tagged w/ farmer suicides
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When home-front battles over GMO labeling, beekeeping, and the Farm Bill get heated, we can sometimes lose sight of the fact that Big Ag’s influence extends far beyond our own borders. Micha Peled’s documentary Bitter Seeds is a stark reminder of that fact. The final film in Peled’s “globalization trilogy,” Bitter Seeds exposes the havoc Monsanto has wreaked on rural farming communities in India, and serves as a fierce rebuttal to the claim that genetically modified seeds can save the developing world.
The film follows a plucky 18-year-old girl named Manjusha, whose father was one of the quarter-million farmers who have committed suicide in India in the last 16 years. As Grist and others have reported, the motivations for these suicides follow a familiar pattern: Farmers become trapped in a cycle of debt trying to make a living growing Monsanto’s genetically engineered Bt cotton. They always live close to the edge, but one season’s ruined crop can dash hopes of ever paying back their loans, much less enabling their families to get ahead. Manjusha’s father, like many other suicide victims, killed himself by drinking the pesticide he spreads on his crops.
Why is Monsanto seen as responsible for these farmers’ desperation? The company began selling Bt cotton in India in 2004, after a U.S. challenge at the WTO forced India to adopt seed patenting, effectively allowing Monsanto to monopolize the market. Bt cotton seeds were — and still are — advertised heavily to illiterate Indian farmers, who have bought the company’s promises of high yields and the material wealth they bring. What the farmers didn’t know until it was too late is those seeds require an expensive regimen of pesticides, and must be fertilized and watered according to precise timetables. And since these farmers lack irrigation systems, and must instead depend on not-always-predictable rainfall, it’s incredibly difficult to control the success or failure of any year’s crops. As farmers bought the Bt cotton in droves, the conventional seed they’d been using — which needed only cow dung as fertilizer — disappeared in as little as one season.
Now, in communities like Manjusha’s, it’s virtually impossible to buy anything but Monsanto’s seed.Manjusha, the film’s protagonist, goes looking for answers after her father commits suicide.To pay for seeds, pesticides, and fertilizer, farmers must take out loans, but most banks refuse to deal with them, so instead they turn to moneylenders, who charge exorbitant interest rates. Many farmers have nothing to offer as collateral besides their land. If a crop fails and they can’t pay back the loans, they lose everything.
The film offers a glimmer of hope in Manjusha, an aspiring journalist in a world where farmers’ daughters aren’t exactly encouraged to pursue independent careers. Scenes of her first earnest attempts at reporting are intimate and touching (“I had other questions to ask, but I forgot”), and her commitment to telling the story of her family’s and her community’s struggle always shines through her nervousness. This appealing heroine makes a story of global manipulation more personal, and thus more devastating.
Piece by piece, Bitter Seeds lays out the bleak situation in India, using interviews with all players, from condescending seed sales reps and callous Monsanto execs, to activist Vandana Shiva, to farmers, their families, and village old-timers who remember when life as an Indian cotton farmer was not so bitter.
More at the linkWhen home-front battles over GMO labeling, beekeeping, and the Farm Bill get heated,... more
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10 years of Bt Cotton – False Hype and Failed Promises Exposed
Coalition for a GM-Free India, March 21 2012
http://indiagminfo.org/?p=393
The false hype and failed promises of Bt cotton in India were exposed by the Coalition for GM-Free India with a special report released in a press conference here today. As the 10th anniversary of Bt cotton's regulatory approval in India approaches, the Coalition, using data from government institutions, highlighted that the hype around Bt cotton as revolutionizing the cotton production in India is clearly wrong.
Closer examination of the data from the last 10 years negates the two important claims of dramatic yield increase and significant fall in pesticide usage. The report clearly exposes the dark side of the Bt cotton story – stagnant yields, pest resistance, new pest and disease attacks, the need for high levels of expensive farm inputs and the spate of tragic farmer suicides in the cotton belt.
In the face of aggressive PR campaign by the biotechnology industry which is being uncritically accepted by the government and regulators, the Coalition said, "This is a wake-up call for the Government, Parliamentarians, policy-makers, farmer organizations and media to closely examine the crisis in the cotton belt and critically re-assess the 10 years of Bt cotton. The government should stop promoting Bt cotton and pro-actively advise farmers about its unsuitability and risks."
