How Monsanto tried to con Pakistan

http://gmwatch.eu/latest-listing/1-news-items/13556-how-monsanto-tried-to-con-pa...
NOTE: This is a big story in Pakistan and seems to reflect increasing scepticism in the media about the value of Bt cotton.

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Is Pakistan on the right path on Bt cotton?
Naufil Shahrukh
Weekly Pulse, December 16 2011
http://www.weeklypulse.org/details.aspx?contentID=1603&storylist=2

Cotton remains the second most significant crop in Pakistan after wheat and is the main foreign exchange earning cash crop for us. Our textile industry requires around 2-3 million bales annually to meet its production demands so we import it from India and other places as per requirements. To meet the deficit, the policy makers thought it is imperative that we increase the cotton crop yield and save foreign exchange. Currently we produce on an average between 12-14 million bales. Genetically modified or Bt Cotton was proposed as an option to explore.

A small U.S based, hi-tech or GM Seed and traits company (Monsanto) initially offered Bollgard-1 (BG-1) technology to Pakistan. It later turned out that the company’s patent for this purpose had expired and it was forced to accept this. In a letter written to the Punjab government, its (Monsanto's) Country Head acknowledged this fact. Prior to this, the government was ready to sign an agreement with Monsanto which would have resulted in payment of 'technology fees' to Monsanto worth billions of rupees! Once this information became public knowledge as a result of this letter, the Punjab government rightly called off negotiations in 2008 and ultimately did not sign the proposed agreement on 'BG-1 technology'. This saved the national and provincial exchequer significant money and adopting an outdated technology. Interestingly, Bollgard-1 cotton seeds were being grown in Pakistan since 2004-5 and seemed the bureaucrats negotiating with the US company were unaware of this.

In 2008, the same company came up with a new proposal that it will bring the upgraded Bollgard-2 cotton seed technology. The genetic modification in a cotton seed is that Bollgard-1 seed has a Cry-1AC gene introgressed in addition to its natural genetic make-up and it is effective against Pink, Spotted and American Bollworms or 'Sundee'. The toxin from this gene, tears apart the guts of the Bollworms. Bollgard-2 seed has a gene Cry-2AB in addition to Cry-1AC and is effective against Army Bollworms or 'Sundee' in addition to the previous three. So basically, the bollgard-2 is a minor up gradation to the original Bollgard-1 seed technology.

The company proposed that since Pakistan has weak 'Intellectual Property Rights' or IPRs therefore, it needed Government protection or 'Back-stop' to succeed in Pakistan as 'unscrupulous' elements could copy or replicate its Bollgard-2 technology. It signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the then Federal Ministry of Food & Agriculture in April, 2010 which envisaged that provincial governments of the Punjab and possibly Sindh should sign agreements with the company. In brief, the company would sell the Bollgard-2 seeds in the market however, in case people copied or replicated the technology or grew 'saved' seeds, a third party will be engaged which will conduct a survey to see how much seed was sold by the company in the market and the remaining quantity would be classified as 'unpaid' seed. The company indulges in similar practices in the US and Canada where it has sued scores of farmers for ‘saved seeds’.

Government was then to pay the company an amount of 21 U.S dollars per acre for the 'unpaid' acres as ‘compensation for losses’, royalty and ‘backstop’ agreements. Practically, it could mean that in Punjab, if such a survey 'proved' that 4 million acre worth of seed was sold by Monsanto and 2 million was 'unauthorized' or obtained/grown through other channels, Monsanto would be paid 21 U.S dollars per acre for those two million acres! This would mean a sum of US dollars 42000000/- will be paid to the company by the government every year. Nowhere in the world does such 'government backstop' guarantees or arrangement exists.

At this point in time in fact, even mandatory regulatory field trials were not complete when the MOU was signed in April, 2010. So there was no way to know, whether this technology would increase cotton yield in Pakistan or not! But some elements within Punjab bureaucracy, continuously tried to get the agreement signed for this technology between Monsanto and the Punjab Government.

In November, 2010, bureaucracy almost managed to get the Monsanto proposal approved by the Punjab Government. However, the Chief Minister Punjab came to know about the relevant issues and stepped in to prevent a hasty decision. It was learnt that Bollgard-1 and 2 technology is completely ineffective against Cotton Leaf Curl Virus (CLCuV), White Fly and Mealy Bugs. These pests are the main reason why Pakistan Cotton crop loses 2-3 million bales every year. Thus, while the company would have been selling the seeds and making money through Government ‘compensation’ and sovereign guarantees every year, the real problems were still there and the ‘latest technology’ would have cost the Punjab government between 30-70 million U.S dollars every year with no guarantees of yield increase. The regulatory trials by this company in 2010, proved its technology was ineffective against the main pests (CLCuV etc) in Pakistan.

More at the link

http://c1eatdrinkbettercom.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/files/2010/07/Monsanto-BT-Cot...