{"id":30324,"date":"2018-10-26T15:24:03","date_gmt":"2018-10-26T09:54:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=30324"},"modified":"2018-10-26T15:24:03","modified_gmt":"2018-10-26T09:54:03","slug":"a-perfect-storm-in-the-cotton-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/a-perfect-storm-in-the-cotton-field\/","title":{"rendered":"A perfect storm in the cotton field"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/todays-paper\/tp-opinion\/a-perfect-storm-in-the-cotton-field\/article23359158.ece\"><strong>A perfect storm in the cotton field<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Context<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Why India is the only Bt cotton-growing country facing the problem of pink bollworm infestation<\/p>\n<p><strong>The issue: Pink bollworm\u2019s resistance to Bollgard 2<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bollgard 2, or BG-2, Monsanto\u2019s second generation insecticidal technology for cotton, was supposed to protect crops against the pink bollworm, the pest has grown resistant to the toxins produced by this trait<\/li>\n<li>Farmers now spend more on pesticides to control infestations<\/li>\n<li>This, along with the high cost of Bt seeds, is driving farmers to indigence.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>No other country faced this problem<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>They mainly grow open-pollinated cotton varieties rather than hybrids<\/li>\n<li>They strictly terminate the crop within 160 days<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Why the problem is unique to India<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The pink bollworm grew resistant because India restricted itself to cultivating long-duration hybrids since the introduction of Bt cotton in 2002<\/p>\n<p><strong>What are Hybrids?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Hybrids are crosses between two crops that often see higher yields than their parents, in a genetic phenomenon called heterosis<\/p>\n<p><strong>Reasons:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Traits were restricted to hybrids only:<\/strong> When Monsanto licensed its BG and BG-2 traits to Indian seed companies, the agreement restricted the introduction of these traits to hybrids only.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Hemizygous hybrids:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Introduction of the Bt gene into only one parent of Indian hybrids results in hemizygous hybrids, which means that they express only one copy of the Bt gene<\/li>\n<li>So, they produce cotton bolls that have some seeds toxic to the pink bollworm and some that are not<\/li>\n<li>This can be contrasted with the homozygous seeds of open-pollinated varieties in the U.S., China or Australia, which have 100% toxic seeds.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Problem:<\/strong> Hemizygous hybrids allow pink bollworms to survive on toxin-free seeds when they are vulnerable newborns (although only a hypothesis till now)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Hybrids more profitable to companies:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Hybrids are financially more attractive to Indian seed companies because they offer a \u201cvalue capture mechanism\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Hybrids lose their genetic stability when their seeds are replanted<\/li>\n<li>This compels farmers to repurchase seeds each year, protecting corporate revenues.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Shifting to Bt cotton all together: <\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>As there was no open-pollinated Bt option, the farmers were forced to shift en masse to hybrids<\/li>\n<li>From 2002 to 2011, the area under cotton hybrids rose from 2% in north India and 40% elsewhere to 96% across the country.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Effect of this shift:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Low density cultivation:<\/strong> Not only are hybrids expensive, they are also bigger and bushier, forcing farmers to cultivate them at low densities<\/li>\n<li><strong>Result:<\/strong>To make up for these low densities longer duration is needed for the cotton crop which in turn gives more time to the pest to develop resistance<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Proposed Solution<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Only solution to the problem is to move swiftly to short-duration varieties<\/li>\n<li>Seed companies cannot develop open-pollinated varieties with BG-2, but they can with BG, since Monsanto didn\u2019t patent BG in India<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Arguments against the above proposed solution<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Even if BG-2 doesn\u2019t fend off the pink bollworm, it still protects against other pests like the tobacco cutworm and the American bollworm<\/li>\n<li>The presence of two Bt genes in BG-2 means it will be more effective than BG in delaying resistance against these pests.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Questions raised<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When the whole world is moving to BG-3, why do we want to go back in time?<\/p>\n<p>Even if the government incentivizes a return to BG, will all seed companies stop making BG-2 seeds?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Both BG and BG-2 can\u2019t be cultivated together<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If India cultivates both BG and BG-2, simultaneously, that can accelerate resistance among pests, studies predict. This could trigger the emergence of new cotton pests.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>India erred by not clamping down on long-duration crops when Bt cotton was first introduced. At least now it must base its policy on sound science and implement it stringently<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A perfect storm in the cotton field Context Why India is the only Bt cotton-growing country facing the problem of pink bollworm infestation The issue: Pink bollworm\u2019s resistance to Bollgard 2 Bollgard 2, or BG-2, Monsanto\u2019s second generation insecticidal technology for cotton, was supposed to protect crops against the pink bollworm, the pest has grown&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/a-perfect-storm-in-the-cotton-field\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">A perfect storm in the cotton field<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-test-1","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704914194},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30324\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}