AUGUST 2010 National Magazine of Farmers Voice

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The Food Security is a situation that respects protectsand fulfills the" Right to Food". The Concept of Right to Food is the embodiment of

"\AJUJUU"cu cultural and nutritional values. The National Advisory Council (NAC)

constituted on the behest of the UPA chairperson, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi is trying to reach at

least the bottom of these values while implementing the proposed National Food Security Act.

Inthis ground set, the NAC decided in its recent meeting to redraft the present Bill. As such the

Bill is not going to be presented in the current session of the Parliament. the politics of food

knows no such values. For the people, "Food" is a human right to be achieved to protect their

rightto live guaranteed in the Article 21 of the Constitution. For politicians, "Food" is a political

tool to make use of the peoples' right to vote as a democratic exercise. As such the political will of

our body politics islacking the potentials of enacting a "Law on Food Security".

An in depth reading of the National Food Security Bill in its present form and the decisions of the

recent NAC meeting is indicating that the universal acceptance of a food security law including all

Blocs either geographical or social seems a distant feature. As of now, the people have to content with

the present food entitlement programmes in poverty reduction. The mandate of the proposed Act toestablish ofF ood security Fund atthe Union Level and State Levels to compensate in case of failure to

food provision is itself a nullifying the justifiability of the right to food. With this compensatory

provision, failure to provide guaranteed food, will allow the victims to receive the dole and not the

required food as a fundamental and basic right. The quantitative restriction of 25 kg or 35 Kg per family

per month food supply without guaranteeing the quality of the contents is another flaw. The Exclusion of

Universal Public Distribution System (UPDS) and the inclusion of Targeted Public Distribution system,

(TPDS) is another anomaly. The NAC tries to understand the reality of universal isation; but unable to match

itwith the economic logic.

The NAC with its political, social and action oriented blend ofleadership will find ithard to fulfill the process

of making Law to provide food security to our millions living under hunger and malnourishment unless and

otherwise effective implementation of agrarian reform measures with economic pragmatism by involving

small and marginal farmers and landless agricultural workers with apackage of easy access to food producing

resources. In this constructive and inclusive development agenda of proving food security to the suffering

mass; no provision should be inducted to provide apolitical tool to the party politicians in the name of framing

a "Law For Food Security" . The ruling goverument of the Union of India is ruled over by the Maoists. The

state goveruments where the Maoist activities at large are neither willing to check the insurgency nor able

counter the ultimate political challenge posed by such forces. On the other hand the power holding politicians'

are busy in employing intermediary business tactics to lease out the forests, minerals and other common

property resources of natural origins and safeguarded by our generations toMulti National Corporations and

Corporate business houses. The Supreme Court ofIndia rules that the fundamental right life of the people'

a-means to achieve the right to food as enshrined inthe directive principles of state policy.

Inthis endeavor, the Ruling Goveruments by adopting the "Doctrine of Trusteeship over natural resources".

The NAC may consider in its domain to expand the opportunity of making the Right to Food Law for the

country and the people who are hunger, malnourished and literally innocent even to understand the root

causes of the abject poverty stricken to them. Ability to enact a Food Security Act recognizing the

interuational human right obligations of Right to Food Law by the Goverument ofIndia as a state party

the United Nations System is nothing but the Political will of the leaders who are leading the

Coalition Goverument. The coalition partners of the present UPA goverument could demonstrate

might in guaranteeing the poor, marginalized and neglected communities with the right to food andprove that the goveruance of the country is for the people, by the people and of the people as the

founding fathers of the Constitution acclaimed.



Editor:

Dr. Krishan Bir Chaudhary,

President,

Bharatiya Krishak Samaj,F-1/A, Pandav Nagar,

Delhi-110091

Advisory Board:

S. P.Gulati, Sect. G.O.I., Retd.

Lingraj B. Patil

Dr. Mangesh DeshmukhDr. R.B. Thakare

D. Guruswamy, Adv.Rajesh Sharma "Bittoo"

Pratap Singh, DIG Retd.

Hatam Singh Nagar, Adv.K. Sareen

Ajay Singh

Oesiged by: Rahul Sharma

Aastha Chaudhary

Printed & Published by :

Dr. Krishan Bir Chaudhary on behalf of

Bharatiya Krishak Samaj.

Printed at Everest Press, E-49/8, Okhla

Industrial Area, Phase-II, New Delhi-20.

Published at :

F-1/A, Pandav Nagar, Delhi-110091

Mob.:9810331366, Telefax:011-22751281,

[email protected]:[email protected]

Website:- www.kisankiawaaz.org

The views expressed by the

authors are their own. The

editor does not accept

responsibility for returning

unsolicited publication material.Disputes arising if any will be

under Jurisdiction of Delhi

Court

Single copy Rs. 25/-, Annual Rs. 300/-

[ Vol. 1No.8 August, 2010 J

2

KISAN KI AWAAZNational Magazine of Farmers' Voice

CONTENTSMrs. Sonia Gandhi's, massage

Law Minister's massage

Climate Change and Indian Agriculture

* Dr. Krishan Bir Chaudhary

G.E. Soybeans May Cause Allergies

* Jeffrey Smith

Shining India or Starving India?

* Dr. Vandana Shiva

Pau Contingent Plan for Crops

* Dr. Charanjit Singh Gumtala

A Brief Report of Convention

*Bharatiya Krishak Samaj

~ c 5 t ~ if ~ " C \" R 'f - '%" ~ : {c r tt < r ~

*:tf. :{~~

Round Table On FTAs With EU &..

Back to traditional varieties

GM Blight-resistant Potatoes Who Needs Them?

The dark side of nitrogen;

* David Gutierrez

The government war on raw milk

* Mike Adams

Widespread male infertility sweeping the globe

* Ethan A. Huff

New SubscriptionAnnual subscription charge ofRs 300/- for our monthly journal

'KISANKIAWAAZ'may please be sent by cheque/Draft, drawn in

favour of BHARATIYA KRISHAK SAMAJ,

F-l/A, Pandav Nagar, Delhi-l10091.

Complimentary Copy

Suggestions for improvement are invited

3

4

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1ugust - 2010 Kisan Ki Awaaz

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:E-mail:[email protected]

http://www.kisankiawaaz.org/

http://www.kisankiawaaz.org/

mailto:E-mail:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]



Phone: 23019080

ALL INDIA CONGRESS COMMITTEE24, AKBAR ROAD, NEW DELHI - 110011

Sonia GandhiPresident June 19,2010

Dear Dr Chaudhary,

I have received your letter of 16th June 2010 inviting me to

an International Convention on "Impact of Global Climate on

Agriculture", jointly organized by Bharatiya Krishak Samaj and theRussian Centreof Science- andCulture o n 28th- July I n New Oelhr-- --I: regret my inability to accede to your request owing to pressing

engagements during that period, however, I send my good wishes

to the organisers for the success of the programme.

With good wishes,

Yours sincerely,

4'9I"~ 'Dr Krishan Bir Chaudhary

President

Bharatiya Krishak Samaj

F-1/A, Pandav Nagar

Delhi - 110 091

10, JANPATH, NEW DELHI - 110 on PH.: 23014481, 23015584

2 Kisan Ki Awaaz August - 2010



-;sro ~. t f t ; ; e tqI m~Dr. M. VEEHAPPA MOlLY

~

f c r f u ~ ~

' I 1 R " C ' f mcFR

402, 'A' f c M , ~ ~ ,-:sr"~~~,

~ ~-110115

MINISTER OF LAW & JUSTICE

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

402, 'A' WING, SHASTRI BHAWAN,

Dr,RAJENDRAPRASADROAD

NEW DELHI-11O 115

July 26, 2010,

MESSAGE

I am glad to know that an International Convention on "Impact of Global

Climate on Agriculture" is being organized jointly by Bharatiya Krishak Samaj and

the Russian Centre of Science and Culture on 28th July, 2010.

With the rapid pace of development of the human race, we have been

exploiting natural resources to such an extent that the nature's cycle and the system

of checks and balances have started getting disturbed. Rapid climate change has

prompted serious concern over the potential consequences of global warming to

the world's ecological systems and agriculture. Burning of fossil fuels has altered

the delicate balance of earth's environment and the effects are already being seen,

We can still do a great deal to avert the more serious consequences of climate

change by making rapid changes in the ways that we make and use energy,

consume, travel and communicate.

The theme of the Convention has been very aptly chosen and I am sure the

deliberations in the Convention will go a long way in suggesting measures to meetthe challenges.

I send my greetings to the organizers as well as the participants and wish the

proposed Convention a grand success,

7'-V""~~

(Dr. M. Veerappa Moily)

Dr, Krishan Bir Chaudhary,

President,

Bharatiya Krishak Samaj,

F-I/A, Pandav Nagar,

Delhi - 110091. '

3, Tuglak Lane, New Delhi-11 0011, Phone: 011-2301 6764

"Kaustubha", #1, R,T. Nagar, Bangalore-560 032, India

Tel. : 0 80 2343 0491, Fax: 0 80 2333 4784, Email: vmoily@kar,nic,in

August - 2010 Kisan KiAwaaz 3



Climate Change and Indian Agriculture

* Dr. Krishan Bir Chaudhary, President, Bharatiya Krishak Samaj

377 1.42 18.5

334 1.26 1.8

5060 19.06 3.9

1149 4.33 1.1

1214 4.57 9.5

1544 5.81 10.8

5841 22.00 19.7

3271 12.32 8.5

1. INTRODUCTION

Climate change is a reality and the main cause of the

present situation is on account of the anthropogenic

activities disturbing the composition of the

atmosphere resulting in higher concentration of

Carbon Dioxide (C02) which accumulates along with

other green house gases (GHG) like methane and

nitrous oxide and contribute to increase in surface

temperature of the earth. The main contributors have

been the developed countries like US and EU but now

other developing countries like China are slowly

replacing as the main polluters. However, the per

capita emission reveals that the main emitters are the

developed countries. If the pace of this emission

moves then it is expected the C02 concentration

which is currently less than 400 parts per million

might shoot above 800 if high emission continues by

the end of this century.

Table 1 Global C02 emission and the country

share

Country CO2 Emission

Tones

Australia

Brazil

China

India

Ja an

Russia-------

Source: World Development Indicators 2010.

The consequences of these emissions are already

visible with disturbance in climate which in tum is

touching everyone's life. Climate is an important

factor of agricultural productivity. Climate change is

likely to impact agriculture and food security across

the globe. A large fraction of the world's food

including India is grown as rainfed annual crops

(India's irrigated share is 44%), and climate variability

plays an important role in determining productivity.

India faces a severe situation in the context that the

population is increasing faster than the food grain

yield and this could make the food and other

agricultural product supply erratic and unpredictable.

Another serious challenge confronting the agriculture

is the competition for water resources increases, and

the frequency of extreme temperatures changes.Globally, all societies will be vulnerable to changes in

food production, quality and supply under climate

change along with their consequent socio-economic

pressures. Climate change is also expected to affect

agricultural and livestock production, hydrologic

balances, input supplies and other components of

agricultural systems. Climate change is caused by the

release of green house gases in the atmosphere. These

green house gases accumulate in the atmosphere

0/0 Share of

World

Per capita

emission intones

which results in global warming. The greenhouse

gases, on one hand, allow the transmission of light

reaching the earth, and on the other hand block the

transmission of heat (infra-red radiation) trying to

escape from the atmosphere, thus trapping the heat as

in a 'greenhouse'. The major changes observed as a

4 August - 2010isan Ki Awaaz



result of global warming are changes in global climate

change related parameters such as temperature,

precipitation, soil moisture and sea level.

