Despite failure, BARI to release more Bt brinjal varieties
UNB
Though the cultivation of four varieties of genetically engineered Bt Brinjals has turned out to be a failure at farmers level across the country for two consecutive years, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) has announced that they will apply for the release of three more Bt Brinjal varieties for the upcoming Robi (October-March) season, reports UNB. The announcement came at a press conference, titled Press Conference on Success of Bt Brinjal Cultivation, organised by BARI at Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) conference room in the capital yesterday.
Reading out a written statement at the press conference, BARI director general Rafiqul Islam Mondol said they will soon apply for the release of the genetically engineered Bt versions of three local varieties -- Shingnath, Dohazari and Khatkhatia.
BARI will release the new Bt Brinjal varieties in addition to the already released four varieties among 200 farmers across the districts in the next Robi season, he added.
About the performance of the already released four Bt Brinjal varieties in the current season (from November last till date) the BARI director general said among the Bt Brinjal plots of 108 farmers across 19 districts in the country, shoot and fruit borer infestation was not observed anywhere.
However, contradicting the claim in the same statement, he said, In cases where shoot and fruit borer infestations in Bt Brinjals were 0-0.05 percent and 0.04-0.88 percent respectively, the infestations in non-Bt Brinjals were 30-40 percent and 48-57 percent.
Later, in a slide-show presentation, he came up with another figure that the highest infestation of shoot and fruit borer was 0.3 percent and 3.12 percent respectively. During a question-answer session, he also noted that the acceptable limit of fruit borer in the Bt Brinjal varieties would be 5 percent.
Meanwhile, in his statement, BARI director general Rafiqul Islam Mondol also claimed that BARI Bt Begun-1, BARI Bt Begun-2, BARI Bt Begun-3 and BARI Bt Begun-4 had come up with 66 percent, 68 percent, 40 percent and 100 percent higher yields respectively compared to their local counterparts -- namely Uttara, Nayantara, Kajla, ISD 006. This claim creates a stark contrast to the claim of a UNB report on the state of Bt Brinjal cultivation across the country, published earlier on March 22.
The report, titled Bt brinjal turns out to be upset case for farmers, which was based on spot visits on 12 Bt Brinjal fields in Manikganj, Narsigndi and Comilla districts, and on telephone conversation with 20 more farmers in other districts, said, The cultivation of genetically engineered Bt Brinjal in the countrys several districts has cost the farmers their fortunes again this year as the plants have either died out prematurely or fruited very insignificantly compared to the locally available varieties.
The report quoted Md Abul Hayat, a farmer of Dhanua village in Narsingdi, as saying, Most of the saplings (of Bt Brinjal) have died. The plants are prone to diseases. The officials said its due to bacterial attack and prompted by irrigation and soil-type. If irrigation and soil-type had been a problem, why the local brinjal plants on my other field had not been affected? he questioned.
One cant believe that just one month ago, the plants on my field (Bt Brinjal) were most good looking ones among all the brinjal fields in Shibpur. They (officials) came to my field and took photos and videos of the plants at that time, Hayat told the UNB correspondent. When the concerns of Abul Hayet and other Bt Brinjal farmers who faced immense loss cultivation Bt Brinjal this season was brought before Rafiqul Islam Mondol at the press conference, he replied, Some saplings died in one or places because of bacterial wilt, which is not related to the Bt (gene). Even the death rate was too minimal.