The cotton farmers are in deep crisis after ten years of Bt cotton. The spate of farmer suicides in 2011-12 has been particularly severe among Bt cotton farmers. The extensive crop failure has exposed the false hype and advertising, often repeated by policymakers and regulators. In Andhra Pradesh, state government estimates show that out of 47 lakh acres planted with Bt cotton during Kharif 2011 season, the crop failed in 33.73 lakh acres (71% of the area). The state government reported that 20.46 lakh farmers suffered from cotton crop failure and lost Rs.3071.6 cr. In Maharasthra, the cotton crisis forced the government to take the unprecedented step of declaring Rs. 2000 cr. as compensation (the estimated loss is Rs.10,000 cr.). The cotton production estimates had to be downgraded despite the large expansion in cotton cultivation area.
Presenting some of the analysis, Kiran Vissa, co-convener of the Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA) said, "The real yield gains in the past decade (from 278 kg/ha to 470 kg/ha) happened from 2000-01 to 2004-05, i.e. when Bt cotton area reached only 5.6% of the total cotton area. From 2005-06 to 2011-12, when the Bt cotton area grew to exceed 90% of the total cotton area, there is no sustained yield gain – only going from 470 kg/ha to 481 kg/ha. It is the pre-Bt cotton yield gains that have proved to be stable, resulting from various factors including fresh land brought under cotton cultivation, expansion of irrigation and use of high-yielding hybrids." The report also refers to the statement of Dr. K.R. Kranthi, Director of Central Institute for Cotton Research(CICR), "The main issue that worries stakeholders is the stagnation of productivity at an average of 500 kg lint per ha for the past seven years. The gains have been stagnant and unaffected by the increase in area of Bt cotton from 5.6% in 2004 to 85% in 2010."
Regarding pest protection, scientific studies and the company statements show that the target pest bollworm has developed tolerance to Bt cotton, whereas secondary pests like mealy bugs and whiteflies which were hitherto unseen are causing major damage. At the farmer level, pesticide spraying quickly went back to pre-Bt levels after the first three years. Data from Directorate of Plant Protection for six major cotton-growing states shows that in Maharashtra with the largest Bt cotton cultivation area, there has been a steep increase in pesticide volume (3198 MT in 2005-06 to 4639 MT in 2009-10) whereas in four other states (Gujarat, M.P., Punjab, Karnataka) there is a marginal increase. The only decline is in A.P., possibly due to the successful campaign against pesticide use by the government’s Non-Pesticidal Management (NPM) program. At the national level, even in the peak expansion years of Bt cotton, the pesticide usage increased by 10%. This is despite the heavy increase in use of more powerful low-volume pesticides during the same period, which should have reduced the total volumes. This shows that Bt technology is a false solution to the pesticide problem – the NPM methods which eliminate pesticide usage completely have been successfully demonstrated in states like A.P. in large-scale government programs while the Bt technology with all its risks, at best reduces pesticide usage temporarily for a given target pest.
Official information shows that Bt cotton requires more inputs in terms of fertilizers and irrigation, and is particularly susceptible to rainfall shortage at peak bolling period. The costs of cultivation have gone up significantly after the introduction of Bt cotton, leading to increased risk and debt for small farmers. The Coalition’s report also criticizes the false and unethical advertising by the companies like Mahyco-Monsanto whose advertisements were pulled up by Advertising Standards Council of India, earlier this year.
NOTE: The new report is here:
http://indiagminfo.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Bt-Cotton-False-Hype-and-Failed-Promises-Final.pdf
More at the link
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_18y9F0sPOI/TdIEc4UA1GI/AAAAAAAABEA/xp8fIIcCwNU/s1600/BT-Cotton-CIRAD.jpg10 years of Bt Cotton – False Hype and Failed Promises Exposed
Coalition for a... more
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http://gmwatch.eu/latest-listing/1-news-items/13556-how-monsanto-tried-to-con-pakistan
NOTE: This is a big story in Pakistan and seems to reflect increasing scepticism in the media about the value of Bt cotton.
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Is Pakistan on the right path on Bt cotton?
