India’s Farmers Want Access to Innovative Agriculture Technologies

这是非常困难的蔓延阻止一个好主意.

这是从获得的终极教训 发现 今年春天，转基因茄子在印度被非法种植 (审批仍悬而未决).

值得关注的是，尽管监管部门确定的大约十年前，这是农作物供人类食用安全, 印度政府还没有批准其商业化种植. 这意味着，印度农民无法获得重要的农业工具. 这也意味着，越来越多这种茄子是非法的.

我想清楚一件事: 任何人都不应触犯法律. Farmers who seek to remove India’s political ban on some of the world’s best GMO technologies should work through the political system rather than disregard our country’s rules.

这是容易的，我明白了为什么农民会竭尽全力利用这个有前途的植物.

I’m a strong believer in biotechnology. Although I’ve never used it on my farm in the Punjab state of India, 我在Bt棉花观察到它的好处, 认识到它的安全性，并认为它适用于农民和消费者的巨大潜力.

Brinjal is one of India’s most important vegetables. Known in the United States and elsewhere as “eggplant,” it’s a staple of our diet. Some regard it as a poor man’s crop because low-income consumers rely on it. Others call it “King of the Vegetables” because it is a very good source of vitamins, 矿物质, 和营养成分. 几乎每一个印度人吃茄子, 无论收入和社会地位.

许多小规模和边缘农户种植茄子用于个人消费. 这些谁耕种为生欣赏它的抗寒性和抵御干旱的能力.

但作物很容易受到许多害虫, 尤其是 水果和嫩梢蛀虫 (FSB). 该蛾的幼虫种上茄子盛宴. 失去控制, 他们可以摧毁大型油田. 农民尽量控制通过杀虫剂的应用程序的破坏, 但这些喷雾剂的有效性是有限的.

问题是，幼虫再深究水果, where the insecticides don’t reach. 因为这, many farmers overspray—increasing the costs of production and also exposing themselves to personal risk.

但是，技术提供了一个很好的解决方案: Bt茄子, as it’s called, 包含打败FSB自然的能力. The larvae simply won’t eat these plants. 这个惊人的作物保护的工具，将使它更容易为印度农民提供一个安全和有营养的蔬菜.

不幸, 反科学活动家传播谎言转基因生物和印度农民不准栽植。.

我们知道事情的真相, 然而. Our country’s scientists and regulators have given their stamp of approval to Bt brinjal. 此外, 我们可以看看我们的邻国的经验, 孟加拉国, 那里的农民享用.

“Farmers growing Bt brinjal in Bangladesh are seeing three times the production of other brinjal varieties, 在生产成本的一半, 并在市场上获得更好的价格,” 贾汉吉尔·侯赛因说：, 谁的作品与帮助小规模康奈尔大学的计划, 在孟加拉国资源贫乏的农民.

India’s Bt brinjal almost certainly was smuggled into the country from Bangladesh whose border adjoins our country.

This shouldn’t surprise us: India’s farmers simply want the same technology that is helping so many Bangladeshis farmers.

我当然知道他们的感受. Although I don’t grow cotton on my farm, I’ve seen how Bt cotton has helped Indian agriculture. 时间已经到了我们使用粮食作物基因改造, 正如许多其他国家已经完成. Bt茄子是商业化的明显的候选人.

We shouldn’t stop there. 我生长在我的农场芥菜籽，并欢迎引进转基因芥菜籽, 我会立即采取. 这将让我种植更多粮食，在更少的土地, 通过保持消费价格低，有利于环境都受益.

几年来, I have worn a yellow turban as a silent protest against India’s unjust and unscientific moratorium on GM food crops like GM mustard. 它已成为我还有一个谈资, providing me with an opportunity to tell others about the advantages of 21st-century technology—and why India needs more of it in agriculture.

到底, there’s only one way for Indian authorities to prevent the illegal cultivation of Bt brinjal: 使其合法并允许这一重要技术批准由印度农业科学家研制.