«The euphoria was short-lived … the outcome way below their hopes. The president of the Union of cotton farmers of the Sissili province, Abdou Nignan, says he is very disappointed. Although he did have an output of 1 200 kg/hectare in 2008, the recent harvest yielded less than a ton. (See Sidwaya, daily, n° 6648 : « Seeds which are sowing doubt. »)

« Idrissa Kaboré of Nayala intends to abandon in the years to come. He can no longer tolerate being tossed from one side to another every year. As the year’s rainy season started late, he was forced to sow his field a second time, in spite of the high price (27 000 CFA francs/10kg Bt cotton seeds, compared to 1000 francs for conventional cotton seeds, or 135 times more expensive !). And then there was an attack of flies which destroyed the bolls of the Bt cotton plant, although he had been given to understand that Bt was supposed to solve such problems. » (Sidwaya, 6648, same heading).

In addition to this there are the recent reports from India. « Big premiere in India: Monsanto admits failure of its Bt cotton ».
The Bt Bollgard I was authorised in 2002 and is grown in 9 Indian states. After 8 years on the market, Monsanto announced that it had detected a deficiency in the Bt cotton : pink boll-worms had developed resistance to the toxin produced by the Bt.

This was discovered after trials carried out by Monsanto in the counties of Amreli, Bhavnagar, Junagarh and Rajkot in the State of Gujarat in 2009. The tests were undertaken to evaluate the efficiency of the Bollgard I.
The company says the resistance to Bollgard I is « natural and even that it was to be expected ». Not because this particular cotton was intrinsically bad, but because Indian farmers had not complied with the spacing prescriptions for this kind of cultivation (refuge zones).

The resistance is natural and to be expected ! Well, as far as I know this is the first time that Monsanto has made such a statement openly. And here, in Burkina, I have never heard the Sofitex or the Government mention it. With regard to non compliance with spacing prescriptions, this was also to be expected. Small farmers in Burkina will hardly do better than their Indian brothers. Only the large landowners have the means to follow these rules.
However, in the light of this « failure » of the Bollgard I, Monsanto declares that it already has developed the « more efficient » Bollgard II. According to Devinder Sharma of the Forum of Biotechnology and Food Security, it is precisely the company’s wish to promote the Bollgard II that is the real motivation for its willingness to publicly acknowledge a deficiency in its first Bt cotton. Bollgard II, which is sold in India since 2006, contains two toxins instead of a single one.

Just the seeds are twice or three times as expensive.
As far as I am aware, in Burkina we are still dealing with Bollgard I. I have yet never seen the Sofitex or the Government issue a warning to farmers. Who has been told that resistance to GMO cotton is natural and to be expected? Which Burkinabè farmer is prepared to pay a bag of 50kg Bollgard II seeds 300 000 francs? (or 5OO OOO francs, if we go by the rate Monsanto applies in India for this cotton variety).

This is not all. A study of the most relevant aspect, that has so far been missing, is the impact of Bt cotton cultivation on the soil. Today such a study is available. It deserves to be widely circulated.
« A recent scientific report by Navdanya compares the soil planted with Bt cotton for 3 years with soil of adjacent fields. Result: a very high level of degradation.

This is the first research study that has investigated the long term impact of Bt cotton on soil organisms.
Over a three year period the Bt cotton has significantly reduced the presence of micro-organisms in the soil. At this pace, ten years of Bt cotton cultivation could lead to the total destruction of soil micro-organisms and could leave it inert and incapable of producing nutrients. »

A few years ago we submitted a demand for a 5 year moratorium before the introduction of GMO cotton. Today doubt can no longer be permitted. It is necessary to ban the cultivation of Monsanto Bt cotton (as the government of Andhra Pradesh in southern India has done) in Burkina and in all ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States).

Koudougou, April 17th 2010
Maurice Oudet
Director, SEDELAN