Food & Agriculture

The GM mustard debate raises profound questions of environmental sustainability, justice, and substantive citizenship in a deeply unequal society. 

Negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) between the European Union (EU) and India have restarted in July 2022. India, in particular, has recently increased the scale of its engagement in FTAs with several developed countries and has responded to EU’s multiple calls to rekindle the moribund FTA after a hiatus of nearly nine years.

As climate change makes food security vulnerable, the resilience of indigenous food system of the small state in India’s Northeast holds promise for the whole world.

Those most affected by the negative consequences of large-scale industrialized food production must play a vital part in discussing how to transform it. The world therefore needs a people’s Food Systems Summit that aims to end hunger and malnutrition, protect ecosystems, and provide small farmers with a decent livelihood.

Studies on Bt cotton swing between the efficacy of Bt cotton and its failure in providing rights and choices to the farmers. Based on a review of discursive analysis and selected field visits to cotton farmers in rural Maharashtra and Rajasthan, this study on Women and Genetically Modified Crops: Bt Cotton in India, attempts at understanding women’s experiences and voices in the cultivation of Bt cotton. Discussing the coloniality of power and knowledge in the given patriarchal system in India and in countries of the Global South, the authors argue for the recognition of work, knowledge and rights of women farmers and how these can be developed in a gender-responsive and sustainable manner.