Naufil Shahrukh
Weekly Pulse, December 16 2011
http://www.weeklypulse.org/details.aspx?contentID=1603&storylist=2
Cotton remains the second most significant crop in Pakistan after wheat and is the main foreign exchange earning cash crop for us. Our textile industry requires around 2-3 million bales annually to meet its production demands so we import it from India and other places as per requirements. To meet the deficit, the policy makers thought it is imperative that we increase the cotton crop yield and save foreign exchange. Currently we produce on an average between 12-14 million bales. Genetically modified or Bt Cotton was proposed as an option to explore.
A small U.S based, hi-tech or GM Seed and traits company (Monsanto) initially offered Bollgard-1 (BG-1) technology to Pakistan. It later turned out that the company’s patent for this purpose had expired and it was forced to accept this. In a letter written to the Punjab government, its (Monsanto's) Country Head acknowledged this fact. Prior to this, the government was ready to sign an agreement with Monsanto which would have resulted in payment of 'technology fees' to Monsanto worth billions of rupees! Once this information became public knowledge as a result of this letter, the Punjab government rightly called off negotiations in 2008 and ultimately did not sign the proposed agreement on 'BG-1 technology'. This saved the national and provincial exchequer significant money and adopting an outdated technology. Interestingly, Bollgard-1 cotton seeds were being grown in Pakistan since 2004-5 and seemed the bureaucrats negotiating with the US company were unaware of this.
In 2008, the same company came up with a new proposal that it will bring the upgraded Bollgard-2 cotton seed technology. The genetic modification in a cotton seed is that Bollgard-1 seed has a Cry-1AC gene introgressed in addition to its natural genetic make-up and it is effective against Pink, Spotted and American Bollworms or 'Sundee'. The toxin from this gene, tears apart the guts of the Bollworms. Bollgard-2 seed has a gene Cry-2AB in addition to Cry-1AC and is effective against Army Bollworms or 'Sundee' in addition to the previous three. So basically, the bollgard-2 is a minor up gradation to the original Bollgard-1 seed technology.
The company proposed that since Pakistan has weak 'Intellectual Property Rights' or IPRs therefore, it needed Government protection or 'Back-stop' to succeed in Pakistan as 'unscrupulous' elements could copy or replicate its Bollgard-2 technology. It signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the then Federal Ministry of Food & Agriculture in April, 2010 which envisaged that provincial governments of the Punjab and possibly Sindh should sign agreements with the company. In brief, the company would sell the Bollgard-2 seeds in the market however, in case people copied or replicated the technology or grew 'saved' seeds, a third party will be engaged which will conduct a survey to see how much seed was sold by the company in the market and the remaining quantity would be classified as 'unpaid' seed. The company indulges in similar practices in the US and Canada where it has sued scores of farmers for ‘saved seeds’.
Government was then to pay the company an amount of 21 U.S dollars per acre for the 'unpaid' acres as ‘compensation for losses’, royalty and ‘backstop’ agreements. Practically, it could mean that in Punjab, if such a survey 'proved' that 4 million acre worth of seed was sold by Monsanto and 2 million was 'unauthorized' or obtained/grown through other channels, Monsanto would be paid 21 U.S dollars per acre for those two million acres! This would mean a sum of US dollars 42000000/- will be paid to the company by the government every year. Nowhere in the world does such 'government backstop' guarantees or arrangement exists.
At this point in time in fact, even mandatory regulatory field trials were not complete when the MOU was signed in April, 2010. So there was no way to know, whether this technology would increase cotton yield in Pakistan or not! But some elements within Punjab bureaucracy, continuously tried to get the agreement signed for this technology between Monsanto and the Punjab Government.
In November, 2010, bureaucracy almost managed to get the Monsanto proposal approved by the Punjab Government. However, the Chief Minister Punjab came to know about the relevant issues and stepped in to prevent a hasty decision. It was learnt that Bollgard-1 and 2 technology is completely ineffective against Cotton Leaf Curl Virus (CLCuV), White Fly and Mealy Bugs. These pests are the main reason why Pakistan Cotton crop loses 2-3 million bales every year. Thus, while the company would have been selling the seeds and making money through Government ‘compensation’ and sovereign guarantees every year, the real problems were still there and the ‘latest technology’ would have cost the Punjab government between 30-70 million U.S dollars every year with no guarantees of yield increase. The regulatory trials by this company in 2010, proved its technology was ineffective against the main pests (CLCuV etc) in Pakistan.
