Indore, India: Madhya Pradesh, a soya bean farmer in the state of central India, has been disappointed by the state’s recently finished harvesting season.
The 57-year-old, who has more than 3 hectares (7.4 acres) of fertile land, claimed that excessive rain had caused his standing crops to be severely harmed the state’s soybean production.
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According to Patel, “the production is only about 9, 000 kg,” or one-fifth of what it should be.
As a result of the excessive rain, corn prices, which are grown close to soya beans, have fallen.
Farmers like Patel should be concerned about more pressing issues.
One of the main components of the ongoing trade negotiations between India and the United States is that the two agricultural products are extensively grown for both livestock and human consumption.
President Donald Trump has so far imposed tariffs on India, which have threatened to destroy several US-based industries that are heavily exporting.
The US’s access to India’s agricultural sector is one of the issues in trade negotiations. Washington wants to see the introduction of genetically modified (GM) corn and soybeans on New Delhi’s market.
In order to introduce novel traits that increase production in comparison to conventional breeding, the GM technology involves changing plant DNA.
After Brazil, the US produces 119.05 million metric tons of soya beans, accounting for 28 percent of the world’s production.
Prior to the trade war with Beijing, China was the largest buyer of US soya beans.
Because China, the organization’s former top buyer, has dramatically reduced its purchases, Suman Sahai, the founder of Gene Campaign, a nonprofit working for farmers, said the US desperately needs a market for its soya beans and corn.
Trump must sell this crop of soybeans and corn to avoid piqueing the attention of his large-scale political base, she said.
India’s resistance to change
India has so far stopped the importation of GM-variety soya beans and corn because it produces non-GM, organic crops that have a global niche market and could be hampered by the perception that GM varieties are causing the strain to become too diluted.
Madhya Pradesh alone produces more than half of the world’s 13.05 million tonnes of soya beans.
About 42 million tons of corn are produced in India, making about 80% of fuel-grade ethanol. Because of the lack of a processing facility for edible oil, the nation produces only corn on its own, but it imports soya oil for cooking purposes.
However, soya and corn farmers complain that traders are already charging less than the government’s recommended price. Additionally, the high prices of fertilizers, seeds, and other farm items are added to this, along with the unpredictable rainfall that has destroyed crops.
Because the government does not purchase from us, the traders can set the prices at their will. In Madhya Pradesh, corn farmer Prakash Patel, 50, said, “We are unable to even recover the production costs.”
We still have to pay the loans we used to purchase our farming equipment because the profit is a far-off dream.
Farmers worry that if US goods enter the Indian market, these losses will get worse.
In 0.40 hectares (1 acre) of land, a farmer in India typically produces about 1 metric tonne of soya beans. However, the same land area can support GM soybean production, according to Nirbhay Singh, a soya farmer in the state’s Piploda village.
Hemant Jain, an exporter of corn, is concerned about the impact of US goods entering India.
Because of their non-GM quality, Jain claimed that India’s soybean and corn products are in high demand internationally.
The import of GM products “would raise questions about adulteration in the minds of foreigners, who might be reluctant to purchase from us.”
Farmers in India, according to independent agrarian analyst Indra Shekhar Singh, have average landholdings of about 2 hectares (5 acres), where five to seven family members work and depend for food and income. They frequently have to work as laborers on other people’s land to earn more money.
This contrasts favorably with the US, where farmers have extensive fields to cultivate crops and, depending on the crop, receive substantial government subsidies.
Indian farmers can’t compete with the US government’s subordinated agri-commodities, saying that the US is trying to find a market alternative to China. Our farmers would be left deeply ill and helpless by them by the time they would have the entire market, Singh predicted.
Strong lobbying at work
However, some scientists and industry experts believe that India’s GM soybean and corn production has advantages.
Because they are not permitted to speak to the media, a senior scientist working with the Indian government on GM technology claimed that the introduction of the technology would allow farmers to use specific herbicides to control weeds without harming the crop.
The use of spraying insecticides and lower costs for farmers would be reduced thanks to the GM technology’s insect-resistant properties. Additionally, the GM method, which aids farmers in reducing their losses, significantly increases production.
According to Kawaljeet Bhatia, a 52-year-old Indian poultry feed supplier, the production of corn and soya beans will increase significantly with the introduction of GM varieties, which would benefit farmers and local businesses that are involved in the production process.
He suggested, however, that the government instead import GM seeds, producing their own.
“Some exporters, who claim to export organic products, pay a premium.” Because it benefits them, they want that status to continue. We only need to switch to GM in order to increase productivity, according to Bhatia.
Political analysts told Al Jazeera that the Indian government is being cautious. Agriculture accounts for 46% of the country’s GDP and contributes to it.
Sibaji Pratim Basu, an independent political commentator in Kolkata, West Bengal, quoted as saying, “The government is acting with caution, taking lessons from the massive farmers’ protest that had rocked the country in 2020-21. … referring to the yearlong protests by tens of thousands of farmers in northern India against three farm laws that the government has introduced. Only after the government withdrew those regulations did the protests come to an end.
