Sunshine to have expanded reach without environment clearance

Gujarat Tribal Development Department (TDD) is all set to increase the command area of project Sunshine. It is an ambitious Venture to increase agriculture productivity in the tribal belt with the help of genetically modified (GM) crop manufacturers- Monsanto and Gujarat Narmada valley Fertilisers Corporation (GNFC). But this year, the old project does not even have an Environment Assessment Report (EAR),which the TDD officials consider as sacrosanct for implementation of any projects involving large-scale use of GM crops.

Under Project Sunshine in 2008, Panchmahal and Dahod districts, consisting of 720 villages, were selected by the TDD to implement the project in a 72,000- acre area. In each villages in these two districts, a minimum of 100 acres were planted with Dekalb corn hybrid seeds. As per the project proposal, for 612 metric tonnes of seeds, the fertiliser requirement was shown as 12,000 metric tonnes.
Meanwhile,officials of the Gujarat Rural Institute for Socio-Economic Reconstruction, Vadodara said that in Dahod, in which the organisation was made a part of the project, the results have been successful. "Previously, only 600 kg of corn could be produced from an acre, but 1,800 kg of corn was realised in the last cropping season in the district," said an official.
The Indian Express,5 May 2009