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Farida Akhter
Tuesday 08 December 2020

Introduction

Brinjals, locally called Begun (in Bangla) by the people of Bangladesh, are the most common and favourite vegetable. On 17 May, 2020 the New Age, a national daily of Bangladesh published an article of mine [Akhter, 2020] titled “Aubergine Story: Local varieties exists, not GMOs”. In the article, I argued that in th

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The witness account from By UBINIG Farida Akhter
Wednesday 02 September 2020

Monsanto in Bangladesh

Monsanto is not new in Bangladesh. The company has been actively selling RoundUp Ready in the Tea Gardens as Glyphosate herbicide for over two decades. Tea Gardens are located in remote areas in the north eastern geographic location of Bangladesh. It is only recently that Health hazards of unprotected tea garden workers are revealed only recently and linked to the unprotected use of pesticides and herbicide.

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UBINIG
Thursday 12 September 2019

i. UBINIG conducted a short survey in December, 2018 and early January, 2019 on the adoption and abandonment of Bt brinjal by farmers on the basis of the claims of higher adoption of Bt brinjal by farmers. Forty-eight farmers were interviewed out of the list of 106 farmers who were selected by Department of Agricultural Extension for cultivation of Bt brinjal during 2014-15. The purpose of the survey w

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UBINIG
Sunday 17 March 2019

Dhaka Tribune, a Bangladeshi daily, published a report by Reaz Ahmed on IFPRI ‘s Btbrinjal study on March 7th, 2019: “5-yr after releasing its first GM crop Bangladesh says farmers gain by adopting Bt brinjal”. Till now we have not been able to get a copy of the IFPRI report. Nevertheless, until we could put

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Farida Akhter
Monday 17 April 2017

Deb Carstoiu, Managing Director of plant biotech communications at CropLife International wrote a report on Bt Brinjal farmer Anisur Rahman Sheikh in a northern district of Bangladesh. According to Carstoiu, ‘Rahman Sheikh recently planted biotech eggplant for the first time. The biotech variety (Bt eggplant) repels or kills the fruit and shoot borer, and Rahman Sheikh is confident that it will make a difference for him and his family’. (see Deb Carstoui's '

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Jahangir Alam Jony and M. A. Sobhan
Sunday 21 August 2016

Bt Brinjal affected by aphid

Brinjal is the most important vegetable in Bangladesh, a common crtop farmers grow for family consumption as well as for the market.  Nationally it is grown in about 50,000 hectares of land in two major seasons: winter and summer. However there are varieties that  can be grown round the year. However seasonal varieties are culturally preferred. Indigenous nutritional knowledge claims that tho

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Farida Akhter
Friday 04 March 2016

Consumers have the right to know what they are buying

The field cultivation of genetically modified brinjal (also known as Bt Brinjal) was conditional. In October 2013, the National Committee on Biosafety (NCB) imposed seven conditions to be followed in field cultivation. One of these conditions was labeling -- if Bt Brinjal is brought to the market, they must be labelled, ie it should be clearly stated if it is GMO.

Since 2

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GMWATCH
Monday 23 November 2015

The narrative of GMO success is unravelling, writes Claire Robinson

Recently we published an article about a report by the policy research organization UBINIG, which presented the results of its investigation into the performance of GM Bt insecticidal brinjal (eggplant) in its second year of cultivation in Bangladesh.

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Bt brinjal on "life support" in Bangladesh


GMWATCH
Sunday 22 November 2015

A policy research group has concluded that the GM crop was a “miserable failure” in its second year of cultivation. Claire Robinson reports

http://gmwatch.org/news/latest-news/16535

Bt brinjal (eggplant) has proved a “miserable failure” in its second year of cultivation in Bangladesh, according to a new report by the development policy research group, UBINIG. Unimpressed by claims that Bt brinj

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Bt Brinjal Is Under ‘LIFE SUPPORT’


UBINIG
Friday 06 November 2015

EXPERIENCES OF FARMERS IN SECOND ROUND FIELD CULTIVATION

INTRODUCTION

This is UBINIG’s report on the second round field cultivation of Btbrinjal, an ongoing monitoring of the unethical promotion of GMOs. There are evidences that in the previous field cultivation, the Btbrinjal promoters completely igno

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‘Bagary Baingan’ on the menu of Modi: Was it Bt. Brinjal?


