GM crops would enslave Indian farmers: MP minister

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh agriculture minister Ramkrishna Kusumaria has said that the proposed Bio-Technology Regulatory Authority and Agriculture Bio-Security Bill, both of which would deal with genetically modified ( GM) crops, would lead to Indian farmers becoming "slaves" of the multi-nationals.

"US and European nations will enslave our farmers as they will capture the country's agriculture," state Agriculture Minister Ramkrishna Kusumaria has said in a letter to social worker Anna Hazare, MPs and all the Chief Ministers.

The letter urges them to use their influence to block passage of the bill and formation of the authority.

Countries such as France, Germany, Austria, Peru and Spain had already banned GM crops while Hungry recently destroyed a standing GM maize crop in nearly 1,000 acres, he has claimed.

US and European countries, with the help of multinationals, have wiped out traditional methods of seed procurement, changed the crop-cycles and ended traditional manufacturing of fertilisers, he alleges, adding that farmers had already become dependent on MNCs for BT cotton.

GM seeds initially give a higher yield, but it goes down later and input costs keep increasing, he has said, alleging that this led to farmers' suicides in Gujarat and Maharashtra.