19.09.2007 | permalink
As agrarian crisis-ridden farmers continued to commit suicide in Maharashtra others burnt effigies of Union Textiles Minister, Shankersinh Vaghela, a trade association came out with a survey claiming that farmers had earned an additional income of Rs. 4,086 crore with the adoption of Bt cotton technology. [...] “These claims are ridiculous,” the Vidarbha Jan Andholan Samiti leader, Kishore Tiwari told The Hindu in a telephonic interview from Yavatmal. He said that the Bt cotton had worked only in irrigated areas and not the rain-fed region of Vidharbha. “Actually the cost has doubled and the yield has halved,” he said.