Farida Akhter
Monday 08 June 2015

Indian Prime Minister Norendra Modi’s eventful two-day visit ended on the 7th June, 2015 in Bangladesh. Mr. Prime Minister is a vegetarian and therefore as a host Bangladesh government, particularly Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina herself took special care to select different kinds of vegetarian foods. The Hindustan Times reported on 7 June, 2015 titled “100 veg dishes for Modi” including special daal, khichdi, dhokla and Bangladesh’s special sweets. In The NDTV news it w

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Turning Bt. Brinjal failure into a propaganda of success


Farida Akhter
Friday 15 May 2015

Since the beginning of the Bangladesh government clearance for field cultivation of GM food crop Bt. Brinjal, it has been a scandal. The genetically engineered crop failed miserably in the chosen farmers fields of Bangladesh, despite the careful selection and training of the farmers. Promoters of GMO adopted more scandalous options. They refused to review the experiment by the normative standard of strict scientific experiment and the international ethical standard of precautionery principle

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Bt. Brinjal: Forced cultivation and poor performance!


UBINIG
Monday 16 March 2015

Bangladesh is one of the unfortunate countries in Asia, where GM food crops are being forced for introduction without properly following the precautionery principle to protect biological environment and health and proper rules as laid down by international obligations and domestic bindings, particularly related to Biosafety. Genetically modified Bt. Brinjal is one such crop which is a very common vegetable across class, culture and geographical location, and also known to be in the centre of

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Protest Against US Ambassador Promoting Bt. Brinjal in Bangladesh


Farida Akhter
Sunday 21 December 2014

Outgoing US Ambassador to Bangladesh recently wrote an article in Dhaka Courier uncritically promoting genetically modified Bt Brinjal in a country considered belonging to the bioregion where global wealth of biodiversity originated. He often expresses his love for Bangladesh, and we, as a humble nation, never failed to acknowledge his feelings. Nevertheless, his article stands absolutely contrary to the prem (love) he often likes to explicitly project. ( See

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Bt Brinjal terror spreads in the country and crosses border


Farida Akhter
Saturday 15 November 2014

The environmental, farmers and women’s groups are outraged at the news that despite the failure of the first field cultivation scheme, the government of Bangladesh has taken a programme to distribute saplings of genetically modified Bt brinjal among over 100 farmers. Dr. Rafiqul Islam Mondol, Director General of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), told The Dhaka Tribune “We selected 106 farmers in 17 districts to distribute the saplings. The distribution began in O

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BT BRINJAL COMMERCIALISATION: Alarming alliance of four M’s


Farida Akhter
Saturday 04 October 2014

The Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institution (BARI) is a public institution under the agriculture ministry and is obliged to serve public interest. As a public research institution, its primary task is to decide research priorities that must contribute to the benefit of the farming community, enhance the formal and informal scientific knowledge base of Bangladesh and strictly protect natural, biological and i

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Protest against selling of Bt. Brinjal


Bt Begun Birodhi Morcha (Coalition against Bt Brinjal)
Saturday 19 July 2014

Selling Without Label: Breach of Terms of Approval, Immediately stop cultivation and marketing of Bt Brinjal. Stop selling GM crops without public awareness of adverse impacts, demand by Bt Begun Birodhi Morcha (Coalition against Bt Brinjal)

Bt. Begun Birodhi Morcha (Coalition against Bt Brinjal) expressed concerns over the open selling of Bt Brinjals cultivated in few districts of the country. According to the approval given for l

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Bt Brinjal in the open market without labels !


M. A. Sobhan
Friday 13 June 2014

BARI has miserably failed in its attempt to show that Bt brinjal is resistant to fruit and shoot borer (see the series of article in UBINIG).

