benefited much either through exports of organic food or herbal medicines, despite its potential.

The policymakers are responsible for such a situation. India's export of organic food is less than Rs 90 crore. India's export of herbal medicines is only Rs 2,300 crore, out of $ 60 billion global trade. Out of this Rs 2,300 crore annual export turnover, major over-the-counter products is around Rs 1200 crore, other formulations fetch around Rs 650 crore while classical Ayurvedic medicines fetch the remaining Rs 450 crore.

The government of the day, singing to the tune of economic liberalisation and globalisation of trade, has meticulously planned to leave the farmers in lurch.

It has decided to gradually withdraw from its social obligation of procuring grains from farmers at minimum support prices. Though by default, a large part of the country is still under traditional system of organic farming, the government has declared only 5347 farms covering 37,050 hectare are as
organic farms.

The data on chemical fertiliser use and pesticides use are with the government. These data show large part of the country are organic by default. Besides the government's own estimate shows that 60 per cent of the cultivated area is rainfed where the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides is either minimum or negligible or there is no use of it at all. Why has the government been slow in declaring larger areas of the country as organic? Does this show the inability of the government and its certifying agency, APEDA? Or it is the intention of the government to benefit the fertiliser or the pesticide or the transgenic seed industry and withhold the farmers from getting the benefit of the global market for organic food ?

The Swaminathan panel while recommending various measures for boosting transgenic technology in the country has attempted to draw a dividing line. It has suggested that crops for developing transgenics should be carefully selected keeping in view the export potential.

The suggestion is justified, in the context of a number of countries rejecting genetically modified (GM) food imports and preferring to remain GM-free.

The panel has also suggested "the alternatives available for meeting food and nutritional needs should be viewed comprehensively before resorting to transgenic technology." The answer to this is - India is already a food secure country. The only thing needed is to increase the purchasing power of the poor.

The panel's recommendation for protecting the organic farming areas and agro-biodiversity sanctuaries seems difficult for implementation. The country has not been able to contain the spread of illegal varieties of Bt cotton seeds in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab. In this context, how can there be a guarantee that organic farming areas and agrobiodiversity sanctuaries be protected when transgenic technology is introduced on a large scale?

I am not against any technology as such. Every technology should be given a fair trial before use. The issue is of country's exports and farmer's income - whether organic farming will address it better or transgenic technology?