Global warming is the observed increase in the

average temperature of the Earth's atmosphere andoceans in recent decades and its projected

continuation into the future. The decade of200 1-2009

was the warmest decade recorded on earth. Global

average near-surface atmospheric temperature rose

0.6 ± 0.2° Celsius (1.1 ± OAoFahrenheit) in the 20th

century. Most scientists are of the opinion that most of

the warming observed over the last SO years is

attributable to human activities. The main cause of the

human-induced component of warming is the

increased atmospheric concentration of greenhouse

gases (GHGs) such as carbon dioxide (C02), which

leads towarming of the surface and lower atmosphere

by increasing the greenhouse effect. Greenhousegases are released by activities such as the burning of

fossil fuels, land clearing, and agriculture. The

contribution of different sectors to the global warming

or C02 emission are illustrated inFig 1.

Fig 1Contribution in C02 Emission sectorwise

Waste and

wastewater

3% La n 0 - Ul S e

change and

forestry

17 %

Agriculture14%

Residential and

commercial buildinqs8%

Source World Development Report 2010

An increase in global temperatures can in tum cause

other changes, including a rising sea level and

changes in the amount and pattern of precipitation.

These changes may increase the frequency and

intensity of extreme weather events, such as floods,

droughts, heat waves, hurricanes, and tornados. Other

consequences include higher or lower agricultural

yields, glacier retreat, reduced summer stream flows,

species extinctions and increases in the ranges of

disease vectors. Warming is expected to affect the

number and magnitude ofthese events.

Carbon Dioxide (C02) and Methane (CH4) are the

main greenhouse gases (GHG) contributing to global

warming. Over the last century the earth has warmed

approximately 1 degree Fahrenheit. The

concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has

risen from 290ppm (parts per million) in 1900 to

nearly 400ppm. Industry, Electric Power Generation,

Agriculture and Transportation are the four top

sources of greenhouse gases.

It is being anticipated that the nsmg levels of

greenhouse gases are likely to increase the globalaverage surface temperature by I .S-4.SoC over the

next 100 years, raise sea-levels (thus inundating

farmland and making coastal groundwater saltier),

amplify extreme weather events such as storms and

hot spells, shift climate zones towards poles, and

reduce soil moisture.

2. AGRICULTURE AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Indian economy from times immemorial has been

dependent on Monsoon which brings relief not just to

the food security but to the whole economy. Rising

temperatures and changes in rainfall patterns havedirect effects on crop yields, aswell as indirect effects

through changes in irrigation water availability.

Recent studies including IFPRI have shown that the

rain fed yield changes are driven by both precipitation

and temperature changes; the irrigated yield effects

are from temperature changes alone. The results of the

research suggest that in developing countries, yield

declines predominate for most crops. Irrigated wheat

and irrigated rice are especially hard hit. On an

average, yields in developed countries are affected

less than those in developing countries. For a few

crops, climate change actually increases yields in the

developed-country. In the East Asia and Pacific

region, some crops fare reasonably well because

higher future temperatures are favourable in locations

where current temperatures are at the low end of the

crop's optimal temperature. South Asia is particularly

hard hit by climate change. For almost all crops, it is

August - 2010 Sisan Ki Awaaz



the region with the greatest yield decline. Rainfed

maize and irrigated and rainfed wheat still see

substantial areas of reduced yields. Sub-Saharan

Africa sees mixed results, with small declines or

increases inmaize yields and large negative effects on

rainfed wheat. The Latin America and Caribbeanregion also has mixed yield effects, with some crops

up slightly and some down.

A. AGRICULTURE AND C02 LEVEL

INCREASE

Some of the impacts of climate change on

atmospheric composition include C02 enrichment,

increased levels of surface ozone and rising mean

temperatures. Plants, through the process of

photosynthesis, utilize the energy of sunlight to

convert water from the soil and carbon dioxide from

the air into sugar, starches, and cellulose. C02 enters aplant through its leaves. Greater atmospheric

concentrations tend to increase the difference in

partial pressure between the air outside and inside the

plant leaves, and as a result more C02 is absorbed and

converted to carbohydrates. Crop species vary in their

response to C02. Wheat, rice, and soybeans belong to

a physiological class (called C3 plants) that responds

readily to increased C02 levels. Com, sorghum,

sugarcane, and millet are C4 plants that follow a

different pathway. Higher levels of atmospheric C02

also induce plants to close the small leaf openings

known as stomata through which C02 is absorbed and

water vapour is released. Thus, under C02enrichment crops may use less water even while they

produce more carbohydrates. This dual effect will

likely improve water-use efficiency, which is the ratio

between crop biomass and the amount of water

consumed. The positive impacts of C02 enrichment

would, to some extent, compensate for the negative

impacts of rising mean temperatures (which shorten

the growing season of most annual crops, and so

reduce yields of current varieties). The possible

decline in air quality with increased levels of surface

ozone could have serious detrimental effects on crop

growth. This positive impact is indicative that

agriculture will in many ways help in preserving and

combating climate change by adapting to the current

stress and help in conserving water. However, the

impact is possible in the context of natural farming

wherein less Carbon intensive agriculture is used.

There is greater need to pursue a natural farming with

more in situ (or in farm input resources which would

reduce the cost of cultivation as well as help in

mitigation).

B. HIGH TEMPERATURE IMPACT ON CROPS

In middle and higher latitudes, global warming will

extend the length of the potential growing season,

allowing earlier planting of crops in the spring, earlier

maturation and harvesting, and the possibility of

completing two or more cropping cycles during the

same season. Many crops have become adapted to the

growing-season day lengths of the middle and lower

latitudes and may not respond well to the much longer

days of the high latitude summers. In warmer, lower

latitude regions, increased temperatures may

accelerate the rate at which plants release C02 in the

process of respiration, resulting in less than optimal

conditions for net growth. When temperatures exceedthe optimal for biological processes, crops often

respond negatively with a steep drop innet growth and

yield. If night time temperature minimum rise more

than daytime maximum, as is expected from

greenhouse warming projections, heat stress during

the day may be less severe than otherwise, but

increased night time respiration may also reduce

potential yields. Another important effect of high

temperature is accelerated physiological

development, resulting in hastened maturation and

reduced yield.

C. AGRICULTURE AND MOISTURE STRESS

Climate change has a direct impact on water

availability for irrigated crops. Internal renewable

water (IRW) is the water available from precipitation.

Though most of the global regions experience

increased IRW, the Middle East and North Africa and

Sub-Saharan Africa regions both experience

reductions of IRW. In addition to precipitation

changes, climate change- induced higher temperatures

increase the water requirements of crops. The ratio of

water consumption to requirements is called irrigation

water supply reliability (IWSR). The smaller the ratio,

the greater the water stress on irrigated crop yields.

IWSR improves slightly for the Latin America and

Caribbean region and for the Middle East and North

Africa, but worsens slightly for Sub-Saharan Africa.

The availability of water for agriculture will be a key

issue for crop production in the coming decades.




There is a focus worldwide on how to improve the

efficiency of water use for crop production. Higher

C02 levels improve the water usage efficiency of

most crops. Plant transpiration is reduced under

higher C02 levels and the crop looses less water.

Reduced transpiration over a sufficiently large regioncould lead to reduced precipitation there as well.

These changes in transpiration can alter the

hydrological balance over land and affect the local

climate. This highlights the inherent links between

crops, climate and the water cycle. Climate change

will modify rainfall, evaporation, runoff, and soil

moisture storage. Changes in total seasonal

precipitation or in its pattern of variability are both

important. The occurrence of moisture stress during

flowering, pollination, and grain-filling is harmful to

most crops and particularly so to com, soybeans, and

wheat. Increased evaporation from the soil and

accelerated transpiration in the plants themselves willcause moisture stress; as a result there will be a need to

develop crop varieties with greater drought tolerance.

The demand for water for irrigation isprojected torise

in a warmer climate, bringing increased competition

between agriculture, urban as well as industrial users.

Falling water tables and the resulting increase in the

energy needed to pump water will make the practice

of irrigation more expensive, particularly when with

drier conditions more water will be required per acre.

Peak irrigation demands are also predicted to rise due

to more severe heat waves. Additional investment for

dams, reservoirs, canals, wells, pumps, and piping

may be needed to develop irrigation networks in newlocations. Finally, intensified evaporation will

increase the hazard of salt accumulation in the soil.

D. EXTREME CLIMATE AND

AGRICULTURE

Important climate thresholds for food crops include

episodes of high temperatures that coincide with

critical phases of the crop cycle. These high-

temperature episodes can lead to dramatic reductions

in yield, in some cases in excess of 50%; for example,

temperatures greater than 30°C lasting formore than 8

hours lead to reduced grain-set in wheat. Climate

change scenarios suggest that critical temperature

thresholds for food crops will be exceeded with

increasing frequency in the future. For some crops,

these critical temperatures, particularly at flowering

and fruit or grain bearing, are reasonably well known

(e.g. temperatures greater than 35°C for more than 1

hour leads to pollen sterility inrice).

E. CLIMATE CHANGE AND QUALITY

DEPRECIATION

Food systems can be vulnerable to climate change.

Grain quality of wheat (e.g. protein content) is highly

susceptible to current variations in climate and affects

the type of foods that can be produced through, for

example, gluten levels and related dough strength will

affect crop storage and thereby increase the cost of

transportation and storage. Other impact on crop

quality include, pests and diseases, such as dangerous

levels of mycotoxin contamination of groundnuts.

Vegetable and fruits dehydrate and get contaminated

besides losing texture and human find it difficult to

consume.

F. CLIMATE CHANGE AND SOIL FERTILITY

Higher air temperatures will also affect the soil, where

warmer conditions are likely to speed the natural

decomposition of organic matter and to increase the

rates of other soil processes that affect fertility. With

dryer condition lesser water the decomposition will

make available NPK for the plants to grow. This

would also enhance the depletion of micronutrients

and it availability and reduce the quality of produce

from the land. Additional application of fertilizer may

be needed to counteract these processes and to take

advantage of the potential for enhanced crop growththat can result from increased atmospheric C02.

However, of adequate irrigation not provided the

application of fertilizer will serve no purpose. Further

excess application of fertiliser to overcome stress

would pose a severe cost to environment impact water

and air quality besides contamination of food chain.

The continual cycling of plant nutrients (carbon,

nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and sulphur) in the

soil-plant-atmosphere system is also likely to

accelerate in warmer conditions, enhancing C02 and

N20 greenhouse gas emissions.

G. CLIMATE CHANGE AND PEST AND

DISEASES

Severe stress in climate with erratic rainfalls helps

proliferation of insect pests in warmer climates.

Longer growing seasons will enable insects such as

August - 2010 7isan Ki Awaaz



grasshoppers to complete a greater number of

reproductive cycles during the spring, summer, and

autumn. Warmer winter temperatures may also allow

larvae to winter-over in areas where they are now

limited by cold, thus causing greater infestation

during the following crop season. Altered windpatterns may change the spread of both wind-borne

pests and of the bacteria and fungi that are the agents

of crop disease. Crop-pest interactions may shift as

the timing of development stages in both hosts and

pests is altered. Livestock diseases may be similarly

affected. The possible increases in pest infestations

may bring about greater use of chemical pesticides to

control them, a situation that will require further

development and application of integrated pest

management techniques.