It should have been investigated by independent qualified geneticists, entomologists and agronomists in order to unveil the mode of inheritance and heritability of attributes linked with FSB (Leucinodes orbonalis).The BARI, claiming to be one of the most prestigiou

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BtBrinjal: Non-compliance of approval terms!


Coalition Against Bt Brinjal (বিটিবেগুন বিরোধী মোর্চা)
Friday 30 May 2014

Introduction

Bt brinjal is a GMO or Genetically Modified Organism. Crystal gene from Bacillus thuringiensis has been inserted into brinjal genome to increase the resistance of brinjal against Fruit and Shoot Borer (FSB) insect. Bangladesh Agricultural research Institute (BARI) has conducted this research with the support of ABSP II of USAID. BARI received the seeds of Bt brinjal from Maharastra Hybrid Seed Company (MAHYCO), India. T

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Farmers are cheated in Bt Brinjal ‘field cultivation’: A failed attempt at the cost of risks to human health and environment


Farida Akhter
Wednesday 09 April 2014

On 22nd January, 2014 twenty farmers from four districts were given the saplings of Bt Brinjal in ceremony organized by Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) at the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC). The Agricultural Minister Matia Chowdhury gave out the trays of saplings along with a booklet. The farmers selected by BARI were happy because they thought they were fortunate ones to be chosen for such a ceremonial distribution of saplings. Matia said while addressing a

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Mahyco ‘owns’ Bt Brinjal, not BARI and never the farmers!


Farida Akhter
Thursday 27 February 2014

On October 30, 2013 Bangladesh National Committee on Bio-safety (NCB) approved the application of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) for limited-scale cultivation and marketing of genetically modified eggplant, known as Bt Brinjal amid protests by environmental and farmers groups. The resistance against Bt Brinjal is increasing on issues related to serious threat to bio-safety and health. The authorities have failed to prove any agronomic value of the genetically engineered pro

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Farmers’ protest against Bt brinjal introduction


UBINIG
Sunday 09 February 2014

The Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) organised a formal distribution of seedlings of Bt Brinjal to selected farmers on 22nd January, 2014 following the approval for limited cultivation on 30 October 2013. Begum Matia Choudhury, Agriculture Minister has formally handed over the seedlings of Bt brinjal among 20 farmers at Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC), Dhaka. The selected farmers were from of four districts Gazipur, Jamalpur, Rangpur and Pabna. There were pr

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“Approval” story of Bt Brinjal: Continuation from India to Bangladesh


Farida Akhter
Saturday 28 December 2013

Bt. Brinjal, (also known as eggplant or aubergine), a genetically modified food crop, inserted with a gene from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis has been approved by the National Committee on Biosafety (NCB) in Bangladesh for limited scale cultivation by farmers. In a notification (in bangla) of October 30, 2013 bearing a reference No.22.00.0000.073.05.003.2012-271 the Environment Section-2 of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry provisionally approved the petition of BARI to cul

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Bangladesh to become guinea pig for Bt Brinjal


Farida Akhter
Tuesday 05 November 2013

It is very unfortunate that Bangladesh government, which is now in Poll time period (next election is in January, 2014) has taken a step for a policy disregarding public opinion and which has serious implications for its people as consumers, for farmers and for environment. The National Committee on Biosafety (NCB) officially released four Bt brinjal, which is infused with pest-resistant gene. According to newspaper reports, the four varieties of BtBrinjal — Bt Brinjal-1 (Uttara), Bt Br

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International Scientists Say “No” to Bt Brinjal approval


Farida Akhter
Friday 30 August 2013

Despite indefinite moratorium on Bt Brinjal trial in India and Supreme Court ban in the Philippines, it is alarming that Bangladesh is preparing for the approval for commercial release.

In India, similar attempts to introduce Bt. Brinjal in the market led to controversy and on February 9, 2010, the ministry of environment and forests imposed a moratorium on Bt Brinjal. In the absence of scien

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Bt Brinjal and Begoon


Farida Akhter
Sunday 18 April 2010

Bangladesh Approving Bt Brinjal !!

