NEW DELHI: The union government may allow the cultivation of controversial herbicide-tolerant genetically modified (GM) crops. For this, the government is creating a pool of over 4000 manpower of progressive farmers and rural educated youths who can render their services to spray deadly herbicide glyphosate, on which cultivation of herbicide-tolerant GM crops heavily rely.
Glyphosate is a possible carcinogen, and herbicide, currently kept under the restricted use category. It is only allowed to use on tea crops and non-cropping areas like barren land, near railways, roads, and others to flush out weeds. Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala are the major tea plantation states in India.
Environmentalists have long been advocating for a complete ban on glyphosate as it causes long-term consequences for humans and animals. The International Agency for Research on Cancer, France classified glyphosate as ‘probably carcinogenic to humans’ in 2015.
The trained manpower called pest control officers (PCOs) can render their services to spray glyphosate on behalf of farmers.
Sources close to the development said the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare issued an internal communication to the Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine & Storage (PPQS) in late May to create a batch of master trainers who further trains PCOs.
Hyderabad-based National Institute of Plant Health Management (NIPHM) has been assigned to train master trainers including scientists from Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), state agriculture universities, officers from Centre for Integrated Pest Management, extension officers of the state agriculture department, states’ staff of PPQS and others.
“As of date, the draft order says, the glyphosate use has been restricted and it should be done through PCOs,” says Dr Sagar Hanuman Singh, Director General, NIPHM. The NIPHM provided one-day online training to scientists and they will further train PCOs. “These master trainers will further give three-days training to PCOs” he adds. Till now, NIPHM trained 370 master trainers.
The government has targeted to create over 4000 PCOs which include largely farmers and educated unemployed rural youths. The government has already trained around 450 PCOs in the last one month.
“We will provide a certificate and license to them so they can render their service,” said an official. “We asked every master trainer to train 50 people under their arms,” he said.
Presently, only GM Cotton crop is legalised. There are many reports which show herbicide-tolerant GM cotton illegally being grown on a large scale.
“After this, the government may legalise HT GM cotton,” said the officer.