The Cotton Development Board has taken a move to bring the genetically modified cotton seeds of Bollgard II variety from multinational seed company of Monsanto and Mahico. Officials said they were trying to get the Bollgard seeds considering its inherent resistance against bollworm, a common pest for cotton crop. The Cotton Development Board under the ministry of agriculture has been carrying out research activities and contained trial of GM cotton at the central farm of Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute in Gazipur since last July. ‘We have started greenhouse trial of GM cotton seeds brining seeds from China. Now we are trying to get Bollgard II variety of cotton seeds from India,’ said CDB executive director Md Farid Uddin. He told New Age that those Bollgard II GM cotton seeds would be planted in greenhouse conditions under the supervision of Cotton Development Board to evaluate comparative performance of the two varieties. Farid Uddin said that they continued evaluations of greenhouse trial of Chinese GM cotton at BARI by experts from Bangladesh and China. In April, the government imported one kg of GM cotton seeds from China, he said, adding that they were carrying out the contained trial fulfilling bio-safety rules. On completion of the confined trial of cultivation and scientific assessment, he said, genetically modified cotton seeds would be provided to farmers for commercial cultivation. To meet the growing domestic demand for cotton, he said, the CDB has decided to gradually increase cotton acreage. Bangladesh annually produces 1.50 lakh bales of cotton compared to the demand of 55 lakh bales, according to CDB. Agriculture ministry has introduced GM crops in Bangladesh since January 2014, through cultivation of Bt brijal. The ministry will soon introduce GM potato and rice. Green activists at home and abroad, however, protested against introduction of GM crops saying that GM crops could change the natural process and cause harms to human health and environment. When asked, UBINIG consultant and agriculture scientist Dr MA Sobhan said that GM cotton would be resistant against one insect but it would become vulnerable to other diseases and pests. ‘Due to inserting gene, a long-term change can happen in the in-heredity of cotton,’ he said. Sobhan also mentioned that many farmers have incurred loss and committed suicide cultivating the GM cotton in India from where Bangladesh could take lesson.
