ISLAMABAD: This year, farmers will be worrying less about heavy rains or intense heat and more about the poor quality Bt cotton seeds in the market.

“For the last four years, the government has been keeping cotton growers in the dark about the quality of Bt cotton seed varieties sold to them. It was not the changing climate that caused less growth but the seed varieties with much less germination and several new pests that emerged after the introduction of the genetically modified Bt cotton seeds,” said a senior official in the Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC).

Documents available with Dawn showed that the approved certified Bt cotton seed varieties had lower germination than minimum standards as per Seed Act 1976 and low toxins to kill pests.

The fibre quality is also poor, below the standards set under the expert Sub-committee of the Punjab Seed Council on February 23, 2007.

In 2010, the Punjab Seed Council attributed the decline in the cotton production to bad weather. Germination of Bt cotton was as low as 50 per cent. Surprisingly, the documents showed that the germination of non-Bt cotton seed was 65 per cent the same year under the same environmental conditions. Despite the undesirable results from the genetically modified (GM) cotton seed, the Council approved the varieties for sale to the farmers.

The International Cotton Advisory Committee, USA, in its Pakistan-specific report in 2012 attributed the poor cotton production to the increase of new sucking pest attacks.

It added: “Due to introduction of Bt cotton in Pakistan, minor pests like red and dusky bug, whitefly and jassid, have become major pests of cotton.” The report also pointed out how the use of harmful pesticides in Pakistan had increased since the introduction of the Bt cotton seeds.

Nobody could confirm this fact better than Chaudhry Gohar Ali, the owner of Gohar Seed Corporation, and Makhdoom Rasheed, who has been a cotton grower for the last 54 years.

“It’s almost criminal that the GM seeds are sold in the markets without testing for at least two years, which has been made mandatory by the National Bio-Safety Committee (NBC). The costs for farmers have not come down because the use of more and more pesticides,” added Mr Ali.

The documents showed that government institutes, Cotton Research Institute (CRI), Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, Faisalabad, Central Cotton Research Institute Multan, Ministry of Textile Industry Islamabad and the National Institute of Biotechnology and Genetics Engineering, and the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, Faisalabad, approved cotton fibre qualities (staple length, micronaires value) of Bt cotton varieties.

But privately operated All Pakistan Textile Mills Association, Lahore, failed the fibre quality of Bt cotton varieties of seeds.

Similarly, the fibre analysis report of cotton by spot examination team in 2012 again revealed Bt cotton seed to be above the PSC’s own standards. The analysis from APTMA was excluded from the 2012 report.

Out of the 23 varieties of Bt cotton seed approved by the government last month, only two are available to the farmers.

Besides, the production of Bt cotton seed is 94 per cent less than the requirement of farmers.

Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) MNA Dr Arif Alvi said: “The idea to sow GM cotton is to have better growth because it contains high level of toxins that kills pests. Instead pests are developing resistance and becoming a major problem. We see declining production in the future of one of the most strategic asset – cotton,” said Dr Alvi who intends to raise the question on quality of the seed in the National Assembly.

Director NIBGE Dr Shahid Mansoor, however, explained how low germination level had always been an issue with all varieties of cotton.

“The use of pesticides has risen because of some of the new pests that have emerged. Most farmers use sprays that kill the specific bollworm pest. In such cases other pests like red and dusky bug do not die.”

Director General Research, Punjab, Dr Abid Mehmood said, “Red bug has increased because a different spray is being used to destroy another and more dangerous pest that only attacks Bt cotton.”

All varieties are tested in four different labs and before being sold to the farmers, said Dr Mehmood adding: “The toxin level in Bt cotton seed is complete. Germination does not affect the Bt cotton seed.”