More at the link
http://c1eatdrinkbettercom.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/files/2010/07/Monsanto-BT-Cotton.jpghttp://gmwatch.eu/latest-listing/1-news-items/13556-how-monsanto-tried-to-con-pakistan... more
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http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16112805
The record suicide rate among farmers in India continues to rise and is threatening the country's stability and future development, according to campaigners.
They are blaming the government's policies for the agrarian crisis and are demanding it takes urgent action.
More than a quarter of a million farmers have killed themselves in the last 16 years in what is the largest recorded wave of suicides in history.
Kishore Tiwari, a campaigner with the Vidharbha Jan Andolan Samiti in Maharashtra state in central India, says cotton farmers have been particularly badly affected.
Many of them have only just moved to growing cash crops - like cotton - in the last few years.
He says the farmers have taken on large debts to buy hybrid seeds, which are often unsuited to the harsh and temperamental Indian climate.
"They are sold these modern seeds and modern chemicals and have to take on large debts to buy them.
"The problem is they need a lot of water which is in short supply and then when the crop is poor and they have to repay the money lenders, they despair and commit suicide."
Mr Tiwari says the suicides are a symptom of a wider crisis in the countryside.
India's has one of the fastest growing economies in the world but its roots are in the countryside and much of it is being left behind.
In a country with aspirations, moving away from a life of subsistence is attractive but it can also be deadly.
Vandana Moohorle is now bringing up her children alone after her husband killed himself by drinking pesticide.
Like many farmers, he had been persuaded to use genetically modified seeds by the possibility of a better harvest. What he wasn't told was that they needed more rain than the region provided.
His wife blames the government and the large agricultural companies for exploiting the rural poor who dream of a better life.
"He was always tense" she said. "He had borrowed a lot of money for pesticides and fertilizers and now I will have to pay back his debts. Debt is the reason for all the suicides around here and it's the people in charge who are responsible for it."
Across rural India there is now widespread despair. The fields are also filling up with widows.
Activists say it is the other side of India's economic success story.
Beyond the headlines of fast growth, most of the country is still poor and is being left behind by a corrupt political class who are preoccupied with their own greed.
They point to the alarming suicide numbers to prove their point.
More than 60% of India's population still depends on the countryside for survival but with unfettered globalisation and little support from the government, the rural classes are badly exposed.
In the face of rising inflation and with no safety net, the ultimate act of desperation is often their only answer to the new world they live in.
It is a sobering fact but on average one farmer now commits suicide in India every 30 minutes.
And campaigners say the problem will only get worse without direct intervention from the government in the form of subsidies and agricultural educational programmes.http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16112805
The record suicide rate among... more
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If Oregon allows GM sugar beets to be deregulated, we may not stand a chance against full federal deregulation of all GM crops.
(SALEM, Ore.) - A public hearing is being held in Corvallis, Oregon this Thursday, November 17th to determine if Genetically Modified sugar beets will be deregulated in Oregon.
Meanwhile, the public comment period maybe just a local distraction giving way to full federal deregulation without any representation of organic and conventional crop farmers.
Let us not forget that the U.S House of Representatives, Committee on Agriculture held a formal hearing on Genetically Modified (GM) Alfalfa on Jan 20, 2011.
The hearing corresponded with an open 30-day comment period, designed to provide relevant testimony with regard to deregulation of Genetically Modified Alfalfa.
The democratic process neglected to include a single organic or conventional farming representative. Throughout the two hour hearing various legislators publicly humiliated the Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsak for even suggesting any compromise through talks with the organic and conventional communities. They all but ordered him to stand down his conversations with anyone but pro-GM enthusiasts (1:43:16).
Representatives left no seed unturned in honor of their allegiance to biotech crops and complete penetration into all foreign and domestic markets. In fact, Minnesota's Representative Collin Peterson referred to organic producers and consumers as "our opponents"[1](12:29).
