Farida Akhter
In Bangladesh, rice is not just a crop; it is the life and livelihood of farmers throughout the country. The importance of rice may not be unique to Bangladesh, but it is only Bengalis who are known as “Bheto Bangalee,” meaning “rice people.” One can hardly separate a Bengali from the agroecology, lifestyle, culture, and daily livelihood struggle determined by rice cultivation.
Broadcast, transplanted, and deep-water wet-season plantings (aman) form the main rice crop in Bangladesh. Dry season or boro, the second-largest rice crop, is also grown all over the country, but mainly in Dhaka and Chittagong. Winter crops (or rabi crops) include wheat, potato, and a number of different vegetables; wheat and potatoes are grown in large quantities in the Rajshahi region; millet and sesame are also grown, but in smaller quantities. Most of the crops grown in Bangladesh, particularly those called “local varieties,” are open pollinated and have been grown and selected for their desirable traits for millennia. They grow well because they have been selected under organic conditions; they have better flavor, are hardier, and are more flexible than hybrid varieties. Seeds are dynamic and adapt to local ecosystems, as opposed to hybrid varieties, which are static. However, with the introduction of the so-called “improved varieties,” which are nothing but laboratory seeds found in packets and sold in the market, farmers’ personal seed collections disappear. In the case of rice, the open-pollinated seeds started disappearing with the introduction of the Green Revolution. In the early 1960s, fertilizer application was limited to tea gardens and government agricultural farms, and irrigation was practiced on only about 7 percent of land. The government then set up the Bangladesh Water Development Board and Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) to procure modern agricultural equipment, chemical fertilizers, and improved seeds, and distributed them to farmers at highly subsidized prices throughout the country.
Modern varieties (MVs) of rice seeds were made available to farmers in 1968, because they could supposedly withstand the dry (boro) season, while wet (aman) season tolerant crops were distributed mainly in 1970. By 1984–1985, the irrigated area where these seeds were grown covered approximately 20 percent of cultivated land, which “facilitated the spread of modern-input-responsive MVs to cover one-fourth of cropped land and one-third of the sown area under cereal crops.”1 Ultimately, chemical-based and mechanized agriculture led to the undoing of people’s sustainable livelihoods. Rural areas were turned into semi-urban areas, and the monoculture of rice production led to the loss of genetic diversity throughout the country. Of the fifteen thousand traditional local varieties of rice, presently thirty are promoted as high yielding varieties (HYVs). In the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute more than seven thousand varieties of rice are still extant. Although seed collections in the national gene banks are impressive, banks have absolutely no connection with farmers. Seeds and germplasm are kept in cold storage with no effort made to regenerate them.
Farmers maintain the diversity of seeds for every crop they grow through the practice of traditional and ecological farming. Small-scale as well as middle-class and wealthy farmers maintain seed diversity and treat it as their treasure. Small-scale farmers met their subsistence needs and exchanged the surplus for diversity; wealthy farmers maintained diverse varieties so as to have special rice varieties for special occasions, cultural and religious purposes, as well as safeguards against natural disasters. Seed varieties were also required for livestock, poultry, and horticulture. More than 300 wild indigenous species of plants have been identified as relatives of the cultivated crops grown in Bangladesh; the country has 12,000 rice accessions, 1,090 landraces of white jute (Corchorus capsularis) and 519 of tossa jute (C. olitorius), 700 tea accessions, and 300 accessions of sugarcane.2
Currently, there are only fifty-seven HYVs and three hybrid rice varieties that have been released for commercial cultivation in the country; in addition, seventy-five rice hybrids have been introduced from China, India, and Thailand. There was a time when Bangladesh was a rich treasure chest of biological diversity. A survey in 1976 revealed that only six thousand of more than fifteen thousand varieties of rice are now available, together with a few local varieties in specific niches like chamara in Tangail and kataribhog in Dinajpur.