Risk to Environment, Biodiversity and Health

"Begoon" (Brinjal or Eggplant) is a very common and favourite vegetable in Bangladesh. It is even becoming an international vegetable along with okra and cauliflower because of the Indian Restaurants in Europe and North America. But for us in Bangladesh, it is not just a v

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স্থানীয় জাতের বেগুন রক্ষা করুন

প্রতিবাদ ও দুনিয়ার সেরা বিজ্ঞানীদের সাবধান বাণী উপেক্ষা করে ক্ষতিকর বিটিবেগুন বা বিকৃত বেগুনের জাত বাংলাদেশে প্রবর্তন ও বাজারজাতের অপপ্রয়াস চলছে। বেগুন গাছে মাটীর ব্যাক্টেরিয়ার জিন ঢুকিয়ে পুরা বেগুন গাছকেই বিষাক্ত করা হয়। সেই গাছ ফল আর ডগা ছিদ্রকারী পোকা খেলে মরে যায়, কিন্তু বিষাক্ত বেগুন মানুষ খেলে ক্ষতি হয় না, এই হচ্ছে বৈজ্ঞানিক দাবি।

কী দরকার? কারন সারা দুনিয়ায় বেগুনের বিলিয়ন ডলার ব্যবসা। মার্কিন বহুজাতিক কম্পানি মনসান্টো ও ভারতীয় কোম্পানি মাহিকো তা তাদের একচেটিয়া নিয়ন্ত্রণে নিতে চায়। এর কারিগরি দিকের মালিকানাও তাদের।  বাংলাদেশের বেগুনের ওপর এই কারিগরি খাটীয়ে তার ওপর বুদ্ধিবৃত্তিক মালিকানা দাবি করছে তারা। অন্য দিনে বাংলাদেশের স্থানীয় বেগুন ধ্বংস করে শুধু কম্পানির বেগুন  আমাদের খাওয়াতে চায়। জীবন ও স্বাস্থ্যের ওপর যার সম্ভাব্য ঝুঁকি মারাত্মক হতে পারে।

বাংলাদেশের প্রাণবৈচিত্রের ওপর বহুজাতিক কম্পানির দখলদারির এই কৌশল প্রতিহত করতে হলে নিজেদের বেগুনের জাত চেনা ও রক্ষা করা জরুরী। এটা আমাদের সকলের সচেতনতা ছাড়া সম্ভব নয়। অতএব নিজেদের বেগুনের জাত সম্পর্কে জানুন, এবং নয়াকৃষি আন্দোলনের কৃষকদের সহায়তা করুন। এর বিরুদ্ধে লড়তে হলে নিজেদের জাত রক্ষা করার বিকল্প নাই।

প্রাণবৈচিত্রের উৎসভূমি (origin of diversity) হিসাবে বাংলাদেশ বেগুনের বৈচিত্র্যের দিক থেকে দুনিয়ার যে কোন দেশের চেয়ে সেরা। বেগুনের আন্তর্জাতিক বাজার বিশাল, কারণ সব্জির মধ্যে বেগুন সুস্বাদু এবং এর মধ্যে তেল (fat) নাই বললেই চলে। তার মানে বাংলাদেশের অর্থনৈতিক সমৃদ্ধি নিশ্চিত করবার জন্যও আমাদের দেশি জাতের বেগুন রক্ষা করতে হবে।

নয়াকৃষি আন্দোলন যে সব বেগুন নিয়মিত চাষ করে তার কিছু ছবি এখানে দেওয়া হোল।


Protest Against Btbrinjal Continues

SUPPORT PEOPLE"S PROTEST AGAINST BtBRINJAL

Pictures of rallies and protests against Btbrinjal. Farmers, scientists, environmentalists, ecologists, lawyers, teachers and consumers have been protesting agaginst Btbrinjal since
Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI) was trying to get approval from the government for cultivation and commercial release based on inadequate, incomplete and unethical research practice. GMO promoters Undermined strict adherece of  'preacuationeruy principle' during field trial necessery to protect environment and all life forms including human beings from potential environmental and health effects of the genetically modified crops.