Vilsak, even with his ties to Monsanto, was attempting negotiation with "so called Option 3" containing a minimal stop gap as an alternative to absolute contamination of organic and conventional alfalfa. In essence, planting barriers would have been implemented to maintain protective measures for the integrity of all seed varieties. Legislators blatantly mocked him and even pulled rank, saying that the Secretary of Agriculture does not have the authority to do anything but fully deregulate the crop without further ado. (35:38, 1:25:50, 1:29:15, 2:18:47)
It can be noted that Vilsak testified no less than three times that we were in the midst of the 30 day comment period, and in his opinion, the talks among all sides were providing necessary elements worthy of analysis for all agricultural markets concerned. (29:00, 1:44:00, 1:51:54)
The theme of the hearing centered around the economic burden of GM farmers if full deregulation didn’t go forth immediately (1:44:00). It was insisted by every representative that their loyalties were to the biotech community and that full deregulation was unquestionable without consideration for any form of barrier to protect other crops from cross contamination.
In regard to preservation of non GM crops, Texas Representative Michael Conaway begs the question, "how much of this is a definitional issue"? He questions organic standards and even insists that he "suspects that Genetically Engineered seeds will become the new organic". He blatantly suggests that legislative steps be considered to modify the language and thus re-define organic standards so that Genetically Modified crops can freely contaminate without restriction. He insists that it is merely a marketing issue and not an issue of health and safety. Conaway asks if we are just "hung up on the phrase organic, meaning something we grew ourselves in the backyard with whatever?"(2:33:00).
Concern was expressed by a number of speakers that GM crops are being promoted throughout the world as being no different than conventional crops, and if word got out that we established restrictive planting barriers, then it might be assumed that the GM crops were somehow different. That could put a damper on GM producers and their marketing potential. (30:45, 1:58:17, 2:18:47)
It was apparent, by the end of one sided discussion, that full deregulation and contamination remains unquestionable from the perspective of our democratic leaders. In other words, it is most notably a flagrant case of Contamination without Representation.
If Oregon allows GM sugar beets to be deregulated, we may not stand a chance against full federal deregulation of all GM crops. Public comments are being heard on Thursday from 4 PM – 9 PM at LaSells Stewart Center Construction and Engineering Hall 875 Southwest 26th St., Corvallis, Oregon.
Please see the full length video of the U.S House of Representatives, Committee on Agriculture forum on GM Alfalfa, Jan 20 2011.
http://agriculture.house.gov/hearings/hearingDetails.aspx?NewsID=1269If Oregon allows GM sugar beets to be deregulated, we may not stand a chance against... more
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70% percent or more of our food contains genetically engineered food brought by the bio-tech giant: Monsanto.
GMO is endangering people’s health and our environment at an alarming rate.
Cross-contamination is irreversible and good, organic crops are being jeopardized.
These seeds are incredibly expensive compared to the traditional ones and have been genetically modified to produce their own pesticide, to survive the spraying of the: “Roundup”, a potent herbicide and to self terminate.
This has lead our farmers to buy new GMO seeds each year and depend on Monsanto. As a result of this ruthless drive to use India as a testing ground for genetically modified crops, 125,000 farmers took their own lives.
These people were driven to debt, to economic distress, homeless and landless.
GMO has and is failing catastrophically.
This company is persecuting, bullying and bringing farms to bankruptcy.
GMO was never adequately tested for safety, actually more and more research shows its dangers to the human/animal health, polluting our crops and our water.
Monsanto did use false advertising; Monsanto poisons the third world and privatizes water. Its employees have passed through the so-called revolving door many times, they rotated between this industry and the public agencies: Clarence Thomas, Gwendolyn S. King, Linda Fisher, Jim Travis, Linda Avery Strachanand, Toby Moffet , Marcia Hale, Donald Bandle, George H. Poste, Michael Kantor and Michael Taylor all bending rules, finding loopholes to assure this company profits.
This technology is only exacerbating hunger, poverty, irreversible contamination and climate change in our world.
Bring down Monsanto’s monopoly on our food and a centralized agriculture.
Bring down Monsanto’s genetically engineered seeds.
Bring down the use of harmful pesticides, herbicides and chemicals alike.
Hold this company accountable for its damages to the world.
