The recent episode of illegal cultivation of BT brinjal in Haryana has caused concern among those trying to promote sustainable agriculture in Karnataka. This is because they fear that the State, known as the country’s BT capital, too is vulnerable to such attempts if stringent measures are not initiated to prevent entry of genetically-modified food crop seeds.
The followers of the farmers’ leader and founder of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) Prof. M.D. Nanjundaswamy, under the banner MDN Marga, have submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy drawing his attention on the Haryana episode and underscoring the need to put in place a mechanism to prevent entry of GM food crops and their seeds into the State.
In the petition, the sustainable farming activists have appealed to the Chief Minister to issue strict directions to the officials concerned to monitor the sowing seeds coming into the State as well as those produced within the State. They have urged him to protect the sustainable farming ecosystem.
They pointed out that India has taken a policy decision of not allowing cultivation of genetically-modified food crops in public interest. Such a decision had been taken after nationwide consultations with scientists and other stakeholders, in which former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda too had taken part.
However, the Haryana episode has caused concern as Karnataka earlier witnessed two similar incidents of cultivation of GM food crops, they said. While one was cultivation of GM paddy crop on an experimental farm of a Krishi Vijnana Kendra in Doddaballapur taluk, another pertained to a private company growing GM maize crop in the field of a farmer in Vijayapura, they said.
Such incidents had been taken note of by the highest authorities like Genetic Engineering Approval Committee and the Supreme Court, leading to tightening of norms, the activists pointed out.