The situation for other crops is even worse. The traditional practice of mixed cropping and crop rotation has been replaced with monocultures of selected varieties and hybrids. The first remarkable case of erosion was that of the large watermelon, but other serious cases are evident among the vegetable varieties of Bangladesh—most local varieties of brinjal, cucurbits, amaranth, and spinach have been replaced with hybrids.
The Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation was established in 1972 as an autonomous corporation of the government to deal with the issue of seeds. A Seed Ordinance was enacted in 1977, and has since been amended twice, once in 1997 and again in 2005. Seed supply for farmers has been increasingly controlled by seed companies, both national and international. Seed laws were modified, enforcing the compulsory registration of seeds and making it impossible for farmers to produce their own. As in other parts of the world, farmers were forced to rely on the market for their seeds.
In Bangladesh, government institutions have been involved in a number of biotechnological research projects. These include the University of Dhaka, Rajshahi University, Chittagong University, Bangladesh Agricultural University (Mymensingh), Bangladesh Forest Research Institute (BFRI), Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA), Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University (BSMRAU). In addition, there are nongovernmental organizations and private enterprises like BRAC, Proshika, Grameen Krishi Foundation, Bangladesh Seed Foundation, CARE Bangladesh, PROVA, Syngenta, World Vision Bangladesh, Agriculture Marketing Company Ltd. (AMCL), and Alpha Agro Ltd. that are also involved with biotechnological research. The Department of Agricultural Extension, Rangpur Dinajpur Rural Service (RDRS), and Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB) have implemented the extension of genetically modified crops.
Bangladesh ratified the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety in May 2000. In late 2003, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in collaboration with the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute organized the PETRRA (Poverty Elimination through Rice Research Assistance) fair in Dhaka, where details regarding the genetically engineered golden rice, carrying vitamin A related genes of the daffodil flower, were discussed. PETRRA informed the public that such genes have been introduced into BR-29, the widely cultivated rice variety of Bangladesh, so that vitamin A would be produced in its seeds.
The National Biosafety Framework (NBF) was developed following an extensive assessment of biotechnology and biosafety in Bangladesh. Surveys were conducted on the current use of modern biotechnology, existing relevant policies, laws and regulations, building activities, and expertise within the country. The framework provides the basis for the future regulation and management of GMOs in Bangladesh. The objective of the NBF is twofold: it provides an overview of the existing systems, and identifies future needs for effective and transparent legislation and administration.
The National Biotechnology Policy, 2006, is a prelude to creating a policy environment favorable to the promotion of commercial transgenic crops. This policy is not merely economic in nature, primarily for the benefit of US biotech companies, but is related to our security and survival. At least 70 percent of the 150 million people in Bangladesh belong to farming communities that are presently producing food for the country, and their success is due largely to their own ingenuity. The National Biotechnology Policy will benefit the small parasitic commercial class, eager to import transgenic crops and biotech products from the United States and other industrialized countries. A section of corporate-appointed scientists who are willing to turn our public education and research institutions over to the service of corporations will also benefit; but the majority of farmers will be severely affected, as they have been in countries like Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. Such an uncritical biotech policy will permanently transform the agricultural sector of Bangladesh into an industrial food production system, bringing it under the logic and global control of food chains. Moreover, it will cripple the possibility of the agricultural sector entering the global market with ecological and organic products. It will also seriously compromise the country’s ability to attain food sovereignty.3
Maize is cultivated in many districts of Bangladesh. Farmers used to grow open-pollinated, high-yielding varieties of maize released from the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, but during the 1990s the cultivation of hybrid maize increased dramatically. Extensions of maize hybrids were specially intensified among farmers by the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) after the heavy floods of 1998.
BRAC and the Grameen Krishi Foundation (a subsidiary of Grameen Bank), two microcredit NGOs, played a role in the introduction and extension of hybrid maize cultivation. They tied hybrid maize seeds to microcredit and compelled farmers to grow the maize hybrids as poultry feed. The DAE also distributed hybrid maize seeds free of cost. At present, there is a growing trend toward the expansion of the poultry industry in Bangladesh, as a result of which there is a market for maize as feed. Based on this demand, NGOs that deal with microcredit, along with a number of seed companies, have taken this opportunity to extend hybrid maize cultivation for commercial gain. The DAE organizes demonstration plots, field days, and other motivational programs for this purpose; at present, there are twenty-three hybrid varieties of maize under production in Bangladesh.