UBINIG Centre (BIDDAGHORS)

Nayakrishi centers in the districts of Tangail, Pabna, Cox’s Bazar, Kushtia.


 Introducing Dai Mas (Traditional Birth Attendants)

Introducing key leaders of the rural health movement in Bangladesh.

Dai Ma (Traditional Birth Attendants) plays a major role in rural health systems particularly in maternal & child health and in the use and conservation of medicinal plants. UBINIG is working with them for a long time to develop a link with their practice with agro-ecological approach to health, medicine and nutrition led by Nayakrishi farming communities who practice biodiversity based ecological agriculture. Dai Mas are now organised into a network engaged in innovative knowledge practices and institutional experiments. This will enable them to contribute more effectively to national health system. They have strong grass root connections and effective social network. They are self-motivated and monitor the health of mother and child on their own as a responsible member of the community. Sense of responsibility come from their being woman and the natural instinct to help other women in child birth and child rearing. A command on indigenous knowledge and profound understanding of reproductive and child health make them unique in their role in the community. UBINIG is working with theme to find innovative and effective ways to link them with national health system.


Daighors (দাইঘর)

Translating Dai Mas as 'Traditioal Birth Attendants' misses the profound cultural, social and knowledge based practices of women in rural areas of Bangladesh. First, Dai Ma’s symbolises a social relationship. Her responsibility does not star during childbirth, rather when a woman comes as a bride in her village or locality. She is the main source of reproductive knowledge for women in reproductive age. In most cases, the Dai Ma is connected to the families of her in laws by helping in the birth of her husband. Dais are always married and have children, this is her acceptability as 'Dai' (birth attendant) in the village. She is the living medical and health record of the women in the village and without her a community health care system is almost impossible on which the national health care system has to rely on.


Glimpses from Nayakrishi Villages

Biodiversity-based ecological agriculture is note merely 'ORGANIC', but a unique practice without pesticide, chemicals and ground water extraction to achieve the highest systemic yield from per acre of farm land. Households are small ecological production units constituting a complex design encompassing the whole village. You can purchase the farmer's produce from Shashyshaprabartana.


Samples of  UBINIG Posters

Posters express concerns and ideas. They are interesting materilas to read and listen as well participate in the issues one is committed. UBINIG regularly prints and shares posters as a way  to build up networks and communications.  Web through some examples posted here.


UBINIG PUBLICATIONS (ENGLISH)

UBINIG publications. To order please contact UBINIG (Policy Research for Development Alternative) 88 0178 001 1194 or`

Narigrantha Prabartana

6/8 Sir Syed Road, Mohammedpur, Dhaka -1207.

Phone:  880-2-9140812 . email: narigrantha@gmail.com


আমাদের বাংলা প্রকাশনা

উবিনীগ (উন্নয়ন বিকল্পের নীতি নির্ধারণী গবেষণা)  থেকে প্রকাশিত গুরুত্বপূর্ণ বাংলা বইয়ের তালিকা। আরও জানার জন্য উবিনীগ অফিসে যোগাযোগ করুন (মোবাইল: ০১৭৮০০১১১৯৪)। বই সরবরাহ ও যোগাযোগের জন্য:

নারীগ্রন্থ প্রবর্তনা  ৬/৮ স্যার সৈয়দ রোড, মোহাম্মদপুর, ঢাকা-১২০৭, বাংলাদেশ।
ফোন: ৮৮০-২-৯১৪০৮১২, মোবাইল: ০১৯৫ ৪৪৭৬০৬৪ ।  ই-মেইল: narigrantha@gmail.com


Nayakrishi Seed Wealth Center and Seed Huts

Nayakrishi Seed Wealth Center and Seed Huts


Photo stories/events / ছবি / গল্প / ঘটনা

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