H. CLIMATE CHANGE AND AGRICULTURE

INLOW LYING AREAS

Global warming is predicted to lead to thermal

expansion of sea water, along with partial melting of

land-based glaciers and sea-ice, resulting in a rise of

sea level which may range from 0.1 to 0.5 meters (4 to

20 inches) by the middle of the next century,

according to present estimates of the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Such a rise could pose a threat to agriculture in low-

lying coastal areas, where impeded drainage of

surface water and of groundwater, aswell as intrusion

of sea water into estuaries and aquifers, might take

place. In parts of Egypt, Bangladesh, Indonesia,China, the Netherlands, Florida, and other low-lying

coastal areas already suffering from poor drainage,

agriculture is likely to become increasingly difficult

to sustain besides degradation of soil on account of

salt intrusion. Island states are particularly at risk

wiping off inhabitation and causing large scale

immigration and other social problems.

I. CLIMATE CHANGE AND MONSOON

IMPACT

ENSO (EI Nino Southern Oscillation) is the most

important factor contributing to water recharge in

rainfed regions of India climate change warming in

the ocean disturbs the pressure zones thereby

disturbing the monsoon. Rice cultivation would be

worst affected with a disturbed monsoon and

unpredictable weather. Scheduled planting and

harvesting based onweather patterns will become less

effective. Even regions adjoining India like Indonesia

where the main crop consists of rice will be more

vulnerable to the increased intensity of ENSO effects

in the future of climate change. Normal planting of

rice crops begin in October and harvested by January.However, as climate change affects ENSO and

consequently delays planting, harvesting will be late

and in drier conditions, resulting in less potential

yields.

3. CLIMATE CHANGE AND INDIAN

AGRICULTURE

Agriculture and allied sector still constitutes the single

largest component of around 17% of the Gross

Domestic Product and providing an employment of

around two thirds of the total work force. Its

contribution to exports is close to 11 percentage andits intricate linkage with food prices makes it critical

to providing not just the food needs of the country but

also its neighboring South Asia region. At the country

level the agriculture contributes 28 percentages of

total GHG emissions. This share in agriculture does

not include the fuel used in agriculture for energy use.

The main GHG emission in agriculture comes from

enteric fermentation which forms close to 60

percentages followed by methane emission from rice

cultivation close to 23 percentages.

Fig 2 Sector wise GHG emission in Agriculture in

India

L a nd u sen e r g y

W a s te s

2 %

I n d u s t r i a l

p r o c e s s e s

8 %




Fig 3 Desegregation of the GHG Agricultural

Emission in India

Manure Ricecultivation

23 %Crop residues

1%

soils

12%

Enle ric

fermentatiDn

59 %

Source: India's Initial National Communication on

Climate Change, 2004

The impact of climate change on India agriculture has

received very less attention in terms of policy mainly

on account of differences emerging in the

quantification of the effect arising from the change in

temperature and build up of C02 concentration. Even

the methane emission from rice has received sharp

criticism wherein western media reports of high

methane emission have been proved erroneous

(Boxl). Notwithstanding this difference there is no

denying that temperature has changed significantly in

the country. Recent reports from different studies

show that the surface temperature across the countryis increasing. The global increase over the period of

100 years was close to 0.850C and for India it was

close to 0.540C.

Box 1 Source: ICAR

400;

"01 30. .r=0.~

20'E

""'0 " 10

'"I:: ~

5:;;

0

u

-

IPCC

-MtTRA MOEF

IARt tARt

II II II ,----,

August - 2010

This increase in temperature is cause of alarm with the level

of industrialization and growth model that is being

pursued. The increase in temperature is a result of the

buildup ofthe GHG emission accumulating in the region.

This is and will result in more frequent hot days, hot nights

and heat waves. This will also result in erratic precipitation

and rise in sea level and low lying agriculture will be

seriously affected. Even the tropical cyclones in the Bay of

Bengal is set to increase and the glaciers in the Himalayas

are going to contract flooding the perennial rivers like

Ganga, Yamuna and Brahmaputra's.

More specifically the clear impact of climate change is the

increase in vulnerability of the crops, livestock, plantation

crops, fisheries, soil fertility and water balance. This in tum

will make the ecology unstable. Agriculture cultivation is a

natural carbon sink wherein plants absorb C02 and

naturally sequester the Carbon from the atmosphere

contributing to natural mitigation. An increase in C02 to a

level of 550 parts per million (ppm) increase the yields of

rice, wheat, legumes and oilseeds by 10-20 percentage.

However an increase of 10 C in temperature reduce yields

of wheat, soybean, mustard, groundnut and potato by 3-

7%. Reports indicate that the productivity of most crops

decrease marginally by 2020 but by 10-40% by 2100. The

variation in temperature will also affect yields of apples

(including ripening), coconuts and all fruits and

vegetables.

On account of increase in temperature water balance is

going to get disturbed. Already the level of water

exploitation is very bad and with increase in surface

temperature and without adaptation it is anticipated the

water bodies like the lakes, ponds are going to disappear on

account of the heat. Already on account of unscrupulous

exploitation fertile lands with rich biomass is being

converted to industrial and residential and commercial

purpose which is depleting the natural carbon sinks

contributing to further build up of Green House Gases

(GHG). Industrialized agriculture in developed countries

contribute more intensively to the buildup of C02 than the

subsistence and traditional agriculture practiced in

developing countries. Similarly on meeting the growing

demand commercial cultivation in Indian farm using

synthetic fertilizer and chemicals is further adding to the

GHG emission and degrading the fertility and productivity

ofIndian agriculture .

The new farming policies using Genetically Modified

(GM) seeds is posing a serious threat since these crops use

more water and synthetic fertilizers and chemicals which

add to the carbon foot-prints and further aggravate climate

change. These crops also reduce the biomass and

biodiversity of the region and pose a threat and extinction

of traditional crops and varieties.

Kisan Ki Awaaz 9



Genetically Engin eered Soybean s May Cau se A llergies

* Jeffrey Smith

"I used to test for soy allergies all the time, but now that soy is genetically engineered,it is so dangerous that I tell people never to eat it unless it says organic."

-Allergy specialist John Boyles, MD

Beginning in 1996, genes from bacteria and viruses

have been forced into the DNA of soy, com, cotton,

and canola plants, which are used for food. Ohio

allergist John Boyles is one of a growing number of

experts who believe that these genetically modified

(GM) foods are contributing to the huge jump in food

allergies in the US, especially among children.

The UK is one of the few countries that conduct a

yearly food allergy evaluation. In March 1999,

researchers at the York Laboratory were alarmed to

discover that reactions to soy had skyrocketed by

50% over the previous year.

Genetically modified soy had recently entered the

UK from US imports and the soy used in the study

was largely GM. John Graham, spokesman for the

York laboratory, said, "We believe this raises serious

new questions about the safety ofGM foods."

Genetic engineering may provoke allergies

There are many ways in which the process of genetic

engineering may be responsible for allergies. The

classical understanding is that the imported genes

produce a new protein, which may trigger reactions.

This was demonstrated in the mid 1990s when

soybeans were outfitted with a gene from the Brazil

nut. While scientists attempted to produce a healthier

soybean, they ended up with a potentially deadly one.

Blood tests showed that people allergic to Brazil nuts

reacted to the beans. Itwas never marketed.

The GM variety planted in 91% of US soy acres iscalled Roundup Readyengineered to survive

otherwise deadly applications of Monsanto's

Roundup herbicide. The plants contain genes from

bacteria, which produce a protein that has never been

part of the human food supply. Since people aren't

usually allergic to a food until they have eaten it

several times, no tests can prove in advance that the

protein will not cause allergies.

As a precaution, scientists compare this new protein

with a database of proteins known to cause allergies.

According to criteria recommended by the World

Health Organization (WHO) and others, if the new

GM protein contains amino acid sequences that have

been shown to trigger immune responses in other

proteins, the GM crop should not be commercialized

(or additional testing should be done). Sections of the

protein produced in GM soy, however, are identical to

shrimp and dust mite allergens. But the soybean got

marketed anyway. Frighteningly, the only published

human feeding study on GM foods ever conducted

verified that the gene inserted into GM soy transfers

into the DNA of our gut bacteria and continues to

function. This means that years after we stop eating

GM soy, we may still have the potentially allergenic

protein continuously produced within our intestines.

Damaged soy DNA creates new (or more) allergens

The process of creating a GM crop produces massive

collateral damage in the plant's DNA. Native genes

can be mutated, deleted, permanently turned on or off,

and hundreds may change their levels of protein

expression. This can increase existing allergen, or

produce a new, unknown allergens. Both appear to

have happened in GM soy.

Levels of one known soy allergen, trypsin inhibitor,

were up to seven times higher in cooked GM soy

compared to cooked non-GM soy. Another studydiscovered a unique, unexpected protein in GM soy,

likely to trigger allergies.

In addition, of eight human subjects who had a skin-

Contd.on page-13 ........




Shining India or Starving India?

* Dr. Vandana Shiva

India became independent soon after the Great

Bengal Famine which took two million lives. And an

independent and free India reclaimed her food

sovereignty, and food security.

The Harijan, a newspaper published by Mahatma

Gandhi, which had been banned from 1942 to 1946,

was full of articles written by Gandhi during 1946-

1947 on how to deal with food scarcity politically, and

by Mira Behn, Kumarappa and Pyarelal on how to

grow more food using internal resources. On 10 June

1947, referring to the food problem at a prayermeeting Gandhi said:

'The first lesson we must learn is of self-help and self-

reliance. Ifwe assimilate this lesson, we shall at once

free ourselves from disastrous dependence upon

foreign countries and ultimate bankruptcy. This isnot

said in arrogance but as amatter of fact.

We are not a small place, dependent for this food

supply upon outside help. We are a sub-continent, a

nation of nearly 400 millions. We are a country of

mighty rivers and a rich variety of agricultural land,with inexhaustible cattle-wealth.

That our cattle give much less milk than we need is

entirely our own fault. Our cattle-wealth is any day

capable of giving us all the milk we need.

Our country, if it had not been neglected during the

past few centuries, should not today only be providing

herself with sufficient food, but also be playing a

useful role in supplying the outside world with much-

needed foodstuffs of which the late war has

unfortunately left practically the whole world inwant.

This does not exclude India'.

Recognising that the crisis in agriculture was related

to a breakdown of nature's processes, India's first

agriculture minister, K M Munshi, had worked out a

detailed strategy on rebuilding and regenerating the

ecological base of productivity in agriculture based on

a bottom-up decentralized and participatory

methodology.

In a seminar on 27 September 1951, organized by the

Agriculture Ministry, a program of regeneration of

Indian Agriculture was worked out, with the

recognition that the diversity ofIndia's soils, crops and

climates, had to be taken into account.

The need to plan from the bottom, to consider every

individual village and sometimes every individualfield was considered essential for the programme

called 'land transformation'. At this seminar, K M

Munshi told the State Directors of Agricultural

extension:

'Study the Life's Cycle in the village under your charge

in both its aspects hydrological and nutritional. Find

out where the cycle has been disturbed and estimate

the steps necessary for restoring it. Work out the

village in four of its aspects, (1) existing conditions,

(2) steps necessary for completing the hydrological

cycle,(3) steps necessary to complete the nutritional cycle,

and a complete picture of the village when the cycle is

restored, and

(4) have faith inyourself and the programme.

Nothing is too mean and nothing too difficult for the

man who believes that the restoration of the life's

cycle is not only essential for freedom and happiness

ofIndia but is essential for her very existence'.