Cotton has been grown in Bangladesh as a cash crop for generations. Experimental production of American cotton was initiated in the plain lands of the country during the 1970s, at which point cotton was grown on approximately 1,215 hectares. Following this, the Cotton Development Board (CDB) was constituted, which resulted in the intensification of cotton cultivation across the country; production was extended to thirty-four districts in ten zones following the constitution of the CDB, and subsequently four cotton research centers were established.
Earlier, two types of cotton were cultivated, one of which was Gossypium hirsutum, grown in the plains, and the other was Comilla, which was grown in the hilly region. Currently, twelve high yielding varieties have been released from the CDB; they include CB-1, CB-2, CB-3, CB-4, CB-5, CB-6, CB-7, CB-8, CB-9, CB-10, CB-11, and CB-12. There are two hybrid varieties in use, namely DM-1 and Rupali-1; in addition, there are two varieties of Comilla cotton, Pahari Tula-1 and Pahari Tula-2.
Many of the cotton seeds for cultivation in the plains are now imported from the United States, all of which are high yielding varieties. About 6–7 percent of the country’s requirement of raw cotton is met by domestic production, while the rest is imported. Experimental production of eight cotton hybrids introduced from India was conducted in Jagdishpur Chowgacha, Jessore, in 1990–1991, but the seeds were rejected and cultivation discontinued due to the failed yield of these varieties.
More than 341,262 tons of brinjal are produced annually on fifty thousand hectares of land by small, medium, and large farmers.4 As many as 248 varieties have been available in Bangladesh in different agroecological zones of the country for hundreds of years,5 depending on their adaptation to agroecological, topographic, and local climatic conditions, consumers’ choice, and market demand. Although many varieties have been lost, the regional diversity of brinjals is still present. These varieties display wide diversity in agroecological adaptability, and morphological (such as size, shape, and color) and quality characteristics. Farmers have been the real custodians of these brinjal varieties by preserving their own seeds; Nayakrishi farmers, for example, produce more than forty varieties in four areas.6
There was never a demand for developing Bt brinjal in Bangladesh; it was introduced in a very quiet, almost surreptitious way. Now there is growing resistance from environmental, social, and farmers’ groups against the Bt brinjal program run by the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute that uses the technical program of Monsanto-Mahyco and is funded by the Agricultural Biotechnology Support Project II (ABSP-II) of USAID together with Cornell University. The Bangladesh government has given easy access to the biotech company to use Bangladeshi scientists as “researchers” and use land under the direction of its research stations for testing the genetically modified food cropping, so that it can go through the required process of approving its introduction.
Genetic engineering is done by inserting a crystal protein gene, Cry1Ac, from a soil bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), into the genome of brinjal cultivars. Its insertion, along with other genetic elements such as promoters, terminators, and an antibiotic-resistance marker gene into the brinjal plant, is accomplished by using an Agrobacterium-mediated gene transformation. The Bt crystal protein gene contains a toxin that endows pest resistance to lepidopteran pests, such as the brinjal fruit and shoot borer (FSB). It is lethally toxic and works via binding to protein receptors in the gut of FSB larvae as they feed on the Bt brinjal.
Insertion of the Bt gene into nine Bangladeshi local varieties (Uttara, Kajla, Nayantara, Shingnath, Chaga, Islampuri, Dohazari, Khatkatia, and ISD-006) was done in the laboratory of the Indian company Mahyco, which received the application rights of Bt Cry1Ac gene technology from Monsanto. The Bangladeshi varieties were backcrossed with transgenic brinjal containing Cry1Ac, leaving little or no scope for BARI scientists or other public institutions to acquire Mahyco’s proprietary technology.
