Keeping American GM soya and corn out is in India’s economic interest

 Suman Sahai

The two main agriculture subjects are opening up the dairy sector, on which India is so far firm, saying it’s a “red line” that cannot be crossed since it is the livelihood base of a large number of rural families, with women being the main participants in the milk sector.

The trade deal negotiations with the United States are going through their ups and downs, as hard lines are sought to be softened on the Indian side and US President Donald Trump is showing a hint of flexibility to clinch the deal that he wants. The earlier July 9 deadline to finalise the bilateral talks was later extended till August 1. There are some issues on the bilateral agenda over which India is justifiably anxious as they have far-reaching social and economic implications. The two main agriculture subjects are opening up the dairy sector, on which India is so far firm, saying it’s a “red line” that cannot be crossed since it is the livelihood base of a large number of rural families, with women being the main participants in the milk sector.

The other bone of contention is the US insistence on including corn and soybean as agricultural exports to India. There is little movement on this so far. The problem is that most American soyabean and corn, if not all, is genetically modified. The official Indian policy doesn’t permit the entry of genetically modified (GM) foods. India must stand firm on the GM foods issue, offering other agricultural products like fruits, vegetables and nuts for imports instead.

Allowing American export of GM corn and soybean is against India’s economic interests. First, there is the matter of the safety of such foods. Equally important is whether India’s farmers and consumers are better off with a food production system based on an indigenous low chemical green agriculture, natural or organic farming, or a patented GM technology that is dependent on expensive seeds and high chemical inputs?

Let’s take soybean, India is one of the few countries today that is exclusively growing non-GM soybean. It’s thus in a position to become a dominant soya supplier to large markets like Japan and South Korea which are finicky about using only non-GM soya for cultural reasons. If we allow the import of GM soya from the US, our GM-free soya will certainly get contaminated and unacceptable to markets like Japan and South Korea. This will mean the loss of lucrative markets for our soybean farmers.

Once our soybean is contaminated with GM soya, we will not find it easy to find markets for this soya. Countries like the US and Brazil produce huge quantities of highly subsidised GM soya, against which the unsubsidised Indian mixed GM soya will not stand a chance. The net result will be that we will lose an assured market and not be able to enter the open market. A massive financial loss. Apart from the loss of markets, there is another financial aspect to contamination of non-GM consignments of food with GM food. That is the matter of liability for the contamination. It will be worthwhile to recall the cost of contamination cases from the past.

The StarLink corn case: In 2000, Starlink corn, a GM corn hybrid developed by Aventis CropScience that had not been approved for human consumption, was found in over 300 food products. Aventis had to recall the corn, clean out transportation systems and storage facilities that could have carried the contaminated corn and pay damages to companies that had unknowingly used the contaminated corn. One settlement resulted in $60 million going to the Taco Bell franchisees for lost sales due to the damage to the Taco Bell brand. At that time, Aventis had estimated the cost of recall, clean-up and damages could go up to $1 billion.

It didn’t stop there. Three years later, in 2003, farmers who had not planted StarLink corn but suffered economic losses because corn prices fell after the StarLink scare settled a lawsuit against the company for $100 million.

How will India deal with such matters when contamination takes place? It does not have any laws on liability and redress, so it cannot fix accountability and responsibility in the event of contamination with GM seeds. When (not if) GM soya imported from the US contaminates the non-GM soya of Indian farmers, who will pay the damages for financial losses incurred due to lost markets? Who can be made to pay for clean-up of systems? Or, are we to be presented with a fait accompli and simply be forced to go GM even if it results in huge economic losses for our farming community and our consumers?

Apart from the traditional markets demanding GM-free soya, there is a new and burgeoning demand from an emerging food sector -- that of plant-based foods. This industry sources strictly non-GM soya because that’s what its customers insist on. Here is another growing market that non-GM soya producers like India should tap and capture without delay.

The global plant-based food market is demonstrating near vertical growth. Analysts project that this market could reach $162 billion by 2030, up from $29.4 billion in 2020. This means an increase of roughly $132 billion in a span of 10 years!

The explosive growth in the plant-based food sector is driven by a significant change in consumer food preferences. There are ethical considerations and growing concerns for animal welfare, giving rise to a sizeable population of vegans. In addition, there is an emerging health consciousness about the benefits of plant-based diets compared to meat-based diets. For India’s non-GM soya producers, this is a fortuitous development. Owing to its huge population and cultural factors over meat consumption, the Asia-Pacific region is expected to have the largest share of the plant-based foods market. So, India’s non-GM soya market is at its doorstep. It would be madness to risk this.

Dr Suman Sahai is a scientist trained in genetics and the founder-chairperson of the Gene Campaign, a research and policy organisation working on food and livelihoods.

Source: https://www.deccanchronicle.com/opinion/columnists/suman-sahai-keeping-american-gm-soya-and-corn-out-is-in-indias-economic-interest-1894426