No Evidence Of Declining Honey Production In India: Jitendra Singh

Union Minister of State Science and Technology Jitendra Singh has said that there is no evidence of declining honey production associated with the cultivation of GM cotton in the country in the last ten years. 

He said that studies conducted during 2018-19 and 2019-20 indicated that there is no negative impact of Bt transgenic cotton cultivars on bees, brood rearing, pollen and nectar hoarding of Apis mellifera colonies as compared to non -transgenic cotton cultivars.

In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha Singh said, "GM mustard hybrid Dhara Mustard Hybrid-11 (DMH-11) has been tested for three years (2010-11, 2011-12, 2014-15) against national check Varuna and zonal check RL1359 during the confined field trials, Biosafety Research Level (BRL)-I and BRL-II trials at multiple locations."

"DMH-11 showed approximately 28 per cent more yield than the national check and 37 per cent more than the zonal checks," he added.

Singh further said bar gene is responsible for herbicide tolerance and its use has been claimed and approved by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) during the hybrid seed production phase to maintain the genetic purity of hybrid seed by killing male fertile plants in female rows in seed production plot only and not during commercial cultivation by the farmers.