Speakers at a workshop yesterday feared that the targeted insect to grow resistance to the controversial Bt Brinjal varieties for lack of implementation of the refuge system during the their cultivation at farmers’ level in Bangladesh.
They said the lack of implementation of the refuge system during the cultivation of GM Bt Cotton at farmers’ level in India has helped the targeted insect to grow resistance to the insecticidal Bt crop and
That similar outcome could be seen in Bt Brinjal cultivation in Bangladesh.
They came up with the caution after a Bt Brinjal farmer, who was present at the workshop, titled ‘Food Security and Modern Biotechnology’, admitted he did not maintain the refuge system in his Bt Brinjal plot.
A refuge system refers to a management where non-GM plants are grown alongside insecticidal GM plants so that the non-GM variety provides a kind of refuge to the targeted insect. The absence of the non-GM plants can induce an evolution in the targeted insects to make itself resistant to the insecticidal GM plants in the long run.
