The Hindu Business Line : Farmers' bodies for locally developed GM cotton seeds

THE Hind Mazdoor Kisan Panchayat and All-India Farmers' Forum have asked the Union Government to allow locally developed GM (genetically modified) cotton seeds to break the monopoly of multinational companies.

They alleged the MNCs had been siphoning off thousands of crores of rupees from farmers in India in the form of sales and royalties.

"Why should each farmer pay Rs 1,250 to Monsanto as royalty on each packet of 450 gm?" Mr K. Prabhakar Reddy, former AP Home Minister and leader of Farmers' Forum, and Mr P. Janaradhan Reddy, Vice-President (AP) of Kisan Panchayat, asked.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, they came down heavily on the State and Central Governments for not allowing fully tested indigenous GM strains.

"Those strains have been tested in at least half a dozen climatic conditions. The Government should allow these to increase competition and reduce prices of seeds," Mr Prabhakar Reddy, said.

He said he had written to Mr Sharad Pawar, Union Minister for Agriculture, in this regard.

The leaders also found fault with the Governments for expressing inability to regulate the royalty outgoes.

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