Organic agriculture, permaculture and biodiversity are the only answer to sustainability, to the preservation of our environment and our health.
We want you, as our government, as a body of representation of the people of the United States to invest billions subsidizing organic, environmental agriculture.
Bring down Monsanto’s poisoning, companies alike and the agrochemical industry once and for all as it is one of the greatest threats to the whole human race.
Thank you.
Please sign and share this petition on Facebook, Myspace and Twitter.
Repost this message:
Tell our Government: Bring Down Monsanto’s poisoning. Hold this company accountable for its damages to the world! http://bit.ly/bko2mZ
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/bring-down-monsanto-monopoly/
More at the link70% percent or more of our food contains genetically engineered food brought by the... more
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"New Delhi, August 8th 2011: Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA) announced a nation-wide day of action against corporate takeover of our food and farming systems on August 9th, Quit India Day. The day is being marked in scores of locations in fifteen states around the country as “Monsanto, Quit India!” Day, filled with various events where citizens are going to take part to express their resistance against corporate control on our productive resources. This is to save our Food, Farmers and Freedom, announced ASHA in a press release.
“We have chosen the most potent and obvious symbol of corporate takeover of our food and farming – Monsanto, the largest seed company in the world and one of the top five agri-chemical corporations, with an annual turnover equivalent to five years of India’s outlay for National Agricultural Development Programme! Our governments should be aware of its long history of crimes against humanity, by its production and marketing of many toxic chemicals and other hazardous products. On its way to becoming the world's largest seed company, Monsanto used several strategies including preventing farmers from re-using their seed, denying farmers and researchers free and open access to seed, and aggressive, monopolistic market maneuvers that suppressed competition. Monsanto did not shy away from resorting to bribery for getting regulatory approvals. Monsanto had at one point reportedly even stated its goal thus: ‘No food shall be grown that we do not own’, reflecting its profiteering ambitions. This company has sued and jailed farmers for the ‘crime’ of saving and re-using seed from their crops and even when they were victims of accidental genetic contamination! Monsanto and its associates have also not hesitated to sue governments in this country in pursuit of their profits and markets. How is the government hoping that farmers would benefit from the expansion of this company, its products and markets and on what basis and understanding are they partnering with the company?”, said ASHA in its press statement.
“The citizens of this country would like to know what has happened to all the investments that went into the public sector research all these years, given that today an overwhelming chunk of cotton and maize seed markets are controlled by this one company and given that many PPPs are being signed to promote this corporation’s seeds at the expense of this country’s seed sovereignty. Further, various public sector agri-universities are facilitating bio-piracy in the name of collaborative research projects", said the organizers. They pointed out that it is short-sighted on the part of various governments to promote proprietary seed rather than strengthen farmer-level solutions for Seed in agriculture, given that this will only foster mono-cropping, dependence and overly-priced seed which will affect sustainable farm livelihoods. Sustainable alternatives are consistently being ignored on the farm front, the organisers said.
In 15 states across the country, led by farmers’ unions and civic groups, various events have been organized to create awareness amongst ordinary Indians about the true nature of corporations like Monsanto and to put pressure on governments to scrap any deals and partnerships with Monsanto and other such entities. The variety of events include bicycle rallies, Beej Rath, Kisan Jagran Sabhas, public protests and candlelight vigils, film screenings and awareness programs, Kheti Khurak Azaadi Jatha in Punjab and so on.
“We are forced to remind everyone on Quit India Day that we are living in times when our freedom is being jeopardized yet again in insidious ways – if we as a nation want to protect our food sovereignty and if we want to retain control on what we grow and what we eat, we need to resist this corporate takeover. We need to put into place lasting and affordable solutions that are farmer-controlled in our agriculture. Urban consumers should realize that it is not just our farmers who are getting trapped and exploited; consumers should understand that access to safe, diverse and nutritious food for all is also at risk”, said ASHA in its press release.
Details of various events across the country are available at: http://www.kisanswaraj.in/2011/08/07/state-wise-listing-of-events-for-monsanto-quit-india-and-kisan-swaraj-week/
ASHA is an informal network of more than 400 organisations all over India, which through grassroots work, trainings, campaigns and policy advocacy seeks to promote practices and policies that make Indian agriculture ecologically sustainable, ensure dignified livelihoods with income security to its farmers especially the smallholders, preserve their control over agricultural resources like seed, land and water, and ensure adequate, safe, nutritious and diverse food for all Indians."