Bt brinjal research started in three countries—India, Bangladesh, and the Philippines—back in 2005. Monsanto-Mahyco failed to continue in India because of a moratorium granted in 2010, and in May 2013, Bt brinjal field trials were stopped by the Philippine courts, leaving Bangladesh as the only country to get approval for commercial release. Confined field trials were carried out from 2010 to 2013 on the farms of BARI’s regional stations. BARI applied in June 2013 to the National Technical Committee for Crop Biotechnology (NTCCB) Ministry of Agriculture, requesting its recommendation to the National Committee on Biosafety (NCB) for the commercial release of four Bt brinjal varieties (Bt brinjal Kajla, Bt brinjal Uttara, Bt brinjal Nayantara, and Bt brinjal ISD-006). Bangladesh does not have a National Biosafety Act; it only developed Biosafety Rules in 2012. In order to get approval, BARI, rather than providing its own tests for toxicity and other relevant biosafety parameters, submitted Mahyco-Monsanto’s self-assessed dossier on toxicity for evaluation. Nor did BARI follow the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety adopted at the UN Convention on Biodiversity, to which Bangladesh is a signatory, that states no GM crop is allowed to be grown in any region that is the center of origin or diversity of that crop. According to the Russian botanist and geneticist Nikolai I. Vavilov, brinjal’s center of origin lies within the Indo-Burma region, which includes Bangladesh.7
UBINIG, Nayakrishi farmers, and environmental activists protested against this application and demanded assurances regarding environmental and health safety before approval was given, and filed a writ petition in the high court in July 2013. The court ordered the petitioners to provide evidence that Bt brinjal is harmful, and BARI, that it is safe. BARI submitted no such evidence while the petitioners provided international research data on its harmful effects. However, the court dismissed the writ petition in September 2013 after petitioners withdrew the file so that they could use another court for future filing of the application. However, later that month another bench of the Bangladesh high court directed the government to not release Bt brinjal before assessing its health risks and asked BARI, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Secretary of Health to submit a progress report within three months, after conducting independent research in line with GM food standards set by the Codex Alimentarius Commission. The report has not yet been submitted. BARI managed to get a stay on this order at the appellate division, and further hearings are pending. Lawyers and judges, both, are reluctant to take up this case.
Despite the protest rallies, appeals of international scientists and environmental activists, court orders, and the national food safety law,8 the National Committee on Biosafety granted conditional “approval” for the limited field-level cultivation of four Bt brinjal varieties in October 2013, on condition that seven conditions be met. Agricultural minister Matia Chowdhury handed over the seedlings of Bt brinjal to twenty selected farmers in four districts—Pabna, Gazipur, Jamalpur, and Rangpur—for cultivation in their fields in January 2014. The time sequence of the approval and seedling distribution indicates that it was not research results but the “approval” that was necessary for promoters to go ahead with GM crop introduction.
BARI used mainstream media to claim the advantages of Bt brinjal varieties that would bring economic benefits to farmers and the country through (1) controlling the brinjal fruit and shoot borer, the main brinjal pest, which causes 50–70 percent of the damage to the brinjal fruit; (2) reducing the use of pesticides; and (3) reducing the cost of brinjal cultivation. The fruit and shoot borer is one of the main brinjal pests, but not the only one. There are a number of others, including insect pests, diseases, and nematodes, that inflict serious damage to brinjal crops, causing heavy yield losses. The four brinjal varieties that have been transformed into Bt brinjals—Uttara, Kajla, Nayantara, and ISD-006—are moderately resistant to the fruit and shoot borer and tolerant to bacterial wilt disease attack, and ISD-006 has multiple resistance to the fruit and shoot borer, jassid, bacterial wilt disease, and the root-knot nematode.9
No official report is available on the amount of pesticides used for vegetables only, nor any statistics available regarding the amount of pesticides used for brinjal crops. A calculation by a scientist in Bangladesh shows that since 24,583 tons of insecticide are used for all crops, occupying 14,943,000 hectares,10 an estimated amount of insecticide required for 50,000 hectares of brinjal crops cannot be more than 82.3 tons. It makes no sense that such a huge investment for Bt brinjal is being made only to save 82 tons of pesticide. On the other hand, BARI scientists have developed a number of very effective nonpesticidal Integrated Pest Management (IPM) technologies for controlling the fruit and shoot borer and other insect pests and diseases, which are highly cost-effective and safe. The On-Farm Research Division (OFRD) in farmers’ brinjal fields in 2009–2010 and 2010–2011 showed that as much as 61 percent of FSB was controlled by using IPM package technologies, compared to that controlled by pesticides.11 Farmers have their own methods for controlling pests in brinjal—if pesticide reduction is the reason behind introducing Bt brinjal, why are IPM methods not applied?
