BRITISH AIRWAYS PENSION INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT

COTTON

India

Cotton, often referred as "White gold" has been in cultivation in India for more than five thousand years. The first people to grow cotton for clothing and towels and sheets were the Harappan people in India.

India ranks first in area and fourth in production in the world’s cotton industry. The cotton required for the purpose of manufacturing yarn is cultivated in about 9 million hectares of land in India and thus India ranks first in the world.

Cotton provides livelihood for over 4 million farming families in India.

The economic reforms and the trade policy liberalization carried out during the last decade with a view of globalizing the Indian economy have exposed the Indian cotton textile industry to a new challenge.

When cotton farming was introduced as an alternative to food crops in the 1980s, farmers invested in expensive varieties of seeds and pesticides. This put small farmers in conditions of severe indebtedness, often driving them to suicide. The spate of suicides that began from Andhra Pradesh, first in 1987 and then again in 1998-99, have so far taken a heavy toll, spreading to Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab.

When Bt Cotton was introduced Farmers found themselves on a “pesticide treadmill' where higher pesticide use led to greater resistance which in turn led to even higher pesticide use, an so on. Today we find 55% of all pesticide use in India is used on the cotton crop. The intial claims that Bt cotton plant would be resistant to the bollworm, leading to decreased pesticide use have been proved false. In 2006, over 1300 farmers committed suicide in the Vidharba area of India alone.

Companies like Monsanto, that specialize in fertilizers, pesticides, agrochemicals depend on cotton and the farmers’ vulnerability for their business.

Bt Cotton is produced by inserting a synthetic version of a gene from the naturally occurring soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, into cotton. The primary reason this is done is to induce the plant to produce its own Bt toxin to destroy the bollworm, a major cotton pest. The gene causes the production of Bt toxin in all parts of the cotton plant throughout its entire life span. When the bollworm ingests any part of the plant, the Bt cotton toxin pierces its small intestine and kills the insect.
Production of cloth from cotton has also produced much suffering for Indians. Mass-production has killed the movement of “khadi” (handspun, hand-woven cloth,). Mahatma Gandhi began promoting the spinning of khadi for rural self-employment in 1920s India. He also wanted to spread the message of not using foreign clothes. The freedom struggle revolved around the use of khadi fabrics and the dumping of foreign-made clothes. Thus it symbolized the political ideas and independence itself, and to this day most politicians in India are seen only in khadi clothing. Today there are a handful of cooperatives left that practice khadi. (This can be said to be the origins of organic and sustainable clothing).

DOCUMENTARY/PHOTOJOURNALISM

COTTON

India

Cotton, often referred as "White gold" has been in cultivation in India for more than five thousand years. The first people to grow cotton for clothing and towels and sheets were the Harappan people in India.

India ranks first in area and fourth in production in the world’s cotton industry. The cotton required for the purpose of manufacturing yarn is cultivated in about 9 million hectares of land in India and thus India ranks first in the world.

Cotton provides livelihood for over 4 million farming families in India.

The economic reforms and the trade policy liberalization carried out during the last decade with a view of globalizing the Indian economy have exposed the Indian cotton textile industry to a new challenge.

When cotton farming was introduced as an alternative to food crops in the 1980s, farmers invested in expensive varieties of seeds and pesticides. This put small farmers in conditions of severe indebtedness, often driving them to suicide. The spate of suicides that began from Andhra Pradesh, first in 1987 and then again in 1998-99, have so far taken a heavy toll, spreading to Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab.

When Bt Cotton was introduced Farmers found themselves on a “pesticide treadmill' where higher pesticide use led to greater resistance which in turn led to even higher pesticide use, an so on. Today we find 55% of all pesticide use in India is used on the cotton crop. The intial claims that Bt cotton plant would be resistant to the bollworm, leading to decreased pesticide use have been proved false. In 2006, over 1300 farmers committed suicide in the Vidharba area of India alone.

Companies like Monsanto, that specialize in fertilizers, pesticides, agrochemicals depend on cotton and the farmers’ vulnerability for their business.

Bt Cotton is produced by inserting a synthetic version of a gene from the naturally occurring soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, into cotton. The primary reason this is done is to induce the plant to produce its own Bt toxin to destroy the bollworm, a major cotton pest. The gene causes the production of Bt toxin in all parts of the cotton plant throughout its entire life span. When the bollworm ingests any part of the plant, the Bt cotton toxin pierces its small intestine and kills the insect.
Production of cloth from cotton has also produced much suffering for Indians. Mass-production has killed the movement of “khadi” (handspun, hand-woven cloth,). Mahatma Gandhi began promoting the spinning of khadi for rural self-employment in 1920s India. He also wanted to spread the message of not using foreign clothes. The freedom struggle revolved around the use of khadi fabrics and the dumping of foreign-made clothes. Thus it symbolized the political ideas and independence itself, and to this day most politicians in India are seen only in khadi clothing. Today there are a handful of cooperatives left that practice khadi. (This can be said to be the origins of organic and sustainable clothing).

DOCUMENTARY/PHOTOJOURNALISM