The government is all set to release four varieties of Genetically Modified brinjal, known as bt brinjal, at the farmers’ level this month and the distributors’ level by next season amid hoax created by officials related to the production of the controversial crop.
Rafiqul Islam Mondol, director general of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday that they would distribute the seeds among 20 farmers in four different regions – Jamalpur, Gazipur, Rangpur and Ishwardi – by this month.
Each of the farmers will demonstrate the bt varieties in each bigha of land. “Currently the field-level offices are selecting the farmers who will demonstrate the new varieties,” he added.
On October 30 last year, the agriculture ministry issued a circular to release four varieties of GM varieties named bt Uttara, bt Kajla, bt Noyontara and bt Isd 006 amid condition of cultivating the crops in limited scales.
The circular stated that the cultivation would commence as per the production manual prepared following bio-safety guidelines amid concern of the environmental activists at home and abroad over the environmental and health hazards of GM crops.
However, MK Sultan, director (research) of BARI yesterday said it had decided to observe the matter three more years before releasing the bt brinjal varieties at commercial-level.
He said this at a discussion on the potentials and problems of bt Brinjal in Bangladesh at the Dhaka Reporters Unity auditorium organised by Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (Bapa).
“We will not use the bt varieties at commercial-level by next three years,” Sultan said adding that they would stop the cultivation if it was found to be hazardous for public health during the trial period.
However, the BARI chief said they could release the seeds at distributers’ level from the next season (winter) if the target of adequate seed production was achieved by this time.
“We have received several applications from seed companies who are willing to be distributors,” he added.
In response to a question on marketing the product, Rafiqul said: “The National Committee on Bio-safety has directed us to ensure labelling of the bt brinjal while marketing it.
“However, we do not know whether it is possible to maintain labelling of a crop while marketing in the rural markets as the people are not used to see such kind of trends,” he said.
BARI claims that the use of pesticide on bt variety will be reduced remarkably as it contains anti-insect organism.
Environmental activists, however, have raised serious concerns about the biological and health hazards at home and abroad that the new breed of brinjal may pose. They also said the government has released the GM varieties without having adequate examinations of the hazardous aspects of the new breed.
“The National Committee on Bio-safety, who approved the release of the GM varieties, took very little time to look into the pros and cons of the matter with regard to different bio-safety rules and regulations,” said Farida Akhter, executive director of research organisation Ubinig.
Challenging the release of bt brinjal, the NGO and several other individuals filed writ petitions with the High Court seeking its directives for further assessment of the process. The court, however, rejected all the petitions.
Brinjal is one of the most popular vegetables in Bangladesh as well as in South Asia.
The three bt varieties have been developed from local varieties by inserting bt gene into them. The gene is patented by US seed giant Monsanto.
BARI developed the varieties after seven a seven-year experiment starting in 2006 with the technical support of Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company (Mahyco) of India in which Monsanto had 26% stake.
Mahyco’s brinjal varieties, developed with the financial support of USAID, were banned in India in 2010 after their harmful effects had been exposed. In addition to India and Bangladesh, the same group earlier developed genetically modified brinjal varieties in Philippines which was stalled by court order, considering its health hazards.