At a time, when the use of Genetically Modified (GM) mustard has triggered a major controversy in the country, an international study says that widespread adoption of genetically modified crops may have reduced the use of insecticides, but increased the use of herbicides as weeds become more resistant.
The country is currently hosting a three-day conference of 13 countries on bio safety and researches on bio technology in Hyderabad.
In the longest ever review of 15 years on genetically modified crops and use of pesticide, a team of experts from the University of Virginia and other international institutes studied data taken from 5,000 soybean and maize farmers each from 1998 to 2011.
Despite the decrease in insecticide use, continued growth in herbicide use poses a significant environmental problem as large doses of the chemicals can harm biodiversity and increase water and air pollution. "We have repeated observations of the same farmers and can see when they adopted genetically modified seeds and how that changed their use of chemicals," said the study.
The study researched on two GM varieties in maize and soybeans-— one kills insects and the other tolerates glyphosate, an herbicide commonly used in weed killers.
"In the beginning, for soya farmers, there was a reduction in herbicide use, but over time the use of chemicals increased because farmers were having to add new chemicals, because weeds developed a resistance to glyphosate," said the lead researcher of the study Federico Ciliberto.
The Maize farmers, on the other hand did not have yet to address the same level of resistance, largely because they did not adopt genetically modified crops as quickly as their soya counterparts. The maize farmers also used 1.3 per cent less herbicide over the 13-year period.
In the meantime, while arguments and counter agreements on GM crops continue to kick up dust, the thirteen nation conference deliberated on global challenges in food security and how agriculture biotechnology is a powerful tool for addressing such emerging challenges.
The Indian side represented by vice-president, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Dr. Anupam Verma stressed that in the backdrop of increasing demand for food, dwindling natural resources and increasing biotic and abiotic stresses due to intensification of agriculture and climate change, the world has no option, but to accelerate utilisation of the available and emerging technologies for improving world food production.