Bt Brinjal The scope and adequacy of the GEAC environmental risk assessment

14 Bt Brinjal: The GEAC environmental risk assessmentwith endemic BFSB populations, brinjal is sprayed every week or fortnightly on a calendar basis. A calendar basis means thatinsecticides are applied at set time intervals whether or not there is a threat of loss from BFSB. Consequently, some of thesebrinjal fields receive >12 insecticide applications. Large-scale commercial fields with no risk of loss from BFSB typically stillreceive 2-4 applications of insecticide for BFSB control on a calendar basis. Insecticide use on large-scale commercial brinjal canbe reduced substantially by using IPM.Finding 7. Useful alternative production systems for control of BFSB are being tested, actively used, and promotedin India. These include IPM, organic production and other methods that reduce costs associated with external inputs.Indian farmers have several resources available to use to control BFSB instead of synthetic insecticides and Bt brinjal. Theseinclude local insecticides based on neem, including neem cake and neem seed kernel extract. Farmers can also rouge damagedstems and fruits to reduce BFSB populations. High levels of phosphorous in the fertiliser will promote more rapid maturationof the fruits and a hardening of the plant tissues, which enable plants to escape being injured by BFSB (Prabhu et al. 2005). Inaddition, BFSB sex pheromone and BFSB egg parasitoids have also been examined.Small-scale resource poor farmers can use low plant density, residue removal, local insecticide technology based on neem,and hand-rouging damaged plant parts to manage BFSB (APOF 2004). The ubiquitous neem tree can be used to producea local insecticide, and hand-rouging can be very effective and efficient at removing the local BFSB population before it canincrease because there is a small number of brinjal plants involved. Application of 100kg per acre neem cake with 5 to 8%residue oil to the base of the plant, pheromone traps, egg parasitoids and clean cultivation comprise one of the recommendedpackage of practices for brinjal pest management, including BFSB.IPM for BFSB has been tested and is being promoted in India (Alam et al. 2006, Barel et al. 2006). This is based on usingdamage thresholds to determine when to apply an insecticide (which can be a neem product), use of pheromone traps (Corket al. 2003) constructed out of readily available materials, 1 hand-rouging, and residue removal. IPM has enjoyed widespreadacceptance and has provided substantial value to farmers. This project will be discussed more in the Socioeconomic section ofthis report.India has launched a major initiative in Organic Agriculture and Bt brinjal is not compatible with organic production(NPOP 2005). Indeed, Bt brinjal could jeopardise this developing organic vegetable export market. India is already facing theproblem of organic cotton contamination with Bt cotton in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. India accounts for about halfthe global supply of organic cotton. About 200 ‘A’ category organic farmers affiliated to Vidarbha Organic Farmers Association(VOFA) in Yavatmal district of Maharashtra did not get their cotton certified because “their cotton samples tested positive forBt contamination”. (Aparna Pallavi, Down to Earth Vol. 19, No. 19, Feb 16-28 2010, page 20). Organic production practicescontrol BFSB effectively. These include recipes for local insecticides, such as mixing 2 ton of compost with 200 kg of neemcake and 2 kg Trichoderma, holding at 60% moisture for a week, and applying at transplanting. In addition, pheromone trapscoupled with one of the many proven indigenous local insecticidal technologies has been effective at controlling BFSB.Large-scale farmers also have some control options that are not readily usable by small-scale resource-poor farmers.Net house production systems have been advocated for large production systems by the Indian Institute for HorticulturalResearch (IIHR). These exclude BFSB with netting and although the netting is a substantial capital expense, in experimentalapplications a farmer cleared Rs.2,000,000 on less than one hectare of brinjal in one season (Dr. Prabhakar, IIHR, personalcommunication).1(http://www.takingroots.in/)