The Financial Express (April 7, 2014) reported that in the Bt brinjal fields of two farmers in Shaitail village, Gazipur district, and one farmer in Khotkhotia village of Rangpur Sadar Upazila, they had already applied more pesticides than before to protect their Bt brinjal crops from attacks by different pests.
There are seven specific conditions for approval required by the National Committee on Biosafety, Ministry of Environment. There was a clear violation of condition 3, i.e., the formation of a field biosafety committee involving the officer of the Department of Agricultural Extension, concerned scientists of the BARI regional station, and district and divisional level officers of the Ministry of Environment monitoring biosafety; of condition 4, offering training to farmers regarding biosafety protocol and producing Bt brinjal in the proper environment; of condition 5, which requires the applicant institution and the concerned ministry to take appropriate steps on an emergency basis in case of an adverse impact on the environment or on public health; and of condition 6, which requires that the proponent institution will label Bt brinjal as such at the time of marketing.
In March 2005, a tripartite agreement was signed by BARI, Mahyco (the US seed giant Monsanto’s Indian subsidiary), and Sathguru Management Consultants Pvt. Ltd. (India) for the development and release of cultivable Bt brinjal in Bangladesh.12 Based on this agreement, Mahyco transformed nine local brinjal varieties of Bangladesh into Bt brinjal at Mahyco’s biotechnology laboratory in India. The most striking aspect of the agreement is that BARI has granted indemnity to Monsanto-Mahyco and Sathguru for any kind of disaster concerning Bt brinjal research. By this agreement (signed without the knowledge of farmers and the general public), Mahyco and Monsanto now own the genetically engineered nine indigenous varieties of brinjal.
BARI claimed that:
Bt brinjal was developed in the public sector by the government-operated Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute for non-commercial purposes. It is not owned by any corporate entity. Seeds will be distributed to farmers in a non-commercial approach where small and medium-enterprise farmers will access seed through the state university system.… Monsanto has no ownership rights over Bt brinjal.13
Article 1.19 of the agreement, however, states clearly that “Monsanto/MHSCL IP Rights shall mean all intellectual property rights that Monsanto or MHSCL owns or controls, which will be infringed by making, using or selling Licensed Domestic Eggplant Products containing MHSCL Technology or Monsanto Technology”; and according to Section 1.6 of the agreement, Bt brinjal seeds must be purchased from the seed company. Further, Article 2.5(b) states that the sublicensee shall not cross or backcross the Bt gene into any eggplant germplasm other than the varieties listed in Annexure 1. These varieties are: 1. Uttara (Accession # EC549409), 2. Kajla (Accession # EC549410), 3. Nayantara (Accession # EC549411), 4. Singhnath (B009) (Accession # EC549412), 5. Dohazari (Accession # EC549413), 6. Chaga (Accession # EC549414), 7. Khatkatia (BL117) (Accession # EC549415), 8. Islampuri (Accession # EC549416), and 9. Ishurdi local (ISD006) (Accession # EC549417).
