Mixed reaction to pest attack on Bt brinjal

Some responses -- both from local and international levels -- have been received relating to a news item published in the FE on April 7, 2014 under the headline "Pest resistant Bt brinjal comes under pest attack."

The FE correspondent prepared the report based on a recent field-level visit to Shaitail village in Gazipur district. During the visit, the reporter concerned talked to some of the local farmers including Haidul Islam at his Bt Brinjal field. The conversations with the concerned farmers were also recorded and the voices of Mujibur Rahman and Haidul Islam are available with this correspondent.

Since the report was prepared on the basis of the field visit, the FE correspondent did not talk to the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) officials.

However, Bt Brinjal is a controversial issue -- both in local and global arena. The variety has been banned in India and the Philippines amid strong protest from farmers, biodiversity experts and the common people.

According to BARI Guideline on cultivation of Bt Brinjal at farmers' level, the GMO variety is resistant only to fruit and shoot borer.

Because of the sensitivity of the Bt Brinjal, the FE has received responses from various local and international organisation/quarters about it.

On such response has been published in the 'Letters to the Editor' column in page 5 of the FE's today's (April 11, 2014) issue.