Repairing nature's cycles and working in partnership

with nature's processes was viewed as central to the

indigenous agricultural policy.

Ecological repair of the water and nutrient cycle

combined with land reform, investments in

agriculture, fair prices for farmers and consumers

through Universal Public Distribution System were




holistic instruments for food security.

The food system is broken once again. Per Capita

consumption has dropped from 177 cal/day/capita to

150 cal/day/capita. And it has been broken

deliberately through the Structural Adjustment

Polices of the World Bank, the trade liberalizations

rules ofthe WTO.

Itis being continuously broken by the obsession ofthe

Government to tum seed, food and land into

marketable commodities so that corporate profits

grow, even though farmers commit suicide and

children starve. 200,000 farmers have committed

suicide in India since 1997.

Farmers suicides are triggered by debt, and the debt

trap is created by a corporate driven agriculture whichmaximizes corporate profits by pushing non-

renewable seeds and agri-chemicals on impoverished

and innocent farmers.

Every fourth India is hungry today according to U.N.

data. India has beaten Sub-Saharan Africa as the

capital of hunger. One million children die every year

as a result ofunder-nutrition and hunger.

61million children are stunted, 25million are wasted.

42% of the underweight children of the world are now

in India. If a community is hungry, families are

hungry, if a family is hungry, children are hungry.

If the entire food chain is broken, then the food chain

must be fixed. Tinkling with fragments of the broken

chain will not fix it. The food chain begins with the

natural capital of soil, water and seed. The second link

is the work of hardworking small, marginal farmers

and landless peasants, most of whom are women. The

final link is eating.

The first link has been broken by ecological

degradation and corporate hijack of seed, land and

water. Soil erosion, biodiversity erosion, waterdepletion, undernourished food production

contribute to food insecurity. When peasants loose

access to land, seed and water, they loose access to

food. Increase in hunger is a direct consequence.

The second link that has been broken is the capacity

of the farmer, the food producer to produce food.

Rising costs of production and falling farm prices

create debt and debt creates food insecurity.

The deliberate destruction of food procurement by

dismantling the PDS system, by using godowns to

store liquor instead of food, by not guaranteeing a fair

price to farmers are signals to the farmers ofIndia that

the Government wants a food system without small

farmers.

Since farmers are the back bone of India's food

security and food sovereignty, breaking the farmers

back is breaking the nations food security. There can

be no food security in a deepening agrarian crisis.

The third link in the food chain is people's entitlement

and right to food. The combination of rising foodprices, decreasing production of pulses and nutritious

millets has reduced the access of the poor to adequate

food and nutrition. Hunger and malnutrition is the

inevitable consequence.

And while millions of our fellow citizens starve, the

Government fiddles with figures. Instead of

addressing the food crisis, the Government is

addressing a fragment of the consequences of the

crisis. Poverty is a consequence, not a cuase.

Fiddling with poverty figures 37 percent m theTendulkar Committee Report, 50 percent in the

Saxena Report, 77 percent in the Unorganised Sector

Report is a deliberate attempt to avoid addressing the

root causes of hunger and poverty.

In the context of the food and nutrition crisis, the

proposed National Food Security Act (NFSA) is a

mere fig leaf. It is inadequate because it ignores the

first two links in the food chain, and reduces the scope

of existing schemes for the poor and vulnerable.

For example the NFSA offers only 25 kgs of grain,

instead of the 35 kgs per family per month fixed by theSupreme Court.

The India Council of Medical Research fixes the

caloric norms at 2400 Kcal in rural areas and 2100

Kcal in urban areas. The Tendulkar Committee which




is now the Planning Commissions official basis fixes

average calorie consumption at 1776 Kcal in urban

areas and 1999 Kcal for rural areas. Throughjuggling

figures the hungry become well fed, the poor become

non-poor.

Food security demands a universal PDS system which

serves both the poor farmers and the poor eaters by

ensuring fair prices throughout the food chain. Instead

the Government is committed to ever narrowing

"targeting" because it is committed to handing over

agriculture to global agribusiness, and handling over

so called food security schemes to companies like

Sodexo who will collect our tax money to distribute

food coupons to the poor who will use the food

coupons to increase the profits of Cargill, Unilever,

Nestle.

The Governments prescriptions will further break the

food chain, deepening food insecurity.As small

farmers are displaced by agribusinesses, the

destruction of natural capital will increase further

weakening the first link in the food chain. The

agrarian crisis facing two thirds of rural India will

deepen. And breaking the link between farmers and

eaters, between production and consumption through

food stamps and food vouchers will completely break

the food chain.

For a country as large, as poor, as hungry as India,

food sovereignty and self reliance in food production

is not a luxury, it is a food security imperative. The

proposed solution is in the name of reducing of food

subsidy. When PDS was replaced by TPDS under

World Bank pressure, this was the argument used.

However, the food subsidy bill increased from Rs.

2500 crore to Rs. 50,000 crore to starve our people.

The further narrowing of the "target" will further

increase the food subsidy because it will lead to an

increase in the gap between high cost production and

the subsidized food as well as a growing gap between

rising market prices for food and the subsidized food.

And these increasing gaps will also lead to increased

corruption. After Enron, after Goldman Sachs, after

IPL we can no longer say the private sector will clean

things up.

We can no longer think that corruption is exclusive to

Government and handing over the task of feeding the

poor to greedy, profit oriented corrupt corporations

will provide a miracle solution to hunger. Because the

National Food Security Act aims to tum into Law, the

very policies which have created the hunger crisis,

into Law, itis in fact aN ational Food Insecurity Act.

Contd. from page- 10 .

prick (allergy-type) reaction to GM soy, one did not

also react to non-GM soy, suggesting that GM soy is

uniquely dangerous.

Increased herbicides, digestive problems and

allergies

Farmers use nearly double the amount of herbicide on

GM soy compared to non-GM soy; higher herbicide

residues might cause reactions. GM soy reduces

digestive enzymes in mice. If proteins "digest"

slowly in humans, there is more time for allergic

reactions (possibly to many food proteins).

Eating GM foods is gambling with our health

Documents made public from a lawsuit revealed that

FDA scientists were uniformly concerned that GM

foods might create hard-to-detect allergies, toxins,

new diseases, and nutritional problems. Their urgent

requests for required long-term feeding studies fell on

deaf ears. The FDA doesn't require a single safety test.

The person in charge of that FDA policy was

Monsanto's former attorney, who later became their

vice president.

Buying products that are organic or labeled non-

GMO are two ways to limit your family's risk.

Another is to avoid products containing any

ingredients from the seven GM food crops: soy, com,

cottonseed, canola, Hawaiian papaya, and a little bitof zucchini and crook neck squash. This means

avoiding soy lecithin in chocolate, com syrup in

candies, and cottonseed or canola oil in snack foods.

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PAD CONTINGENT PLAN FOR CROPS

* Dr. Charanjit Singh Gumtala

LUDHIANA, JULY 13With the on-set ofrainy season,

a flood like situation has developed in some parts ofthe

state. In the districts of Patiala, Mansa, Ropar,

Ludhiana and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar the crops

inthe field have been affected badly.

Keeping in view the current situation, the Punjab

Agricultural University has chalked out a contingent

plan for the crops.

Giving details, the Director of Extension Education,

Dr. M.S.Gill said that farmers have been advised to

adopt various measures to deal with the situation. Intheareas where the impact ofrains isnot so severe, farmers

can arrange for the nursery ofbasmati.

July is a proper month for transplanting basmati crop,

he said. Two varieties namely, Basmati-370 and

Basmati-386 can be sown directly, said Dr. Gill adding

that when the water drains in the field, the sowing can

be undertaken through broadcasting or using drum

seeder.

When the flooded areas will reach the wattar condition,

the mash varieties Mash-114, Mash-338 and Mash-l-l

can be sown using 6-8 kg seed per acre. This will give3-3.5 q/acre yield of mash, said Dr. Gill. Maize,

particularly the varieties PMH-2 and JH-3459 can also

be grown using 8kg seed per acre.

In addition to comforting the demand of green fodder,

the green cobs from the maize crop can provide good

profit to the farmers. This crop can be followed with

latewheat or sunflower, said Dr. Gill

A mixture of maize and bajra using a seed rate of 15kg

maize and 3 kg bajra can be grown for fodder which

will be available after 40 days.

The fields reaching wattar condition inthe first week of

September can be sown with toria varieties PBT-37 and

TL-15 using 1.5kg seed per acre and maintaining a line

to line distance of30 em.

The crop takes around 90 days for maturity. The

farmers have also been suggested to grow amixture of

tori a and gobhi sarson crops in the middle of

September.

For this, one kg seed per acre of each will be required.

After preparing the fields, the toria seeds can be sown

by broadcast and gobhi sarson in rows 45 em apart.

The toria crop will mature in end December while

gobhi sarson in end March.

Farmers can also grow vegetables. August is suitable

for growing radish, cucurbits like bottle gourd,

bitterguard and lufa, etc. Lobia (cowpea) can also be

grown forvegetables.

The farmers may obtain nursery ofbrinjal and tomato

from areas unaffected by floods. Dr. Gill said that peas

varieties Arkel and Matar Ageta-6 can be grown in end

September which can yield green pods after 60-65

days.

The seed rate for these varieties is 45 kg per acre

maintaining an inter-row spacing of 30 cm. Dr. Gill

cautioned that for early crop of peas seed treatment

with Bavistin (1 gper kg. seed) must be followed.

The crop of chilli growing in the field need protection

against fruit rot, anthracnose and wilt diseases which

become serious in rainy season. The PAU

recommendations need to be followed to keep the

diseases under check.

Dr. Gill informed the farmers that PAU has a seed

stock of 25 quintal of toria which they can obtain for

sowmg.

He mentioned that the University has formulated

teams to visit different areas under floods to study theground situation and advice farmers about the

contingent measures required, if any.

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August ~20] 0 Kisan KiAwaaz ] 5



ABrief Report of Convention

"IDlpact of Global C'Hrn af.e Change

onAgriculture in Russia and India"New Delhi, July 28, 2010: The Convention

"Impact of Global Climate Change on Agriculture in

Russia and India", organized by Bharatiya Krishak

Samaj jointly with Russian Centre of Science&

Culture in the capital was addressed by prominent

academics, agricultural scientists,

environmentalists, M.P.s, and others, and attended

by a large gathering of agriculturists representing

several Indian states. The speakers were unanimous

in making a clarion call for joint efforts by Russia

and India on reducing the negative impact of global

climate change. On this occasion Hon'ble Smt.Sonia Gandhi Chairperson, UPA and Dr. M.

Veerappa Moily,Hon'ble UnionMinister ofLaw

& Justice send their good wishes for the success of

the programme.

In introductory address President, Bharatiya

Krishak Samaj, Dr.Krishan Bir Chaudhary said

that Climate change is a reality and the main cause of

the present situation is on account of the

anthropogenic activities disturbing the composition

of the atmosphere resulting in higher concentration

of Carbon Dioxide (C02) which accumulates along

with other green house gases (GHG) like methane

and nitrous oxide and contribute to increase in

surface temperature of the earth. The main

contributors have been the developed countries like

US and EU but now other developing countries like

China are slowly replacing as the main polluters.

However, the per capita emission reveals that the

main emitters are the developed countries. The

consequences of these emissions are already visible

with disturbance in climate which in tum is touching

everyone's life. Climate is an important factor of

agricultural productivity. Climate change is likely to

impact agriculture and food security across theglobe. In Another serious challenge confronting the

agriculture is the competition for water resources

increases, and the frequency of extreme

temperatures changes.

