By P. N. V. Nair
Norman Borlaug, Father of the Green Revolution, once said, “It’s better to die eating genetically modified (GM) food than dying of hunger.” On another occasion he said “We all eat at least three times a day in privileged nations, and yet we take food for granted. There has been great progress, but hunger is common place, and famine appears, all too often.” He also laughed at suggestions about organic farming as an alternative to harmful fertilizers. “Do use organic farming wherever possible, but it is nonsense to think you could feed the world without the use of chemical fertilizers. Despite the tremendous rise in food production using the fertilizers, millions around the world still go to bed hungry. You need to double the food production by 2050 to feed every one.”

Environmentalists and others who oppose production of GM food, perhaps, do not understand the pain of hunger. India’s population is projected to overtake even that of China by the year 2025. With one child norm compulsory for the couples, China is able to control the population growth significantly.

India is just one-third of the size of China and agricultural productivity is much lower, not even one-fourth of China. Where do we end up by the year 2025 when we boast of being the largest populated country in the world? Even now at least one-third of our population has just one meal a day. President Pratibha Patil, in her Republic Day address to the nation, has called for a Second Green Revolution.

But how? The area under cultivation is dwindling every year, productivity is coming down due to over exploitation of land and increased use of fertilizers. Farmers are also facing the problem of shortage of water and electricity. The only way out is adoption of GM crops that will give higher production with less water and will be pest-resistant. Genetically modified cotton, also called Bt cotton, has been a blessing. The country has generated an additional income of Rs 10,000-12,000 crore annually because of its higher yield.

The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) has cleared Bt brijal. Eminent scientists who had examined Bt brinjal had concluded that it was absolutely safe for human consumption and also for science and environment. Let us leave the issue to the scientists. There will always be some persons with a different view.

They will always find something wrong. Countries like the US, Canada, Argentina, Brazil and China had already approved the genetic crops. Besides Bt brinjal, Indian scientists are experimenting with 22 more crops like cabbage, cauliflower, okra (lady’s finger), potato and tomato under vegetables, groundnut, mustard under oil seeds, chikpea, pigeon pea under pulses and maize, sorghum and rice under cereals. If Bt brinjal, the first to pass the test by the scientists, is stopped the entire process of developing more crops like rice will have a setback.

Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh is personally holding public meetings over the decision of the GEAC to allow commercial cultivation of Bt brinjal. He is under tremendous pressure from environmentalists and NGO activists who are raising concerns of health safety. Hope the minister will not succumb to such pressures and take a positive decision of Bt brinjal. If not, the fate of other GM crops also will be under standstill.

Some people ask why Bt brinjal? Brinjal, also known as egg plant, is an important vegetable and is the second largest consumed vegetable in the country, along with tomato and onion. India is the second largest producer of brinjal in the world with 26% of the total 32 million production of brinjal in the world. China leads with almost 56%.

According to Dr Swaminathan, brinjal is consumed throughout one’s life. It is a vegetable of very widespread consumption.

However, the government should not be in a hurry to introduce Bt brinjal until fundamental issues were addressed. “We must analyse whether the risks are more or the benefits are more. There should be an authority to analyse the risks and benefits in a transparent way. Unfortunately we don’t have an authority like that, Dr Swaminathan said.”

The technology has delivered, for sure. And it is for the government to allow resource-poor farmers to benefit from it. At the same time, the protestors should not be allowed to hold the country to ransom by organising the farmers who are being misinformed by vested interests.

P. N. V. Nair is Editor, Food & Beverage News
First appeared in fnbnews.com. Reproduced with permission