Farida Akther on the BT Brinjal controversy in Bangladesh

Farida Akhter, executive director of UBINIG and one of the strongest voices against the introduction of Bt brinjal in Bangladesh, was invited by Navdanya to participate in the People’s Assembly.

During her intervention, in the session “Attack on Farmers and farming:, she said:
“Companies say that we need to be helped to grow more food. But our country is named “the country of gold”. Our gold is not the gold you find in mines but the soil we have that can produce such bountiful food (in fact, Bangladesh has 248 varieties of Brinjal)! Monsanto claimed intellectual property rights on 9 of brinjals in a secret agreement with the government without the knowledge of the people. In fact, consumers are not even told whether the brinjal they buy is Bt. Brinjal or not! Bt Brinjal is a direct attack on our farmers and our farming. We need support from you not only for our sake but also for your sake because Brinjal is a global vegetable that comes to your plate as well. As for myself, I believe we have the truth, so we will win”

Also read:

Bangladeshi farmers ditch GM brinjal

By Farida Akhter / GMWatch – The Ecologist, 5 February 2016

Cornell’s ‘no pest’ Bt brinjal project in Bangladesh appears to be going great with 200 farmers signed up, reports Farida Akhter. Only its not – hardly any of the farmers who grew the GM plants in previous years have come back for more after their crops wilted, failed to ripen, or were devastated by pests […]

Also watch:

In the theatre of the absurd

By Shayan S. Khan – Dhaka Courier, 30 June 2016

Faced with a government machinery visibly determined to ride roughshod over all dissenting voices in its quest to establish ‘the way of science’, a new documentary  – Bt Beguner Bisambad (BT Brinjal In the Dock)– seeks to bring back some of the issues surrounding the controversial initiative to introduce genetically modified brinjal crops in Bangladesh squarely into focus. […]