Subsection (c) of Section 9.2 says that the agreement can be terminated by the sublicensor or Mahyco if the laws and regulations in Bangladesh do not provide assurance of protection for commercial and intellectual property rights. Subsection (e) of Section 9.2 says that BARI can cancel this agreement in case the fruit and shoot borer becomes resistant to Bt brinjal. In addition, Section 9.6 mentions that after cancellation of the agreement, BARI must cease distribution of Bt brinjal seeds and destroy all seeds in the presence of the representative of the seed company, and the representative shall submit a report in this respect to the seed company.
The varietal improvement of crops is vital for farmers, especially in developing countries. Their efforts are aimed toward ensuring food sovereignty, raising farmers’ incomes, and meeting the challenges of climate change. Yet many farmers were discouraged from continuing their breeding efforts due to pressure from the genetic “improvement” lobby. Farmers in less intensive cropping areas, like the salinity-prone coastal belt in the south and the drought-prone northwestern region, still continue their need-based breeding efforts for salinity-tolerant and drought-tolerant varieties of rice and other crops.
The toughest hurdles for farmers include government policy and rule; and coercion by national and multinational seed companies.
Multinational seed companies include Syngenta Bangladesh Ltd.; Bayer Crop Science Ltd.; A C I Limited; Global Agro Resources Incorporation; Macdonald Pvt. Ltd.; and Ganges Development Corporation. National seed companies are in collaboration with East West Seed Ltd.; Aftab Bahumukhee Farm Limited; Supreme Seed Co. Ltd.; Pasha Pashi Seed Company; Ispahani Agro Ltd.; National Agro-care Import and Export Ltd.; Lal Teer Seed Limited; Getco Agro-vision Ltd.; Ranks Agro Biotech Limited; Energypac Agro Ltd.; and Namdhari Malik Seeds (Pvt.) Limited, just to name a few.
There is no government policy that approves farmers’ seeds; all policies and legal instruments are in favor of seed companies. The seed industry in Bangladesh comprises both public and private sector initiatives. The private sector has more than a hundred companies, with more than five thousand registered seed dealers operating across the country. The first decade of this century was marked by a transition from open-pollinated to hybrid seed varieties. As a country that depends on agriculture, seed is the key to the survival of the nation. In fiscal 2011–2012, there was a total requirement of 10,57,172 metric tons of seed in Bangladesh. Of this, 14 percent was supplied by the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation; farmers themselves produced 40 percent, and the remaining 46 percent was supplied by seed companies. There are about 280 seed companies enlisted with the Bangladesh Seed Merchants Association (BSMA); and about thirty enterprises have reasonably organized seed businesses involving the production and marketing of seed. Thirteen are considered medium-sized, with annual sales of forty to one thousand metric tons of seeds, and the remaining seventeen companies have annual sales of less than forty metric tons. In addition to newly emerging companies, NGOs are also playing an important role in seed supply in Bangladesh; at present there are more than twenty NGOs involved in the production and marketing of seeds. Imported hybrid seeds are approximately ten times more expensive than locally produced ones. The price of one kilo of hybrid rice seed ranges from BDT 250 to 300, compared to BDT 20 to 30 for each kilo of rice inbreds. Small-scale farmers cannot afford to buy costly seeds every planting season. Moreover, the cost of production for modern varieties and hybrids is much higher because of high input costs.
Agricultural research in Bangladesh has been coordinated by the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC), which, however, has no control over the allocation of financial resources. According to Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council Bill 2012, twelve research institutions are affiliated with BARC, and include: Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI); Bangladesh Jute Research Institute (BJRI); Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI); Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA); Bangladesh Sugarcane Research Institute (BSRI); Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute (BLRI); Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute (BFRI); Bangladesh Tea Research Institute (BTRI); Bangladesh Forest Research Institute (BFRI); Soil Resource Development Institute (SRDI); Bangladesh Sericulture Research and Training Institute (BSRTI); and Bangladesh Cotton Development Board (BCDB).
