This season's cotton crop in Karnataka, India's major cotton-growing state, has been very poor. In response, the state government banned the sale and cultivation of genetically modified cotton seeds in April of this year. The company selling the seeds was Monsanto's Indian distributor, Mahyco. Following Maharashtra in August 2012, two of India's largest cotton-growing states have now banned the sale and cultivation of genetically modified cotton.

The following is a summary of the announcement by the Canton of Carthanaca.

"The 7 regions of the province, 1,983 villages, and 58,191 Of the 5 hectares of fields, over 50% had a heavy crop, affecting 54,150 farmers. Losses amounted to 2.3 billion rupees (3.9 billion yen). Mahico, a seed company under Monsanto, offered 100 million rupees (170 million yen) in compensation, but the provincial government has rejected the offer as too small."

According to the Indian National Crime Statistics Bureau, suicides in the state of Kartanaka currently average 33 per day. This means that farmer suicides tend to increase when drought or bad harvests hit the area. I believe that the causes of suicide are a complex combination of factors and backgrounds. Therefore, we should not short-circuit the connection between genetically modified seeds and the suicides of cotton farmers. Even so, it is certain that a certain trend can be observed when analyzing the number of suicides in the four major cotton-growing states in India and the timing of the introduction of genetically modified seeds.

In 1999, Monsanto acquired Mahyco, a local seed company in India, then the world's third largest cotton producer, and began selling genetically modified cotton seeds.

It is a "pest" resistant variety that can reduce the use of insecticides. It also allows us to increase yield and profit at the same time. This was an attractive sales pitch.

Cotton farmers, struggling to pay for ever-increasing amounts of insecticides, chemical fertilizers, and other agricultural inputs, have decided to introduce genetically modified seeds at four times the price of conventional F1 seeds (First and Final).

However, these genetically modified seeds are only effective against certain "pests" (tobacco moths) and were severely damaged during the 2006 drought. Cotton farmers were hit hard. Many farmers are protesting more and more that this is the result of their inability to pay for the genetically modified seeds that they have borrowed money to purchase, in addition to the agricultural inputs.

( to be continued )