Voicing his concern on the negative impact of global

climate change, the Chief Guest H.E. Lt. Gen.

(Retd.) M.M. Lakhera, Governor of Mizoram,

noted that the developing countries like India are

highly vulnerable to its potential impact, adding that

ironically the high-emission polluters in developed

counties are going to be the beneficiaries of climate

change and not itsvictims as far as food production is

concerned. The world community needs to come

together to discuss mitigation and adaptation

strategies to counter global warming and climate

change so that the poor are not made to carry the full

burden of this man-made disaster, the Chief Guestsaid and added that what we need to do is to improve

our traditional seeds in the Indian environment to

achieve higher production by better means of water

harvesting, soil fertility and organic fertilizers.

Earlier, welcoming the gathering, Mr.SergeyIsaev,

Head of Scienceand Technology,RCSC, said that

global warming is the observed increase in the

average temperature of the Earth's atmoslphere and

oceans in recent decades and its project continuation

into the future. He pointed out that Russia is today

the world leader in reducing green house gas

emissions. Russia accounts for half of all the

reduction in emissions in the world over the last 20

years.

Making a clarion call on joint efforts by India and

Russia towards reducing the impact of global climate

change largely affecting mainly agricultural

production, Mr. Oscar Fernandes, M.P.,

Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee

on Human Resource Development, laid emphasis

on focusing more on organic manure in agriculture,

water conservation and water management.

Globally, all societies will be vulnerable to changesin food production, quality and supply under climate

change along with their consequent socio-economic

pressures. Climate change is also expected to affect

agricultural and livestock production, hydrologic

balances, input supplies and other components of

agricultural systems.




Pronounsing a note of warning that developed

countries are more responsible for climate change,

Mr. Harish Rawat, Minister of State for Labour

and Employment, Government oflndia, said that

those responsible should do the needful in the matter.In India, over 90 per cent of the people perform green

job and they do not harm environment. Our

Government is more concerned about agri-

measures, and this is the major one among the eight

missions it has launched, he noted.

Assessing the substantial climate change of recent

years influencing all aspects of human life and

activities, H.E.Mr.Andrei A. Sorokin, Charge d'

Affaires, Embassy of the Russian Federation in

India, pointed towards the green house gases and

aerosol upsetting the radioactive balance of the

system contributing to global warming. Citing the

fact that Russia is one of the countries where

agriculture depends largely on climate fluctuation,

Mr. Sorokin said that the impact of climate change

on agriculture in Russia is very complicated and

little-investigated. He expressed the hope that joint

efforts of scientists from India and Russia will

facilitate the introduction of innovative technologies

and more effective cooperation in such critical areas

as quality improvement systems for maintaining soil

fertility and preventing land degradation, saving and

mobilization of the gene pool of plants resources,

effective biotechnologies for the selection of specieswith higher productivity and resistance to

unfavourable environmental factors, the

establishment of national systems of agro-

ecological monitoring. Such cooperation could not

only strengthen food security of our countries, but

also make it possible to reduce the negative impact

of global climate change, Mr. Sorokin concluded.

Maj. Gen. (Retd.) R. M. Kharab, Chairman,

Animal Welfare Board of India, explained the

negative effects creeping in the environment on

account of human negligence and underlined

various measures to obtain food security and better

agricultural production.

Mr.Aboni Roy,M.P.,in his observation referred to

the imperative of stalling the efforts of developed

countries in damaging the global climate with a view

to maintaining the ecological balance.

Mr.Madan Lal Sharma, M.P.,expressed the view

that we in India are blessed with the greenery

whereas the Western countries in abject violation of

norms spoil the environmental harmony and

balance.Mr. Sajjan SinghVerma,M.P.,called for more and

more efforts to make our nature eco- friendly aimed it

ensuring a sumptuous and comfortable climatic

environment.

Mr. D. D. Lapang, Former Chief Minister of

Meghalaya, Chairman, Nearth-East Congress

Committee, said that climate change is a reality

affecting agriculture and food security across the

globe. He made an emphatic note on rising to the

occasion to meet this challenging phenomenon.

Mr. SunilShastri, ExM.P.,described agriculture as

the soul of the country's economy and agriculturists

the backbone of our people. Referring to the global

warming as a dangerous signal, he warned that

consistent efforts are the need of the hour to contain

it.

Mr. P. K. Thungan, Former Chief Minister of

Arunachal Pradesh, underscored the great role

India and Russia can play together joining other

nations in confronting the serious issue of global

warming thereby ensuring a harmless and safe

atmosphere.

Mr.Harikesh Bahadur Ex. M.P., expressed the

views that change of climate is effecting our

agriculture productivity and the ground water level is

going down.

Mr. Atul Kumar Anjan, Secretary, CPI, in his

address was critical on the role of developed Western

countries whose negligent attitude towards the

crucial condition on global warming, which needs to

be met with.

Dr. T. Meinya, M.P., in his presidential remarks

pin pointed the suggestions and observations made

by the distinguished speakers contributing to

tackling of global warming so as to ensure ecological

balance and a pure and peaceful environment.




Sh.SanghPriya Gautam, former UnionMinister,

Smt.Neeva Konwar, Member, National

Commission forWoman(Govt. oflndia), Sh.Oris

SyiemMyriaw, Member National Commission

for Scheduled Trides (Govt. of India), Capt.

Praveen Davar &Sh.Ranji Thomas, Secretaries,All India Congress Committee, Jathedar

Rachhpal Singh, Sh. K.Sareen, Sh. T.N.Fotedar,

Sh.SunilDang, Sh.N.K.Agarwal, Director, Crop

Care Federation, Sh. Nurul Huda (Ex.M.P.)&

Sh. N.K. Shukla Joint Sect. (All India Kisan

Sabha), Sh.Ajay Gupta (ICCR), Sh.HatamSingh

Nagar, Gen.sect.(UPCC), Ch. Raghunath Singh,

Prof. Kishore Gandhi, Dr. Sanjay Kaushik, Sh.

Dhirendra Pratap-Uttrakhand, Sh. Manish

Nagpal (Ex Minister, Uttrakhand), Prof. Sanjay

Jadhav, President, Maharashtra Krishak Samaj,

Ch. Mahabir Gulia ,President, Haryana Krishak

Samaj, Ch. RamKaran Solanki President, Delhi

Krishak Samaj, Ch. Bijendar Dalal, President,

Palwal Krishak Samaj, Smt. & Sh. Raja Matin

Noori, Sh.Prahlad Tyagi,Sh.Manish Chaudhary

(Debas), and other prominent persons attended

the programme.

The following resolutions were passed in the

convention

Key interventions needed to scale indian

agricultural challengesfromclimate change.

India has to takes on globally the climate change

issues it needs to drastically reform its internal

agricultural policy preparing itself in a war footing

on mitigation and adaption. As part of the policy

suggestion it was found that the following

intervention would be needed immediately to equip

IndianAgriculture to take on climate change:

1) Zero Tolerance to conversion of agricultural land

for non-agricultural use.

2) A resolve to make few regions in India chemical

and synthetic fertiliser free by 2020.

3) An urgent initiative or a bill to conserve biomass

in the farm andWaste Recycling for

Agriculture.

4) Incorporate in situ tree planting in all farming,

adopt aMixed farming asmeans to combat

climate change.

5) Special Mission initiated at the Country level to

shift crop acreage to Course Cereal and

Millets to enhance nutrition value of food basket

and help agriculture to adapt to climate change.

6) Free all the water bodies like ponds, lakes andtanks from illegal possession as per revenue record

of every village and reforms initiated at the state

level to rectify the same and scale up the level of

water harvesting at a decentralized level.

7) Special Intervention from Indian Government to

regulate the flood water for effective recharge

using deep bore technologies at suitable depths.

8) Scaling up the organic agriculture and developing

model centre of excellence and shift agriculture

subsidies for intensive organic practices.

9) Revitalise the rural credit and crop insurance in

the context of Climate change.

10) Launching of Sustainable Traditional

Agricultural Revolution (STAR) using local

resources for beating climate change.

R u s s ia n C e n t r e o f S c ie n c e a n d C u lt u r e

j o i n tl y w i th

B h a r a ti y a K r i s h a k S a m a j

w e l c o m e s y o u a t t h e

C O N V E N T I O N O N

I m p a c t o f G l o b a l C l i m a t e C h a n g eo n A g r i c u l t u r e i n R u s s i a a n d I n d i a

18 Kisan Ki Awaaz August - 2010



August - 2010 Kisan Ki Awaaz 19



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Kisan Ki Awaaz August - 2010

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National R ound Table On FTAs W ith Europ ean Union, Israel

And Its Im pact On Indian Agriculture

New Delhi, 29th July, 2010, All India Kisan Sabha (4

Ashoka Road), All India Kisan Sabha (4 Windsor Place),

Agragami Kisan Sabha and Samyukt Kisan Sabha jointly

organised a National Round Table on the issue of Free

Trade Agreements with European Union and Israel and

its impact on Indian agriculture. The Round Table began

with the Atul Kumar Anjaan, General Secretary,AIKS (4

Windsor Place) introducing the subject. S.Ramachandran

Pillai, President, AIKS (4 Ashoka Road) placed the

Resolution.

Saidul Haque, CPI(M) and Prabodh Panda, CPI and

Prasenjit Bose, Convenor, Research Unit, CPI(M)

among others. The Round Table was presided over by

K.Varadha Rajan, General Secretary, AIKS (4 Ashoka

Road) and C.K.Chandrapan, President, AIKS (4

Windsor Place).

More than hundred delegates from different States

attended the Round Table and many of them placed their

views. After the discussions the resolution was

unanimously

adopted. It was

also decided that adelegation of the

d iff ere n t

organisations will

present the

resolution to the

Prime Minister,

the Agriculture

Minister and the

Commerce

Minister and also

petition the

Parliament. The

Round Table

decided to

intensify the

struggle against

the arbitrary and

unilateral signing of FTAs disregarding the Parliament

and the States.

Introducing the

issue AtulAnjaan

questioned the

rationale for the

utter secrecy in

which the FTA

negotiations are

going on and

called upon the

Government to

make negotiation

texts public.

S.Ramachandra

n Pillai stressed

that the FTAs arebeing used as an

alternative mode

to push forward

the agenda of Free Trade more aggressively in the context

of the breakdown of the WTO negotiations. The EU FTA

will seriously compromise the livelihoods of the

peasantry, workers and rural poor as well as public health

he said. He also stressed that the dairy sector and millions

of dairy farmers will be adversely affected by the FTA.

He called for aWhite Paper on WTO and its impact on the

peasantry and said that no FTA should be signed without

approval of the Parliament and State Governments.

Naren Dey, Agriculture Minister, West Bengal spoke on

behalf of the Agragami Kisan Sabha and

N.Chandrashekharan Nair spoke on behalf of the

Samyukt Kisan Sabha and seconded the Resolution. The

Round Table was addressed by Dr.Krishan Bir

Chaudhary, President, Bharatiya Krishak Samaj, Afsar

Jafri, Focus on the Global South, Members of Parliament

Resolutions

In the backdrop of the agrarian crisis and the global

economic crisis this Round Table expresses serious

concern at the manner in which the Government is

entering into Free Trade Agreements. This will only lead

to a further intensification of the agrarian crisis and itsimplications for the peasantry, the working class as well

as the poor could be disastrous. The breakdown of the

Doha Round ofWTO negotiations has caused a stalemate

which has not been overcome despite various efforts.

