Mistranslating refuge crops: analyzing policy mobilities in the context of Indian Bt cotton production

Abstract. In light of recent pink bollworm (PBW) pest infestations in several cotton-producing states in India, farmers of genetically engineered Bt cotton (Bt for Bacillus thuringiensis) have faced fierce criticism for their noncompliance with the national insect resistance management (IRM) strategy. We argue that this criticism is short-sighted and one-dimensional. Building upon the literature on policy assemblages we show that the implementation of the IRM strategy in India was seriously flawed due to government-induced mistranslations of foreign strategies in the form of policy-diluting alterations. We first show that India's IRM strategy differs substantially from successful strategies pursued in the USA or China. Second, we present results from a representative survey in the state of Telangana (n= 457) and show that India's IRM strategy neglects moral economic considerations and entrepreneurial agricultural logic that Indian cotton farmers strive for. We conclude that pink bollworm pest infestations in India are not the fault of farmers but rather the result of a mismanaged biotechnology project undertaken by the Indian government and its associated responsible ministries.