The Mealy Bug responsible 4 million hectors Cotton crop failure in Mahrashtra.

The Mealy Bug responsible 4 million hectors Cotton crop failure in Mahrashtra.

Vidarbha -26^th December 2011

Vidarbha Jan Andolan (VJAS) activists have reported shocking facts, all types of plants and ruby crops are severely infected by Mealy Bug, a virus gifted by imported Bt.cotton seed supplied by US MNC Monsanto. The VJAS warned that coming seasons too will have it's wider effect and larger area spread covering all most all crops and set to destroy of next year not only cotton crop but all the other food crops thanks plant killer 'Mealy Bug ' gifted by GMO.

VJAS president Kishor Tiwari urged the Maharashtra Chief Minister Prathiviraj chavan who declared that nearly 4 million hector cotton crop damaged and has given bailout package to compensate losses @ of Rs.4000/- per hector amounting more than Rs.1000 crore to recovery the crop damages from Monsanto Bt. Cotton seeds which has briught this Mealy bug in agrarian crisis hit Maharashtra in order to save more than 5 million distress and debt trapped vidarbha cotton farmers. He also demanded CBI probe over the Mealy Bug spread in Maharashtra on cotton growing dry land region.

Now when the cotton plants have died, the mealy bug is shifting to nearby plants and the bug has been getting multiplied like any thing. It has shifted to pulses nearby, and many other weeds and plants in Maharashtra forest which is grate danger to ecology and environmental impact of Maharashtra.

This initiative comes against a historical backdrop of government support for high chemical input cotton production at national and at state level that has sent the wrong messages to farmers. GM cotton is now falsely promoted as the answer to reducing the scourge of proliferating pesticide use, and is one of many reasons farmers are succumbing to the pressure to grow GM cotton which has

been spreading more complex hazards to public health and resulting heavy economical losses forcing farmers to kill themselves @ one every 8 hourly since June 2005 after Indian authorities has given permission to grow Bt. cotton in rain fed area of Maharashtra .

VJAS has requested Indian authorities to ban Bt.cotton in dry land region of region of maharashtra and to launch National Food Security Mission(NFSM)) and special outlay of Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) which.should be followed along with a comprehensive promotion plan of sustainable farming in the small and marginal farmers and tribals cultivating barren land for maharashtra and the demand to allocate dedicated funds on the lines of AIBP for farm ponds,

community tanks and give incentives to farmers/villages who/which harness water but nobody in the administration is serious over the maharashtra agrarian crisis, Tiwari added.