permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>]

Subject: And how about these happy farmers in South Africa growing Bt cotton?
Date: Fri, 11 Oct 2002 20:27:57 +0200
From: Wytze de Lange <geno@ZAP.A2000.NL>
To: SANET-MG@LISTS.IFAS.UFL.EDU
References: haidee@biowatch.org.za

On that same list a very positive mail about Bt cotton farmers in
South Africa was posted
I also asked a friend in South Africa about the Bt cotton farmers in
South Africa

On 7 Oct 2002, at 10:59, Haidee Swanby wrote:

while some of this report refelects reality, there is much which has
not been explored. For example, small scale farmers do like bt
because
they have to spray less toxic chemicals and spend less time in
their
fields. At the moment it is a good option for them. Some of the
worries about the research that has been done is that it was with a
very small sample group who were assisted with expertise and
inputs,
other farmers in the region will never be able to repeat those results
on their own. Also, impact on the community as a whole has not
been
looked at - the floodplain is used by thousands for subsistance
crops,
but cotton farmers, assisted by industry, have managed to lobby
the
government to change flooding regimes to suit the cotton cycle
rather
than food crops which means that those growing food do not have
water
when they need it. so the food security of the area is under threat so
that a minority can plant cotton for cash. The majority of small scale
farmers I spoke to are not making a profit at the end of the day, they
are caught in a debt cycle, planting just to pay back last years loan.
Most farmers don't know what is in their contracts, many don't plant
the required refuges and not one knew what genetic engineering was and
that it is a new and contraversial technology. Not one scientist has
ever given me a straight answer to the question - what will you do
when bollworm becomes resistant to bt? And this obviously will happen
otherwise farmers would not be required to plant refuges. Also
worrying is that in South Africa, 350 000 ha have been planted to
various ge crops and trials and we are yet to see a single
environmental impact assessment carried out. There is much to be
concerned about. regards Haidee Swanby Biowatch South Africa
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