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In reply to the discussion: Venezuela's Chavez welcomes ally Ahmadinejad [View all]vminfla
(1,367 posts)52. For one , The UCS Study acknowledges Bt GE crops have higher yields
For another, again, a host of factors contribute to crop yields......
India is an important grower of cotton on a global scale. It ranks third in global cotton production after the United States and China; with 8-9 million hectares grown each year, India accounts for approximately 25% of the world's total cotton area and 16% of global cotton production. Most of the cotton in India is grown under rainfed conditions, and about a third is grown under irrigation (Sundaram, Basu, Krishna Iyer, Narayanan, & Rajendran, 1999). However, yields of cotton in India are low, with an average yield of 300 kg/ha compared to the world average of 580 kg/ha.
Cotton is a very important cash crop for Indian farmers and contributes around 30% to the gross domestic product of Indian agriculture. However, as with many cotton growing areas of the world, a major limiting factor is damage due to insect pests, especially the bollworm complex (American bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera; Spotted bollworm, Earias vittella; Pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossipiella). Sucking pests such as aphids (Aphis gossypii), jassids (Amrasca bigutulla), and whiteflies (Bemisia tabaci) are also a problem in terms of direct damage to the plant and the transmission of viruses.
In March 2002, the Indian government permitted commercial cultivation of genetically modified Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) cotton. The Bt gene produces a protein that is toxic to bollworms. Bt cotton has now been produced in India for two seasons2002 and 2003. In 2002, some 38,000 hectares were planted with Bt cotton, with more than 12,000 hectares being grown by more than 17,000 farmers in the state of Maharashtra. Given the scale of the cotton industry in India and the current global debates over advantages/disadvantages of GM technology, it is not surprising that there has been considerable and vigorous debate regarding the agronomic and economic performance of Bt cotton in India with various reports claiming both successes and failures. Qaim (2003), for example, analyzed trial data from seed companies testing Bt cotton and concluded that quantities of insecticide can be reduced by about one third relative to conventional (non-Bt) varieties, and yield gains can be up to 80% in seasons with bad bollworm infestations (a typical increase may be 30-40%). However, trial data can be criticized as being untypical models of the real conditions that prevail on Indian farms, and yield benefits may as a result be far less than those projected from trials. Even so, other studies have also shown potential gains to producers from growing Bt cotton in a number of developing countries (James, 2002), including South Africa (Bennett, Buthelezi, Ismael, & Morse, 2003; Ismael, Bennett, & Morse, 2002), Argentina (Qaim & De Janvry, 2002), Mexico (Traxler, Godoy-Avilla, Falck-Zepeda, & Espinoza-Arellano, 2001), Indonesia (Manwan & Subagyo, 2002), China (Pray, Rozelle, Huang, & Wang, 2002), and India (Naik, 2001; Qaim & Zilberman, 2003).
http://www.agbioforum.org/v7n3/v7n3a01-morse.htm
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The Iranian president is subordinate to the Supreme Leader on issues of foreign policy. n/t
ronnie624
Jan 2012
#22
I remember, but it wasn't just a planeload of Americans who suffered then. Thousands of Iranians
Cleita
Jan 2012
#25
We were kind of paranoid after "accidentally" almost losing a ship the year before
DissedByBush
Jan 2012
#56
They are getting ready to execute an Iranian American (former USMC) they are accusing of spying.
MADem
Jan 2012
#57
And as heinous as that is, it isn't the reason for U.S. intervention in the ME.
ronnie624
Jan 2012
#65
here's a link re: 80,000 TONS of rotting meat in Chavez' well run country, food shortages
wordpix
Jan 2012
#85
Clearly what the media here tells US Americans is what some automatically believe.
Judi Lynn
Jan 2012
#31
Which is the undisputed truth - I know this because a Chavez supporter said it.
Dreamer Tatum
Jan 2012
#64
You're the first to claim expatriot Venezuelans are "refugees." What a twist.
Judi Lynn
Jan 2012
#28
Re: your claim you don't dare "broadcast protests against the government," you must check that info.
Judi Lynn
Jan 2012
#33
I'm sure there are alternate ways of looking at one's gov in Venezuela, just like in the US
wordpix
Jan 2012
#90
It reminds me of when I was in graduate school and knew a member of the Kuwaiti
Lydia Leftcoast
Jan 2012
#14
Whoah Whoah whoah. I don't welcome war with Iran, but I dislike its leaders...
Bicoastal
Jan 2012
#15
+1, no one here should be defending Iran and their terrible human right's record.
nyy1998
Jan 2012
#21
You want to run down a list of repressive brutal governments we are arming against their own people?
EFerrari
Jan 2012
#40
Bravo Chavez! The US has done far more harm to the world--South & Central America--than
Vidar
Jan 2012
#34
Vida is right, of course. Did you check how many people US drones killed on the same day?
EFerrari
Jan 2012
#38
I have given several reasons why I agree with Vida. You have posted insults. I think we're done.
EFerrari
Jan 2012
#50