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What makes crop biotechnology find its roots? The technological culture of Bt cotton in Gujarat, India

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  • Esha Shah

Abstract

This paper challenges the framing of debates on crop biotechnology in terms of 'impact assessment' or 'success or failure'. To evaluate the social desirability of technological choice, the paper socio-anthropologically examines the cultural, productive, environmental, and cognitive contexts within which the cotton-growing farmers in Gujarat adopt, develop and diffuse genetically engineered crop biotechnology. The paper shows that crop biotechnology represents a technological culture with a specific value framework which is endorsed commonly by both multinational companies and certain cotton-growing farmers in Gujarat. The cultivation and multiplication of Bt seeds owe their popularity to the fact that genetically modified seed technology did not make any paradigmatic change in the agricultural practices and agrarian relations shaped by the Green Revolution, which has privileged and consolidated the social power of resource-rich farmers. Bt cotton's success is thus part of the successful reproduction of these cotton-growing farmers' historically acquired and culturally consolidated ability to perform with the technology.

Suggested Citation

  • Esha Shah, 2008. "What makes crop biotechnology find its roots? The technological culture of Bt cotton in Gujarat, India," The European Journal of Development Research, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 20(3), pages 432-447.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:eurjdr:v:20:y:2008:i:3:p:432-447
    DOI: 10.1080/09578810802245584
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    Cited by:

    1. Arjen Zegwaard & Arthur Petersen & Philippus Wester, 2015. "Climate change and ontological politics in the Dutch Delta," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 132(3), pages 433-444, October.
    2. Fischer, Klara, 2016. "Why new crop technology is not scale-neutral—A critique of the expectations for a crop-based African Green Revolution," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(6), pages 1185-1194.

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