Nagpur scientists have a solution for fake Bt cotton seeds

Despite government regulations, the Bt cotton market has remained susceptible to illegal and spurious variants. But a technology developed b...

Despite government regulations, the Bt cotton market has remained susceptible to illegal and spurious variants. But a technology developed by two Central Institute for Cotton Research (CICR) scientists here could finally clinch the fight in the farmers’ favour.

With experts projecting that about 3 lakh packets of spurious Bt varieties would flood the markets this year, the CICR’s Bt-Express detection kit seems to have arrived just in time. Interestingly, apart from saving gullible farmers from being duped, it has the potential to revolutionise detection of many spurious materials.

This is only the second such kit in the world, developed almost simultaneously with the one produced by Monsanto. While Monsanto came out with it in December 2001, the CICR kit came in January 2002 and costs almost half. The CICR already has an Indian patent and has applied for an international patent for nine countries. Innovative Biosciences, a Nagpur-based company, is marketing the kits, and so far, 40,000 have been sold.

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‘‘The easy-to-use kit employs a strip that when dipped in a vial having a buffer solution containing an extract of Bt leaf or seed develops two bands if the variety is genuine, and one if it is spurious,’’ says Senior Scientist Keshav Raj Kranti, who developed the kit along with his wife Sandhya. ‘‘Even an illiterate farmer can do it himself.’’

One handy CICR kit comprises a set of 50 strips, 50 vials and the buffer solution, for Rs 1,250. Asked if farmers could afford this, CICR Director Dr Mayee says: ‘‘We are doing it for free for farmers on our campus. We are also selling five-strip packets. But basically, we want the state agriculture departments to learn it and do it for farmers. We have already trained Maharashtra officers and are now training Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat officers.’’

Kranti adds: ‘‘The interesting part is that the scientific principle behind the kit can be utilised to develop kits for detection of many spurious materials… The CICR is on the verge of developing a spurious insecticide detection kit.’’ Mayee claims such a kit isn’t currently available anywhere in the world.

Apart from this, the CICR has also developed the Bt-Quant kit for measuring the quantity of toxins in Bt cotton plants. The farmer would be able to know if the toxin level is adequate or not.

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‘‘Earlier, this kit used to be imported from the US for Rs 16,000. The CICR product was priced at just Rs 3,500. Then US company Agdia brought down the price to Rs 4,000. But we have now tagged ours at Rs 1,000,’’ says Mayee.