The immediate reason for the breakdown was the inability




of the EU and the USA to arrive at any agreement on the

controversial issues, particularly on agricultural

subsidies. In the context of the breakdown of the Doha

Round of WTO negotiations, a devious alternative very

much entrenched within the Free Trade Paradigm has

emerged: a myriad of Free Trade Agreements. In the

backdrop of the global financial crisis the developed

capitalist countries in the EU and USA are cautious and

also want to pass on the burden of the crisis to countries

like ours.

Developed capitalist countries are resorting more and

more to Bilateral Agreements with individual developing

countries to push forth the agenda of Free Trade. Bilateral

Free Trade Agreements could also serve to break the

possibility of any united stand by developing countries in

multilateral forums like the WTO. Not merely the

developed capitalist countries but also the ruling classes

in countries like India are enthusiastically taking to the

idea. The urge of the Indian ruling classes to have a sharein the global market and their drive to earn profits is

sought to be addressed through the FTA route. The FTAs

are different from the bilateral trade agreements that were

being entered into earlier. The scope of FTAs is many

times more than such agreements and covers the entire

gamut of issues ranging from goods and services to

investment and Government procurement.

The difference between the FTAs and the earlier trade

talks is that while the multilateral talks under WTO were

relatively open with texts in the public domain, the FTA

talks are shrouded in secrecy. The Congress-led UPA

Government has also kept the Parliament and State

Governments in the dark about the actual content of theseFTAs. Now the Government is finalizing an FTA with the

European Union and FTAs with Israel and Japan are

among the 56 FTAs in the pipeline. The numerous FTAs

in the pipeline reflect a policy shift by the current

Government and the indiscriminate signing of FTAs

under the veil of secrecy raises some serious concerns.

India-EU FTA and Trade In Agricultural

Commodities:

Agriculture is a very small component of the total trade

between EU and India at present. India ranks around 12th

in EU list of top trading partners in Agriculture. On the

export side however, India ranks even lower. Of total EU

agricultural exports to the world, India ranked 41st in

2007. The main reason for such ranking was primarily the

mismatch of product categories.

EU imports primarily edible fruits nuts, oil seeds and

oleaginous fruits, coffee, tea, spices and other such

tropical items which India exports. However, EU exports

products like beverages, spirits and vinegar, dairy

products, eggs natural honey, tobacco and products,

meats etc which do not feature in the top imported

agricultural commodities of India. In agriculture, EU is a

net importer of raw products; Tropical products, oilseeds

and fruits and vegetables form the bulk of it. However, in

processed agricultural products, EU is a net exporter with

a total surplus ofEuro 205 Billion in 2007. India has been

exporting products like bas mati rice, processed fruits and

vegetables, floriculture, jaggery and confectionary etc to

EU. In terms of imports from EU, wheat has in recent

times featured high in the list, given India had to import

wheat in 2006-07 due to domestic shortage. The EU is

very keen on the FTA with India because it wants to have a

major share of the Indian market for the above mentioned

products and processed food products. EU seeks to force

India into exporting raw materials and importing

processed agricultural and food items post FTA. EU willtry to push its top export products like dairy, processed

coffee and tea and animal meat products, which do not

feature in the top items imported by India.

The main thrust of the EU-India FTA, from EU's point of

view is to raise the market share of EU primary

commodity exports to India as it is one of the largest and

fastest growing markets in the world. Their effort is to

find an ever expanding market for their subsidised wheat

and dairy products. India will not stand to benefit much

because the EU are signing FTAs with many other

developing countries and whatever advantage India has

presently will be short-term and we will have to compete

with tropical agricultural goods from these countrieswhich will also flood the EU market.

What then is the urgency that is propelling the Indian

ruling classes to sign the FTA? They are eyeing the

possibilities which the services sector could receive and

the opening of investment opportunities for the Indian

monopoly houses. They hope that this will promote the

interests of the Indian big monopolies to get markets for

their goods and services as well as investment

opportunities. In this pursuit they are however sacrificing

the interests of the peasantry, workers, the poor and

seriously compromising their livelihoods.

Drastic Cuts in Tariffs and Increased Imports:

The India-EU FTA envisages a lowering ofIndian tariffs

to zero or near zero levels for 90 per cent of the

agricultural products, while the huge agricultural

subsidies enjoyed by the farmers in EU countries remains




unaltered. This will ensure that EU can still continue todump subsidized farm products in the Indian market.Indian farmers who are not having any such supportcannot compete with the EU farmers. Tariffbarriers usedby India to protect its industry and agriculture are beingdismantled even asthe EUuses non-tariff barriers such asengineering and phyto-sanitary standards and also heavysubsidies, particularly in agriculture. Tariff negotiationsat the WTO were on bound rates (maximum applicablerates), which is different from actual rates imposed. EUaverage bound agricultural tariff rates are very low(15.9% in 2009) compared to India (114.2% in 2009).The FTAcommitments to bring tariff rates to 0 or near 0for 90% of products means that India stands to facemassive protection loss, much more than EU. Already29.9% of India's agricultural exports to EU are alreadyduty freewhile the rest face lowEUtariffs. SoIndia's gainin agricultural exports will hardly increase, as comparedtoEU's exports whichwill seea quantumjump.

Death Knell For Millions ofDairy Farmers:

The EUhas been aggressively arguing for the opening upof the dairy sector in India by claiming that the taxeslevied by India on imported food products wereunrealistically high. Europe's dairy companies haveidentified the high tariffs as the main obstacle toexpanding their commercial ties with India. Dairy Sectorin India is estimated to employ 90 million people amajority ofwhom arewomen.A2009 study by the Centrefor Trade and Development, which monitors economicissues affecting South Asia, found that women wouldbear the brunt of anymoves to expose India's dairy sector

to grossly unequal competition from European imports.Women are estimated as comprising 75 million of theemployees in dairy sector. Dairy sector is of crucialimportance to small and marginal farmers aswell as thelandless poor and a significant source of income formillions of families. The very existence of the vibrantnetwork of cooperative milk federations and women'sgroupswill be under threat.

Intellectual Property Rights, TRIPS+ Commitmentsand FTACompliant Laws:

On Intellectual Property the EU is demanding TRIPS +provisions and re-writing Indian patent and copyrightlaws. TRIPS + commitments on Intellectual PropertyRights (IPR) would severely affect India's ability toprovide access to affordable medicines, to protectfarmers' rights to seeds and to uphold access toknowledge, thus undermining people's livelihoods andachievements in healthcare, agriculture, and education

and research. EU and Japan wants the extension ofpatentprotection by five years and more barriers for genericmanufacturers using patent linkage and data exclusivity.Data Exclusivity notably was not mandatory underWTO.All these measures are attempts to extend the sphere of

patents and retain their monopoly well past the normaltime period of 22 years granted under TRIPS. If agreedupon, this will increase costs and delay the process ofbringing generic drugs into the market as well asperpetuate themonopoly of fewpharmaceutical giants.

The EU also seeks that India brand as "counterfeit" all itspharmaceutical exports to other countries through EUterritory if they are not in conformity with EU's patentlaws. What goes on unnoticed by many is the fact thatpreceding the FTAs there is an unusual hurry to bringabout legislations that would be FTAcompliant.A carefulscrutiny ofmost ofthe recent decisions andActs proposedincluding the Seed Bill, Pesticide Management Bill,

Nutrient Based Subsidy Regime in Fertilisers andProtection and Utilisation of Public Funded IntellectualProperty (PUPFIP) Bill 2008 to name a few clearlyindicate such a tendency. The PUPFIP Bill allows theplant varieties developed through public funds would beprotected under intellectual property rights. Both EU andJapan are said to be pressing for India to join theInternational Union for the Protection ofNewVarieties ofPlants-1991 (UPOV).

This will seriously compromise the right of the peasantryto grow, sow, re-sow, save, use, exchange, share or selltheir farm seeds and planting material. The UPOV goesfar beyond even what is required by TRIPS. Data

Exclusivity for Agro-Chemical Industry provided by thePesticide Management Bill also clearly seems to be aimedto make Indian laws compatible to EU-FTA. Regulationson Government purchases as well as the opening up ofIndia to waste dumping at low or zero tariffs are othercrucial concerns emanating from these FTAs.

Most Favoured Nation Status and Special &

Differential Treatment:

The India-EU FTA envisages automatic extension ofMFN status to the EU, implying that a favourabletreatment by India to any other country on matterscovered under the FTAmust be automatically replicatedin trade with EU. However, India which enjoyed 'SpecialandDifferential Treatment' under themultilateral system,will cease to enjoy it as the EU FTA calls for fullreciprocity. This must be seen in contrast with India'sposition in the WTO which was strongly opposed toproviding unbridled access to Indianmarkets by reducing




tariffs to the lowest possible. India had along with other

developing countries had unitedly ensured the institution

of 'Special and Differential Treatment' especially in the

context of the NonAgricultural Market Access (NAMA)

negotiations where developed countries called for such

drastic cuts in tariffs. This seriously compromises India's

interests and only furthers the monopoly interests of the

EUMNCs.

Liberalisation of Services, Investment and

Government Procurement:

The EU FTA has brought back the focus on Government

Procurement, Investment and Competition which were

together known as 'Singapore Issues' in the WTO

negotiations. WTO had removed these issues from

ongoing negotiations due to opposition from developing

countries with India playing a significant role. The

liberalisation of services markets will seriously

undermine the capability of elected bodies to develop andregulate strong public services. The commercialisation of

these services will render essential services inaccessible

for poor people. The global economic crisis has exposed

the risks of increased financial liberalisation and de-

regulation of financial services. In such circumstances

while Governments across the world are recognizing the

need for closer regulation of this sector any move to

further liberalise is irrational and against our interests.

Allowing opportunity to MNCs for effective competition

in local market will adversely affect Indian farmers and

small entrepreneurs. The scope of Government's

intervention for building domestic firms, providing jobs

and fostering domestic value-addition will be greatlyreduced by further liberalisation of investment while

simultaneously it increases the rights of investors without

corresponding responsibilities to fulfill social and

environmental requirements. It also provides for the

prohibition of capital controls which is an important tool

for ensuring macro-economic stability during financial

cnses.

With the liberalisation of its services and investment,

India may have to privatise some essential sectors for

development such as environment, health and education

services. EU is seeking opening up of Government

procurement of Central, State and Local level including

public utilities of goods and services. This can undermine

the scope for Governments to address poverty and

inequality by directing Government spending to Small

and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and marginalised

groups as well as the scope to use Government

procurement to provide critical support for domestic

firms during times of economic recession.

The urgency with which the UPA Government is carrying

forward its negotiations for an FTA with Israel which is

guilty of crimes against humanity is condemnable. Israel

will tend to benefit as a big exporter of processed food,

chemical fertilisers, other agro-chemicals and

agricultural implements.

In the context of decontrol of fertiliser prices the farmers

are going to face extreme hardship even as MNCs based

in Israel and other countries will rake in huge profits at

their expense. Our light industries will also be adversely

affected. It is clear that the FTAs with EU, Israel and

Japan are going to adversely affect the livelihoods of

people and will put a question mark on employment

generation as well as poverty alleviation. Food security

will be undermined, Public health will be a casualty and

the poor will find it impossible to access quality

medicines for treating major diseases.

Indian farmers have been hit hard by the earlier FTAs andwe have seen how the plantation sector, oilseeds sector,

textile industry, light manufacturing industry and

fisheries have been facing their adverse implications.

