India should not give in to pressure from GM food producing countries.
Recently, the United States’ Trade Representative (USTR) has complained to the World Trade Organization that US exports are suffering because of India’s restrictions on genetically modified (GM) imports. Significantly, in the context of food imports, India has mandated the certification of non-GM products. The US says that the WTO should instruct India to lift the restrictions on GM imports so that the US can send its GM foods to India. Significantly, the production of GM products is allowed in only a few countries of the world, in which the US is a prominent one.
The US says that due to this condition, their exporters are finding it difficult to export rice and apples to India. It’s notable that India’s food regulator, FSSAI, has made non-GM certification mandatory for countries exporting food to India from 1 March 2021. The US says that the compulsion of this certificate should be removed. It says that the justification for this order has not been explained. There should be a scientific basis to justify non-GM certification and it needs to be accompanied by a risk assessment, the US argues.
Interestingly, in a yet another dramatic move, a committee of the Ministry of Environment, Government of India, Genetic Engineering and Appraisal Committee (GEAC) has recommended the environmental release of GM mustard, and in a most unprecedented manner, Ministry of Environment and Forests has also given its approval, paving way for commercial production of GM mustard. Those who oppose this, say that if GM is allowed in food items in India, then this will pose a huge hindrance in the export of food items from the country, and may lead to a flood of imports of GM items in the country, which are not allowed as per India’s laws so far. With Government of India allowing GM mustard, a food item, this restriction will automatically be removed and there may be a flooding of GM imports in the country.
It has to be understood that India has become self-sufficient in food items. Except for edible oils and some pulses, all other food items, namely, food grains, fruits and vegetables, milk and milk products, eggs, fish etc., are produced in sufficient quantity in the country. Not only this, India is also exporting food items worth US$50 billion today. Many times consignments of India’s food exports have been rejected by some countries on the grounds that they were found to contain pesticides banned in those countries, beyond limits. But once it also happened that our rice export consignments sent to Middle East were also rejected for the reason that GM rice was mixed in them.
Recently, in the month of October 2021, according to a release of the “Rapid Alert System” of the European Union, Mars Wrigley, the famous candy company had to recall its product, Cripsey M&M, from all over Europe because they contained GM rice, and their origin was said to be in India. Even though Ministry of Commerce says that GM rice is not produced in India, so it is not possible, farmers believe that since field trials have been going on in GM rice, it is possible that due to this the seeds of GM rice may have got mixed with other rice. Since then the European countries are becoming more apprehensive and cautious about rice imports from India. It is natural that according to the rules of Europe, products with “GM tag” will be rejected outright.
INDIA’S FOOD EXPORTS, IMPORTS
Food exports from India are about Rs 4 lakh crore every year, some of which are processed food and the rest are raw food products. These food exports are made to around 40 countries of the world. The important thing is that today GM is banned in 26 countries, and it’s notable that these countries import large quantities of food from India. This clearly means that as soon as GM enters in food items in India, such countries (Europe, Middle East Asian countries, Mexico, Russia etc.) will be apprehensive about food imports from India and our exports to these countries may be badly hit.
On the other hand, America, Canada, Australia and other countries enjoying surplus of food items, which are not able to export to GM free countries, are looking for ways to dump their goods in India. If GM is allowed in food items in India, then these countries will be able to export food products to India with ease, even if it’s against our interests.
Thus we can understand that allowing GM can be a double whammy for India. On the one hand it would create a major hurdle for our exports, such that they would be blocked in GM free countries and on the other hand GM producing countries will be able to sell their products easily in India. On the one hand foreign exchange inflow will be hit adversely, while its outflow increases due to increase in GM imports. Meaning thereby, a double whammy on the valuable foreign exchange for India.
DOUBLE WHAMMY for FARMERs
Whereas, the supporters of GM are arguing that the permission of GM is going to benefit the farmers a lot and their income will increase, the fact is that if India’s food exports decrease and food imports increase by allowing GM, then not only will there be a big loss of foreign exchange, but farmers will also have to bear huge economic losses. Food exports from India enable farmers to get better prices for their crops. Export of rice, wheat, spices, vegetables, fruits etc., from the country is continuously increasing, due to which farmers’ distress has been reduced significantly, by making them get better prices.
At the same time, due to the jump in food imports from the US and other GM producing countries, it will become difficult for farmers to get a fair value for their crops. Significantly, GM producing countries are also known for giving huge subsidies in agriculture. It is a known fact that the import of subsidized agricultural goods from the US can lead to flooding of imported goods in India, due to which agriculture will cease to be a profitable venture.
Perhaps, sensing the ill effects of GM on their economic interests and also impact on environment, farmers are vehemently opposing the introduction of GM in the country.
INDIA’S RESPONSIBILITY
India is an important country in food production in the world, which is not only free from GM food. India is also moving forward in organic farming because of government and non-government measures. Along with non-GM foods, organic products are also being exported in large quantities. In view of the growing health hazards caused by GM products, the world is looking towards India for healthy food including organic ones. It is notable that the entry of GM in the country may prove to be death knell for organic produce. In such a situation, if GM foods are allowed, India’s exports will get adversely affected and GM imports will increase. In such an eventuality, not only India’s farmers will suffer, given the known impact of GMO on health, efforts to curb the growing Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in the world will also get a big blow.
Dr Ashwani Mahajan is Professor, PGDAV College, University of Delhi.