Soaring cotton consumption and GM seeds

Cotton consumption in the country has been rising about six to eight per cent a year since 2005 to meet the rising demand of the booming readymade garment industry. In the process, Bangladesh has emerged as the second largest importer of raw cotton after China. In 2004-05, the country imported three million bales of raw cotton. As Bangladesh garment exporters are contemplating to reach the goal of exporting $50 billion mark by end of 2021 - and if this becomes possible - raw cotton's present consumption of about 7.0 million bales would be double by then.
Bangladesh produces only about 150,000 bales of raw cotton locally which is a fraction of total consumption level at over 6.0 million bales. In fact, the industry sources inform, they have the capacity to consume about 10 million bales of cotton annually to meet the local demand even now if proper supply of electricity and gas is ensured. Bangladesh imports raw cotton from the United States, India, Uzbekistan and quite a few African countries.
The industry sources say that local spinners and weavers have the capacity to meet 90 per cent demand for raw materials of the knitwear sub-sector and 40 per cent demand of the weaving sub-sector. There are now quite a few entrepreneurs who have the financial capability and willingness to invest in setting up composite textile industry to meet even the higher quality fabrics locally, but are discouraged by the overall investment and political situation.
The Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) and the Bangladesh Cotton Association (BCA) jointly organised a two-day Global Cotton Summit in Dhaka in January. About 250 delegates from important cotton growing and exporting nations including the US, India, Poland, Russia, Pakistan, China, UK, Turkey, Egypt,   Switzerland, Singapore, Hong Kong,  and France participated in the  summit.
TRIAL CULTIVTIVATION OF GM COTTON: Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture has reportedly undertaken a controversial decision to go for trial cultivation of genetically modified (GM) cotton seeds in greenhouse conditions in the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) under the supervision of the Bangladesh Cotton Development Board (CDB).
Cultivation of any GM seed of any agricultural product is controversial all over the world. A big controversy has broken out in both social and mainstream media about the cultivation of GM seeds in neighbouring India. The American seed company Monsanto, which has developed GM cotton seeds and holds their patent rights, is active in India.
A local newspaper has reported that the Bangladesh government has imported one kg of GM cotton seeds from China for trial cultivation in a greenhouse at BARI after fulfilling biological rules. The trial cultivation would be under constant monitoring by scientists from the Cotton Board and BARI. The scientists would continuously collect data and monitor development for the next six months until December this year.
Under the government programme, after the successful completion of the trial cultivation and scientific assessment, GM cotton seeds are to be provided to farmers for commercial cultivation. The government has reportedly decided to meet the fast rising demand for cotton through this experimental trial cultivation of GM seeds. Once the trial becomes successful, the cultivation for cotton acreage would also be increased accordingly.  
The newspaper report quoted official sources as saying that in December last year the national committee on bio-safety, led by the secretary of the ministry of environment, formally authorised trial cultivation of five GM crops. Under this arrangement, BARI would undertake trial cultivation of two varieties of GM rice seeds, two varieties of GM potato seeds and CBD would use one variety of GM cotton seed.
Meanwhile, a local English-language daily has quoted Paribesh Bachao Andolan chairman Abu Naser Khan as saying that the government should refrain from growing GM crops in the country before evaluating their impact on nature and human beings.
Interestingly, it has been widely reported in the Indian social and mainstream media that three years ago in 2012, Maharashtra government had imposed a ban on sale of GM cotton seeds developed by Mahyco, an Indian subsidiary of Monsanto. Subsequently, the Karnataka government banned GM cotton seeds and blacklisted Mahyco as farmers in many districts suffered huge losses after sowing those cotton seeds.
While the situation in Bangladesh may be different from that of India in that our farmers don't commit suicides that easily under various social pressures, but the adverse impact of a crop failure due to disease-prone variety of GM seeds could equally affect the poor farmers here as in India. The government should do all it can to safeguard the people's interest before taking such a vital decision.
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