Cheap imports of tea, coffee, spices, fish products and

palm oil have led to drastic fall in domestic production

and destruction oflivelihoods.

Armers' suicides have been high in regions growing some

of these crops. There have been widespread protests

against the India-ASEAN FTA in different parts of the

country. Despite this the Government is carrying forward

its agenda of trade liberalisation compromising our

interests. This National Round Table calls upon the

peasants, workers, the poor and middle classes to unite forintensifying struggles against such FTAs and resolves to

oppose any move that will compromise the interests of the

country and its people.

We demand:

D A White Paper on WTO and its Impact on Indian

Peasantry.

D No FTA should be signed without the approval of

the Parliament and State Governments.

D Immediate release of the negotiating texts in the

public domain.

D Widespread consultations with State

Governments, Farmers' representatives, Experts and

Scientists.

D Strengthen Trade Barriers and Provisions that

Protect Indian Agriculture, Dairy and Public Health

Concerns.




Back to traditional varieties

Farmers of Tumkur and Chitradurga areas of the state are going back to growing

traditional saline-tolerant paddy. Forgotten types of indigenous rice varieties canoffer a home-grown solution to increasing soil salinity, writes Anitha Reddy

Hit by crop failure because of increased salinity in

the soil owing to water surge, farmers ofTumkur

and Chitradurga areas of Karnataka are reverting

to cultivation of traditional saline-tolerant paddy.

The fields of farmers in the region that adjoins the

tank command area has become saline because of

the stagnation ofwater.

Farmers here have always faced problems about

salinity, but have known to cope with it by

growing traditional saline-tolerant varieties that

they have conserved for generations.

But in the last few decades, the situation has

turned grave and salinity in the soil has increased

tremendously. Farmers in this area say that with

changes in agricultural techniques and patterns,

and extensive use of chemical usage, soil salinity

has increased.

Introduction of high-yielding varieties with the

aim of increasing production, has not only

resulted in crop failure, but has also contributed to

the genetic erosion of traditional landraces.

Earlier, farmers practised crop rotation, used

green manure and grew crops using traditional

methods but now the younger generation lacks

the understanding to cope with saline soil and

does not have the knowledge to use alternate

crops ormethods to tide over the situation.

Rise in salinity

With cultivation patterns changing ever since the

1970s, salinity has increased. Now the soil has no

fertility and has become very hard. Raising any

crop here is a huge challenge. Soil salinity is

pushing farmers to grow the saline-tolerant

traditional crops their forefathers would cultivate,

says Mallikarjun Hosapalya of Dhanya, a

Tumkur-based organisation that works on revival

of traditional water and seed conservation

practices.

Also, the district receives scanty rainfall and thesoil is very hard. Devkumar of University of

Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore says, "As the

pH level in the soil increases with saline

conditions and low rainfall, there is leaching of

calcium and automatically there is increase in

sodium, which leaves salt deposits.

The sodium tends to reach the surface, making the

soil more saline. Farmers can grow crops only if

the salinity is low, but because of low rainfall the

salinity has increased and only traditional paddy

varieties can tolerate it."

Some farmers have used alternate techniques as a

coping strategy to deal with the problem of

salinity. But not much has been done with regard

to the yield performance of the varieties.

Farmers here have taken to growmg the

traditional varieties as a necessity.

They are familiar with local varieties because

these have many positive characteristics - taste,

price, and milling value are better than that of thehigher-yielding varieties, though yield is less

compared to rice grown in other areas.

But its sustainability requires awareness and

some technical involvement to increase the yield.

August - 2010 25isan KiAwaaz



Dhanya, along with Sahaja Samruddha, has been

working for the past two years with a few farmers

to conserve saline rice varieties.

With participation of knowledgeable farmers, a

reliable approach of collection, evaluation and

systematic cataloguing of available saline-

tolerant rice varieties was initiated and more than

25 varieties were collected from different

locations.

The collected germplasm has been distributed to

farmers for being cultivated at target sites.

On-farm conservation was undertaken mainly to

purify and improve the performance ofvarieties.

Participatory crop improvement selection has

been found to be more effective for selection and

development of these varieties.

Saline-tolerant diversity

Forgotten types of indigenous rice varieties can

offer a home-grown solution to increasing soil

salinity.

Karnataka has many saline-tolerant traditional

rice varieties that are high in nutritional value andhave medicinal properties, and most are resistant

to extreme drought conditions, diseases and pests

and popular for their taste.

These varieties were grown using natural inputs

such as organic manure. No chemical fertilisers

orpesticides were used.

As Ajjanna Nayaka of Hosahalli in Pavagada

taluk, who is growing Sanna vadlu rice variety for

the past 40 years, says " this is a fine grained

variety, in fact the grains are of superior qualitythan sona masuri variety.

Crop duration is four months and the yield is

about 20 to 25 bags per acre, superior in taste and

very soft when cooked."

What the survey said ...

Some of the other significant saline-tolerant

varieties that were identified during the survey

are: Picha neelu: This is the most popular saline-

tolerant variety, with a crop duration offour-and-

a-half months and grows up to four-five feet in

height.

It has good cooking quality and the grains are

grayish black and white in colour and yield about

20 to 25 quintals per acre. Beli picha neelu is

highly tolerant to saline conditions of soil and

grows within four-and-a-halfto five months.

Paddy varieties like Bilithopu vadlu, Kasanella

are unique and highly saline tolerant.

These grow in places where salinity problem

occurs due to erratic rainfall.

Choluchangi also known as Koralu changi: Tip

of the grain has awns and grows profusely with

one application of farm yard manure.

Kasarnellu, Bilitokavdlu, Kari tokavdlu,

Bilipichanellu, Pichanellu, Jowguri have a crop

duration of four to five months and yield about 20

-25 bags per acre.

The grains are bold and long and are cultivated in

Chitradurga and Pavagada. Sannanellu and

Tokepichanellu are small and fine grain varieties.

Mullubatha, Chintapolavodlu, Karichannangi,

Bilichannangi, and Cholu channangi are medium

grains, grown in Sira and Pavagada region.

Http://www.deccanherald.com/contentI77972

Iback-traditional-varieties.html

26 August - 2010isan KiAwaaz

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GM Blight-resistant Potatoes Who Needs Them?

While researchers are wasting taxpayers' money tocreate hazardous GM blight- resistant potatoes, non-

GM highly blight-resistant varieties are already on

the market, with low carbon impact and all-round

appeal to consumers Dr Eva Novotny

A new trial of genetically modified (GM) crops has

begun in England. The Sainsbury Laboratory at the

John Innes Centre in Norfolk is testing a GM version

of the popular Desiree potato to determine whether,

as in the laboratory, the field-grown GM potato will

remain resistant to late-blight disease.

The challenge to develop such potatoes had already

been taken up in 2007 by the German chemical giant

BASF, in its Plant Science GmbH division; but their

trials ended prematurely without a marketable result.

In fact, all such efforts are unnecessary, as blight-

resistant non-GM potatoes already exist that are also

outstanding in other respects, and further such

varieties are in the pipeline.

Late blight is a serious disease of potatoes

Late blight is " the most devastating disease ofpotatoes and one of the most devastating plant

diseases of any crop." In the UK, farmers typically

spray potato crops with fungicide 10-15 times a year.

Much effort, therefore, has been put into means of

controlling the disease. As part of good farming

practice, it is clearly advantageous to plant blight

resistant varieties.

The disease can kill all the leaves of a plant within 10

days. It was the cause of the great Potato Famine in

Ireland and western Scotland in the 1840s and 1850s.

The pathogen responsible is Phytophthera infestans,

notionally a fungus but actually more closely related

to brown seaweeds. Warm, humid weather favours

the disease.

Leaves and stems can be infected, as can the tuberswhen spores are washed into the soil by heavy rain.

The disease can be carried from year to year by

tubers that were infected inthe previous season.

Although soil is not usually a source ofthe blight, it is

possible for the disease to be transmitted when both

mating types of the blight pathogen are present in the

soil.

In gardens, it is possible for the disease to be carried

over on infected foliage in an insufficiently hot

compost heap.

Unfortunately, the pathogen is evolving. Until 1976,

there was only the single mating type AI, which had

various strains, all reproducing asexually.

Then mating type A2 appeared in Europe, brought

from Mexico (the probable origin of the blight

pathogens) on imported potatoes. The two types

were able to mate and produced new strains by

sexual reproduction.

Since 2005, a highly aggressive strain A2-Bluel3

has developed; causing blight in some potatovarieties that were previously resistant, and it has

become the dominant strain in the UK.

There is always the danger that the pathogen will

evolve into a new strain that can overcome the

resistance of potato varieties now free of the disease,

and development of new varieties needs to take place

on a continuing basis.

New trial by the Sainsbury Laboratory

The Sainsbury Laboratory at the John Innes Centre

in Norfolk, England has received approval for fieldtrials of GM blight-resistant potatoes, beginning in

2010.

The Laboratory claims that existing non-GM blight-

resistant potatoes suffer from "other deficiencies",




but this claim cannot justly be applied to Sarpo

potatoes, described later.

Natural resistance to blight occurs in some wild,

inedible potato species in South America. Two

genes isolated from these have been transferred to apotato variety popular in Britain, Desiree, and will

undergo field trials for three years.

Justifying the use of genetic engineering to produce

the new potatoes, the Laboratory claims that :

"Potato breeding is extremely slow and inefficient.

Breeding is not an exact science and changes many

genes that affect important agronomic traits such as

yield, quality and maturity time.

By using GM we can be sure that only the desired

resistance gene is introduced into the resulting

variety, without changing other characteristics."

This disingenuous statement is actually false: it is

well known that the random insertion process of

genetic engineering leads to disruption and

rearrangement in the host's own genome, causing

'insertion mutagenesis' in many genes with totally

unpredictable effects (see review in The Case for A

GM-Free Sustainable World, Independent Science

Panel, ISIS publication).

The GM potato also has an antibiotic resistance

marker gene nptII that confers resistance to

kanamycin and neomycin. The Laboratory claims

erroneously that the antibiotic isnot used for medical

treatment of either humans or animals.

The Advisory Committee on Releases to the

Environment (ACRE) gave an approving opinion for

the trials, on grounds that

"(a) the likelihood of transfer of a functional gene

from plant material tobacteria is extremely low;

(b) bacteria with resistance to these antibiotics

arewidespread in the environment; and

(c) the acquisition of an intact gene isonly one of the

possible mechanisms by which bacteria may

developresistance. "

This is essentially the same opinion delivered by the

pro-GM European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)

when it examined the use of antibiotic resistance

genes in food crops.

On that occasion, however, two senior scientists on

the panel disagreed and issued a minority opinion in

an annex to the statement, saying it was not possible

to assess any adverse effects and that the probability

that the gene could transfer from the GM plants to

environmental bacteria was between 'unlikely' and

'high' .

The Norfolk trials are funded entirely by UK

taxpayers, through the Biotechnology and

Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).

This is unfortunate and a waste of taxpayers' money,

as even a Monsanto representative acknowledged

that "ultimately [non-GM] biotech offers the greatest

potential" for developing crops with such complex

traits.

Another questionable aspect of the trials, and indeed

of the whole project, is that the parent variety Desiree

is already widely planted.

Thus, a newly invading disease affecting the GM

potato may wipe out a major portion of the UK'spotato harvest, both GM and non-GM.

In fact, GM potatoes for late-blight resistance had

already been trialled and abandoned by another

corporation. German chemical company BASF had

produced GM blight-resistant potatoes.