BARC and its twelve affiliated research institutes account for roughly three-quarters of the country’s agricultural research expenditure, which has depended on donor financing, particularly World Bank loans, which facilitated considerable investment in infrastructure and equipment. The input of the private sector is minimal. Some NGOs are also involved, but their research activities, if any, are limited. The Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), Rangpur Dinajpur Rural Service (RDRS), and Grameen Krishi Foundation (GKF), among others, have recently been conducting research on conventional agriculture, while research on ecological agriculture has been carried out by Proshika; Unnayan Bikalper Nitinirdharoni Gobeshona (UBINIG, Policy Research for Development Alternatives); Bangladesh Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge (BARCIK); Unnayan Onneshan; Action Aid; Caritas; and Christian Commission for Development in Bangladesh (CCDB).
Some nongovernmental organizations, via the Nayakrishi movement, have been endeavoring to empower farmers and the farming community despite the onslaught by seed companies. The Nayakrishi Andolon (New Agricultural Movement), founded on biodiversity-based farming, is a movement for propagating ecological agriculture. It is based on simple practices, such as no chemical pesticides and fertilizers; soil management; and mixed cropping and crop rotation for pest management and risk reduction. Mixed cropping is crucial for increasing productivity through encouraging biodiversity rather than high yields of a single monoculture crop. The central approach of this initiative lies squarely in the conservation, management, and use of local seed and genetic resources, and adopting and improving production techniques appropriate for farmers’ seeds. Hundreds of local varieties of rice, vegetables, fruit, and timber crops have been reintroduced within a short period of time. Farmers in Nayakrishi areas, for example, cultivate at least three thousand varieties of rice, and the number is increasing. The movement has been negotiating with the national gene bank to help them regenerate the collected germplasm and internalize the conservation of genetic resources as a built-in operation. At least three hundred thousand farmers in nineteen districts of Bangladesh practice Nayakrishi. In all farming households, women have taken the lead as key players as they preserve seeds, and have formed the Nayakrishi Seed Network (NSN) in a systematic attempt to involve women at different levels. The NSN builds on the farming household, the focal point for in situ and ex situ conservation. Farmers maintain diversity in the field, and at the same time conserve seed in their homes to be replanted in the next season. The next step for the network is the formation of the Specialized Women Seed Network (SWSN), comprising women farmers who have specialized knowledge and skills regarding seed preservation and genetic resource conservation.
The activities of Nayakrishi Andolon are constituted as a system of relations between farming households. Individual plans and decisions are made collectively through meetings and the sharing of information. In the meetings, decisions are made to ensure that in every planting season all the available varieties in farmers’ households are replanted and the seeds collected and conserved for the next season. From individual farmers’ seed collection at the household level, Nayakrishi Seed Huts are established on the independent initiative of one or two households in the village who are part of the Nayakrishi Andolon, and are willing to take the responsibility for ensuring that all common species and varieties are replanted, regenerated, and conserved. These households are known as Nayakrishi Seed Huts (NSHs).
Community Seed Wealth (CSW) is the institutional setup in the village that articulates the relation between the village and the national gene bank. The CSW also maintains a well-developed nursery. The organization of CSWs is based on two principles: (1) the nurseries must be built from locally available materials; and (2) their maintenance should reflect household seed conservation practices. Any difficult scenarios the CSW encounters reflect the problems that farmers are facing in household conservation. Any member of the Nayakrishi Andolon can collect seed from CSW on condition that after the harvest they will deposit double the quantity they receive.
As an agricultural practice Nayakrishi is based on ten simple principles.14 In addition to poison- and chemical-free agriculture, the production of biodiversity is built into their method of food production. As a fundamental principle, Nayakrishi farmers reject monoculture and base their practice on mixed cropping and crop rotation. With regard to productivity, output from Nayakrishi practices is either the same as or higher than that from conventional chemical agriculture. Apart from the ecological benefits, the main reason for acceptance of Nayakrishi is the economic return to farmers. The calculation of yield by Nayakrishi farmers is done first, not on a single crop yield based on a monoculture calculation; second, on the energy used as an input and the energy produced as an output, “sustainability” taken into account as the fundamental parameter assessing “productivity”; and third, on responding to the diverse needs of the community that cannot be satisfied by increasing the yield of a particular crop—biodiversity-based practice is clearly preferable. However, the addition of a new variety from the formal system to the existing genetic resource base of the farming community is seen as a contribution, and its integration into Nayakrishi farming practices is based on totally different parameters than those proposed by conventional agriculture.
