The writer is Professor Emeritus, University of California at Berkeley.
Problems in Indian cotton need ecological understanding, not biotechnology
The solution to the dystopic Indian cotton system lies in developing an ecological understanding using the SS-HD cotton as a basis.
Harish Damodaran’s article, ‘White gold: How a revolution was reversed’ (IE, March 21) has been described by Indian colleagues as mischievous. But as a scientist who has analysed cotton production worldwide for 45 years and Indian cotton for the past decade, I would call the article misinformed on biology and based on a macroeconomic argument that has little to do with how well most farmers are doing. I doubt Damodaran would base his household economics on aggregate national statistics; yet that is the argument he is making with regards to Bt cotton production in India. The real question is how well are farmers doing, and not whether India is number one or two in cotton production — if farmers are doing well, that national statistic takes care of itself.
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