Improving Lives in Bangladesh

Bt brinjal, a genetically engineered eggplant, has dramatically improved the lives of Bangladeshi farmers by increasing yields, saving 60% on pesticide cost, and earning more than 21% in revenue, all while proving safe for human consumption and rapidly expanding in cultivation since its introduction in 2014.

Ansar Ali earned just 11,000 taka – about $130 U.S. dollars – from eggplant he grew in Bangladesh 2017. The next year, after planting Bt eggplant, he brought home more than double that amount, 27,000 taka. It’s a life-changing improvement for a subsistence farmer like Ali.

Bt eggplant, or brinjal as it’s known in Bangladesh, is the first genetically engineered food crop to be successfully introduced in South Asia. Bt brinjal is helping some of the world’s poorest farmers to feed their families and communities, improve profits and dramatically reduce pesticide use.

The Bt protein produced by the engineered eggplant causes the fruit and shoot borer larva to stop feeding, but is safe for humans consuming the eggplant, as proven through years of biosafety trials. In fact, Bt is commonly used by organic farmers to control caterpillars but has to be sprayed frequently to be effective. The Bt eggplant produces essentially the same protein as in the spray. More than 80% of field corn and cotton grown in the U.S. contains a Bt gene for insect control.

“Farmers growing Bt brinjal in Bangladesh are seeing three times the production of other brinjal varieties, at half the production cost, and are getting better prices at the market,” said Jahangir Hossain, the country coordinator for the Feed the Future Insect-Resistant Eggplant Partnership in Bangladesh.

A survey in 2018 found that 50% of farmers in Bangladesh said that they experienced illness due to the intense spraying of insecticides. Most farmers work in bare feet and without eye protection, leading to pesticide exposure that causes skin and eye irritation, and vomiting.

With Bt brinjal, pesticide use was reduced as much as 92% in commercial Bt brinjal plantings, according to studies.

Alhaz Uddin, a farmer in the Tangail district, made 6,000 taka growing traditional brinjal, but had to spend 4,000 taka on pesticides to combat fruit and shoot borer.

“I sprayed pesticides several times in a week,” he said. “I got sick many times during the spray.”

In 2014 the Bangladeshi government distributed a small number of Bt brinjal plants to 20 farmers in four districts. The next year 108 farmers grew Bt brinjal, and the following year the number of farmers more than doubled to 250. In2017 the number increased to 6,512 and in 2018 to 27,012. In 2021, more than 60,000 farmers grew Bt eggplant in Bangladesh.