1. Mahabub Hossain, Nature and Impact of the Green Revolution in Bangladesh, Research Report 67, International Food Policy Research Institute and Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, July 1988.
2. BARC, The Second Report on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture of Bangladesh: The State of Activities, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council, 2005, www.fao.org.
3. Farhad Mazhar, “Review Your Biotech Policy, Prime Minister,” New Age, July 25, 2006.
4. Statistical Yearbook of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS 2010), Ministry of Planning, Government of Bangladesh.
5. M. A. Razzaque and G. Hossain, Country Report on the State of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture Organization; Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of Bangladesh, The Second Report on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture of Bangladesh, 2007, http://pgrfa.barcapps.gov.bd/reports/bangladesh2.pdf.
6. Nayakrishi is a biodiversity-based ecological farmers’ movement, with involvement of more than three hundred thousand farming households.
7. N. I. Vavilov, “Phytographical Basis of Plant Breeding: The Origin, Variation, Immunity and Breeding of Cultivated Plants,” Chronica Botanica 13 (1951): 1–366.
8. According to Clause 21(1) of the Bangladesh Food Safety Law (2013), the production, distribution, marketing, or import of any food derived from “genetically modified” crops or sources has been prohibited.
9. BARI, Handbook of Agricultural Technology (in Bengali), 1999: 331–333; BARI, Improved Technology for Vegetable Production (in Bengali), 2006: 11–20.
10. FAO Corporate Documentary Repository, Country Report, Bangladesh.
11. BARI Entomology Division, “On-Farm Validation of BARI Developed IPM Package against Brinjal Shoot and Fruit Borer,” Annual Report for 2009–2010: 56; BARI Entomology Division, “On-Farm Validation of BARI Developed IPM Package against Brinjal Shoot and Fruit Borer,” Annual Report for 2010–2011: 50–51.
12. Sublicense Agreement between Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company Limited (MHSCL), Sathguru Management Consultants Pvt. Ltd., and Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) signed on March 14, 2005.
13. http://btbrinjal.tumblr.com/myths; also please visit http://ubinig.org/index.php/home/showAerticle/50/english/Farida-Akhter/Mahyco-%E2%80%98owns%E2%80%99-Bt-Brinjal-not-BARI-and-never-the-farmers!
14. Principle 1: The use of pesticides must be stopped immediately.
Principle 2: Seeds must be maintained in farmers’ hands, on farms, in the field, and at home.
Principle 3: Cultivation must be done with organic manure, without the use of chemical fertilizers, slowly ensuring environment-friendly management practices.
Principle 4: Never promote the monoculture of any crop, always practice mixed crops and crop rotation, matching soil, season, crops, and other variables of crop production.
Principle 5: Ensure the management of cultivated and uncultivated spaces, and a method of crop production that allows many species of uncultivated plants to emerge, grow, and develop.
Principle 6: Maintain, manage, and utilize surface water for irrigation; underground water should be conserved.
Principle 7: Return from crop production is not calculated on the basis of a single crop. The total yield, return, conservation of biodiversity, manifestation of biodiversity, environmental and economic gains of household, village, and community are the priority.
Principle 8: Enriching the household through removing gaps in life, nature, and the productive base is the goal of Nayakrishi.
Principle 9: Creative use of water is vital in order to maintain aquatic biodiversity.
Principle 10: Increase the income opportunity of the community through enriching natural resources for improving livelihood options. Empowering every household in the Nayakrishi village and freeing them from the market is another objective.