Navdanya travelled to the cotton growing Malwa belt of Punjab to report the damage done by the whitefly on Bt cotton in October ’15. Despite spraying pesticides 10- 15 times, 1.2 million acres of cotton was destroyed by the whitefly, a common pest. This short film is an attempt to make the pain of the Bt Cotton farmers be heard and make the lives our farmers’ lives matter.
Film and production by Shaani Singh and Indra Shekhar Singh | Edited by Roanna Rahman.


Links: In FocusEvents and ActionsSocial Media Navdanya Community Seed Banks


Photo © Manlio Masucci

Fibres of Freedom


Yield | Testimonies on the suicides of Indian farmers from Vidarbha


In focus

Press Release: Illegal Roundup Ready Flex Bt Cotton and Carcinogen Round-up should be banned

Navdanya, 30 November 2017

Peddling Poisons, & Selling Seeds Of Suicide

By Dr Vandana Shiva, 24 November 2017

Activists seek NHRC probe into ‘farmer suicides epidemic’

Business Standard, 10 October 2017

Monsanto illegally Introduces Round Up Resistant GMO Cotton in India

Navdanya, 7 April 2017

Satyagraha in ‘post-truth’ era

By Dr Vandana Shiva –The Asian Age, 27 February 2017


BT Cotton Failure Case Witnesses from India and Burkina Faso

The Hague, October 2016, Monsanto Tribunal and People’s Assembly – Dr Krishan Bir Chaudhary, president of Bharat Krishak Samaj, India’s largest farmer organisation, and Ali Tapsoba de Goamma, from Burkina Faso, founding member of TERRE A VIE and Coordinator of the International GMO Resistance Meetings (RIR-OGM) share the experience of the effect of BT Cotton cultivation in their respective countries.



Extract from “Insight : Task Force On Olympics To Be Set Up & The GM Crops Debate (27/08/2016)”


It is time for Monsanto to Quit India

By Dr Vandana Shiva – The Indian Express, 26 August 2016

Why the government is right in controlling the price of Monsanto’s Bt cotton seeds

By Dr Vandana Shiva – Scroll.in, 22 August 2016

The Reason For Farmer Suicides in Punjab Lies Not in the Whitefly But in Bt Cotton

By Dr Vandana Shiva – The Citizen, 17 July 2016

‘Udta Punjab’ Opens Our Eyes To Green Revolution’s Toxic Legacy

By Dr Vandana Shiva – The Quint, 22 June 2016

Rogue companies must be stopped from taking over India’s rich biodiversity

By Dr Vandana Shiva – The Indian Express, 4 June 2016

Clash of civilisations: India’s ancient love for nature is losing out to modern disregard for it

By Dr Vandana Shiva – Scroll.in, 31 May 2016

Seeds, Biodiversity and IPRs

By Dr Vandana Shiva, 26 May 2016

Monsanto Losing Ground: India Rethinks Rules Over Sale of GM Cotton Seeds

Sputnik News, 21 May 2016

Seeds of suicide

by Dr Vandana Shiva – The Asian Age, 19 May 2016

India: Bt cotton failure forces govt to promote native seeds

Live Mint, 5 April 2016

Monsanto vs Indian Farmers

By Dr Vandana Shiva, 27 March 2016

Seed swaraj (Seed Sovereignty)

By Dr Vandana Shiva, The Asian Age, 22 March 2016

Make Monsanto pay

By Dr Vandana Shiva – The Asian Age, 23 February 2016

Punjab whitefly epidemic: We need a new agriculture policy

By Dr Vandana Shiva — The Indian Express, 15 October 2015

Pests, Pesticides and Propaganda: the story of Bt Cotton

By Dr Vandana Shiva, 10 October 2015

Anna Swaraj: The only way we can rescue Indian farmers from debt and suicide

By Dr Vandana Shiva — Scroll.in, 10 October 2015

Exterminating seeds put farmers on the rack

By Antonio Storto, eastwest.eu n. 48, 2012




Events and Actions:

Stop Monsanto’s crimes! Indian farmers call for ‘Monsanto Quit India’

New Delhi, 17 August 2016

Navdanya partners with VNSSM and CICR to make Maharashtra suicide, poison and debt free

Navdanya, 18 June 2016

A Call to Join Jaivik Kranti (Living Revolution) for Anna Swaraj 2020

New Delhi, 21 May 2016

Navdanya Solidarity meeting in Bathinda

Chugge Kalan, Bathinda, 24 January 2016

NGO shows the way to debt-ridden farmers

by Sanjeev Singh Bariana – The Tribune, 25 January 2015

Prakash Kardaley Memorial Lecture: Environmentalist pitches for organic farming

By Express News Service | Pune | The Indian Express, 20 December 2015

Shiva said that BT cotton has increased the problems of farmers and hence, they have decided to go back to the original cotton. However, finding seeds for the indigenous variety of cotton has become a major issue. “The region has the finest cotton research institute of the country, and yet no new variety of cotton has been introduced,” Shiva rued. Her organisation Navdhanya has decided to start a seed bank in the region from this year onwards.

BT Cotton Seeds of Suicide

by Indra Shekhar Singh, 16 December 2016

Dr Vandana Shiva joins farmers’ protest at Jantar Mantar

Farmers hold protest against agro-chemical cost
Press Trust of India, 29 October 2015


NEWS TAG: BT COTTON