Field trials were started in 2007, originally planned

for the Irish Republic but moved to England after the

Irish authorities placed very high requirements on

the conduct of the trials, especially the requirement

for safety testing by feeding the potatoes to animals

prior to commencement of trials.

Http://www .i- sis. 0 rg. uk/G M_B ligh t-

resistant_Potatoes.php




The dark side of nitrogen;

too much fertilizer is destroying the planet

* David GutierrezReckless overuse of synthetic fertilizers is creating an

ecological catastrophe, warns a recent feature in Grist

magazme.

In traditional fanning, the nitrogen available in the

soil imposes a strict limit on how much food can be

grown.

Organic methods of nitrogen supplementation

include planting certain leguminous ("nitrogen

fixing") crops or manually applying nitrogen in the

form ofmanure or compost.

Yet with the so-called "Green Revolution" after World

War II, agronomists widely adopted the Haber-Bosch

process for transforming chemically neutral

atmospheric nitrogen into the much more volatile

ammoma.

Ammonia soon became the base for a wide array of

fertilizers, allowing fanners to produce much greater

yields than had been traditionally possible. This food

boom directly fueled the global population explosion

of the last 70 years.

Unfortunately, due to its intrinsically volatile nature,

so-called reactive nitrogen does not stay where

fanners put it -- it reacts easily with the elements

around itto spread into the air, water and soil.

Researchers estimate that as much as 70 percent of

applied nitrogen ends up outside of the crops being

grown.

To make matters worse, fanners typically apply far

more fertilizer than they need to, as a sort of insurance

to produce the largest yields possible.

Excess nitrogen can actually destroy valuable soil

organisms, degrading the soil's agricultural quantity.

Itis responsible for the proliferation of aquatic "dead

zones," where agricultural runoff has produced algal

blooms that devour oxygen and choke out fish, as well

August - 2010

asbacterial blooms that can produce human disease.

Other ecological consequences of nitrogen pollution

include lake acidification and general habitat

degradation.

The effects do not stop there: ammonia production is

such an energetically intensive process that fertilizer

manufacture actually accounts for a full 1 percent of

global carbon dioxide emissions.

Yet all climate bills currently making their way

through the U.S. Congress explicitly exempt

agricultural emissions from regulation.

Mere climate regulation alone is not the answer,

however, notes author Stephanie Ogburn.

Only a widescale revisioning of the agricultural

system and its emphasis on higher yields can shift the

world offthe path of nitrogen catastrophe.

Http://www.naturalnews.com/029187 _fertilizer _n

itrogen.html

Kisan Ki Awaaz 29

http://http//www.naturalnews.com/029187




The governlllent "Waron r-awIllilk

is an attack against food freedolll

*Mike AdamsAs a rule of thumb, I don't drink anything that comes out

of a cow. But for the last several thousand years, a large

percentage of the human population has consumed cow's

milk -- a substance that admittedly contains quite an

impressive collection of nutrients.

The problem today is that those nutrients are artificially

modified through pasteurization (cooking) and

homogenization (breaking down fat molecules) to create

a ready-made, highly processed cow's milk beverage with

a long shelflife that can be sold to consumers as "milk."

In the history of food, pasteurized, homogenized cow'smilk is a relatively new thing. For most of recent history,

milk has been consumed as a fresh, raw beverage, just

hours out of the cow.

Each day's milk was usually harvested that very morning

from the local cow, and most farms had at least one milk

cow. (For many families, it was what kept them alive

through the harsh winters ...)

During all these centuries, fresh cow's milk was

considered a nourishing, even lifesaving beverage that

provided people with hard-to-find proteins and fats in

times when calories were hard to come by.

Pasteurization and the road to dead food

This went on until roughly the end of the 19th century,

when pasteurization was introduced to the milk industry

as a way to increase the shelf life of milk by killing the

bacteria that spoil it.

By "cooking" the milk, large milk producers were able to

centralize product production at distant locations (large-

scale dairy farms) and then ship the product to consumers

anywhere inthe country.

When kept at the right refrigeration temperature, this

pasteurized milk now had a shelf life many times longerthan raw milk.

So the dairy industry grew profitable and large, and over

the next few generations, Americans got used to "milk"

meaning "pasteurized, homogenized milk" even though it

was an unnatural alteration of the real milk that the

country had grown up on.

Raw milk rediscovered

Fast forward to the 21st century: Now, more and more

consumers are becoming aware of the health benefits of

raw milk. It's loaded with active probiotics, of course,

which we now know increase skin health and digestive

health while potentially even improving cognitive

function.

So naturally, consumers started purchasing raw milk from

their local farmers and coops in order to benefit from thisraw, unprocessed food. (Actually, lots of health-conscious

people have been doing this since the 1960's, but "raw

milk" didn't really become popular among near-

mainstream consumers until just the last few years ...)

When people buy raw milk from local farmers, this of

course takes away profits from the large corporate milk

producers that are selling pasteurized, homogenized milk.

So the dairy industry attempted to get the federal

government to destroy the competition (the raw milk

producers).

But instead of just saying, "We want you to destroy our

competition," they made up an excuse, "Raw milk isdangerous!" Yep: The same beverage that America was

raised on is now considered by the feds to be "too

dangerous to drink. "

Sure, you can drink diet soda laced with aspartame or

high- fructose corn syrup -- two ingredients known to

cause degenerative disease -- but you can't drink raw,

wholesome, fresh milk anyway because it's "too

dangerous. "

The idiotic war against raw milk

Now the war is on. State and federal regulatory agencies,

spurred on by the monopolistic business practices of thedairy industry, have set out to criminalize the sale of raw

milk. They've raided raw milk resellers, arrested raw milk

marketers and seized countless gallons of raw milk to be

destroyed.

Raw milk, the bureaucrats say, is dangerous because it




hasn't been sanitized yet. Raw milk is "dirty" while

cooked, pasteurized or irradiated milk is "clean." And Big

Brother thinks you're not supposed to eat "dirty" foods

like raw milk.

Sure, you can smoke yourself into a lifetime of cancer --

that's fully approved by the government. You can slather

your body with personal care products laced with cancer-

causing chemicals, because that's also approved by the

government.

You can drink brain-busting aspartame, chow down on

diabetes-promoting MSG, or swallow any number of

mouthfuls of processed foods laced with a thousand

different synthetic chemicals that probably cause

everything from cancer to Alzheimer's. Go take a swim in

the Gulf of Mexico and soak up some Corexit dispersant

chemicals -- the government doesn't protect you from any

of that.

But raw milk? Well that's just too dangerous. It's all

natural! And if you're the whored-out U.S. government--

now run by commercial interests --natural isbad!

The secret government plot to kill all your food

You see, food safety inAmerica has come down to killing

your food. Only "dead food" is "safe food" in the eyes of

the FDA and state health authorities.

That's why they killed your almonds (there are no more

raw almonds commercially available in the United States

ofAmerica), and it's the same reason why they're gearing

up to irradiate all your fresh produce.

The government wants to kill your food but it has nothing

at all to do with food safety. If the government were really

interested in food safety, it would ban the stuff that really

promotes disease: Fried fast food, toxic chemical

additives like aspartame, empty calorie ingredients like

white flour and bleached white sugar ...you get the idea.

But none of those things have been banned at all. Instead,

of all the thousands of things that are bad for your health,

the government has chosen to single out raw milk as

somehow deserving the most attention -- even thought

raw milk is arguably GOOD for your health and not bad in

the least!

Sowhy does this matter to our freedom? Because now, not

only is the government deciding what's good and bad for

your (and legislating laws against your free choice); but

the government's ability to determine what's good or bad

is flawed in the first place.

Freedom of choice

Like most freedom-loving Americans, I don't think the

government has any business telling you what to eat. (But

then, neither do I think corporations should have Free

Speech to advertise all their junk products, either,

although that's another topic altogether.)

If some guy in Brooklyn wants to eat himself to death on

hamburgers and com syrup, that's his right and his choice.

The feds have no business criminalizing his food choices,

even if they do seem rather poorly made.

But even if the feds were to start enforcing its control over

your food, it would only make sense to ban the most

dangerous foods first... you know, the stuff that's really

causing epidemic disease inAmerica.

Stuff like high-fructose com syrup, aspartame, MSG,

partially -hydrogenated oils, petrochemical-derivedartificial food colors, dangerous chemical preservatives

and so on.

But none of those things are even being considered for any

ban. And that means, by any reasonable logic, that the ban

isn't about your health. It's not about "protecting you"

from dangerous foods.

The government, after all, approves the sale of cigarettes,

alcohol, hair coloring chemicals and a thousand other

things that are terrib le for your health.

They aren't interested in protecting your health in the

least. What they are interested in doing is protecting theircorporate masters in the highly influential dairy industry.

And that's what this all comes down to: The war on raw

milk is a juvenile attempt by the federal government to

protect a profitable, powerful industry by destroying its

competition regardless of the consequences to your health

-- and regardless of what freedoms they destroy in the

process.

Your right to buy what you choose has now been

overthrown by the government's desire to protect the

processed-milk dairy industry. And that's why the cow in

my CounterThink cartoon sprays the bureaucrats with raw

milk, shouting, "Take THAT, you bureaucrats!"

Http://www.naturalnews.com/029178 _raw_milk _foo

d freedom.html






Widespread male infertility sweeping the globe

* Ethan A. Huff

July 12, 2010 - Nearly 20 years ago, Danish

scientists first broke the news to the world that

men from Western countries seem to be slowly

becoming infertile.

Recent research seems to back this up as well,

with average sperm counts having dropped to half

ofwhat they were 50years ago.

According to reports, nearly 20 percent of men

between the ages of 18 and 25 have sperm counts

that are abnormally low.

Toput this in perspective, consider the fact that in

the 1940s, men had an average of about 100

million sperm cells per millimeter of semen

(m/ml).

Today, the average is around 60m/ml. Those

among the 20 percent with abnormal levels have

less than 20mlml.

So what is the cause behind decreasing spermcounts? Realistically, there is probably more than

just one cause.

Environmental toxins, synthetic food and water

additives, and estrogenic substances in food are

all likely culprits.

"It's most likely a reflection of the fact that many

environmental and lifestyle changes over the past

50 years are inherently detrimental to sperm

production," explained Professor Richard

Sharpe, a fertility research expert at the MedicalResearch Council, in aU.K. Report.

But what scientists believe may be the biggest

cause of poor semen quality in men has more to do

with what their mothers were exposed to during

pregnancy, than what the men themselves are

exposed to throughout their lifetimes.

A case in point is the disastrous chemical accident

that occurred in 1976 in Seveso, Italy.

The incident caused the highest known human

exposure to toxic chemical dioxin.

It was later revealed that pregnant women who

were exposed to the chemical during that time

bore male children who ended up having poor

sperm counts.

Other studies also seem to lend credence to the

idea that lifelong sperm counts are determined

during the early stages ofmale fetal development.

Interference with the Sertoli cells, which are

responsible for proper sperm development during

fetal development, can lead to lifelong sperm

production problems inmales.

"Maternal-lifestyle factors in pregnancy can have

quite substantial effects on sperm counts in sons in

adulthood, and the most logical mechanism by

which this could occur is via reducing the number

of Sertoli cells," explained Professor Sharpe.

In other words, prenatal exposure to toxic

chemicals is a serious threat to male health, which

ultimately threatens the existence of mankind.

Http://www.independent.co. uk/news/s ...


http://http//www.independent.co.

http://http//www.independent.co.



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