More at the link"New Delhi, August 8th 2011: Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture... more
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql0mo-5jPbc&feature=player_embedded
A quarter of a million Indian farmers have committed suicide in the last 16 years—an average of one suicide every 30 minutes. The crisis has ballooned with economic liberalization that has removed agricultural subsidies and opened Indian agriculture to the global market. Small farmers are often trapped in a cycle of insurmountable debt, leading many to take their lives out of sheer desperation. We speak with Smita Narula of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at New York University Law School, co-author of a new report on farmer suicides in India.
AMY GOODMAN: We turn to the issue of farmer suicides in India, where a quarter of a million farmers have committed suicide in the last 16 years. On average, that figure suggests one farmer commits suicide every 30 minutes.
Today, the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU Law School will release a report called "Every Thirty Minutes: Farmer Suicides, Human Rights and the Agrarian Crisis in India."
The agricultural sector in India has become more vulnerable to global markets as a result of economic liberalization. Reforms in the country have included the removal of agricultural subsidies and the opening of Indian agriculture to the global market. These reforms have led to increased costs, while reducing yields and profits for many farmers.
As a result, small farmers are often trapped in a cycle of insurmountable debt, leading many to take their lives out of sheer desperation. The rate of suicide is highest among cotton farmers. Like other cash crops in India, the cotton industry is increasingly dominated by foreign multinational corporations that tend to promote genetically modified cottonseed and often control the cost, quality and availability of agricultural inputs.
To discuss this issue, we're joined by Smita Narula, faculty director of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU.
Welcome to Democracy Now!
SMITA NARULA: Good morning.
AMY GOODMAN: Talk about this report that you are just releasing today.
SMITA NARULA: Our major finding for this report is that all the issues that you just described are major human rights issues. And what we're faced with in India is a human rights crisis of epic proportions. The crisis affects the human rights of Indian farmers and their family members in extremely profound ways. We found that their rights to life, to water, food and adequate standard of living, and their right to an effective remedy, is extremely affected by this crisis. Additionally, the government has hard human rights legal obligations to respond to the crisis, but we've found that it has failed, by and large, to take any effective measures to address the suicides that are taking place.
AMY GOODMAN: I mean, this number is unbelievable. Thirty—every 30 minutes, an Indian farmer commits suicide?
SMITA NARULA: And that's been going on for years and years. And what these intense numbers don't reveal are two things. One is that the numbers themselves are failing to capture the enormity of the problem. In what we call a failure of information on the part of the Indian government, entire categories of farmers are completely left out of the purview of farm suicide statistics, because they don't formally own title to land. This includes women farmers, Dalit, or so-called lower caste farmers, as well as Adivasi, or tribal community farmers. In addition, the government's programs and the relief programs that they've offered fail to capture not only this broad category, but also fail to provide timely debt relief and compensation or address broader structural issues that are leading to these suicides in the country.
AMY GOODMAN: Talk about the issue of globalization and how it's affecting these farmers.
SMITA NARULA: Sure. So, basically, ultimately, the proximate cause for a number of these suicides is farmer indebtedness. What lies behind that indebtedness is two decades of market liberalization in India, which have resulted in two simultaneous processes. First, the government has withdrawn significantly from the agricultural sector. It has reduced subsidies. It has decreased access to rural credit. Irrigation is insufficient and doesn't reach most farmers who need it. And at the same time, it has encouraged a switch over to cash crop cultivation, of which cotton is one example.
Simultaneously, the market has been opened up to global competitors, which makes Indian farmers extremely vulnerable. And at the same time, foreign multinationals now dominate industries, such as the cotton industry, including dominating the key inputs that are needed for cotton. In the case of cotton, in particular, the genetically modified Bt cottonseed has been promoted so effectively in India that it now dominates the entire sector, and between its cost, quality and availability, has an enormous impact on farmer costs and profits and yields to the point that it's landing them in enormous debt. And many of them, ironically, are actually consuming the very pesticide that they went into debt to purchase, to kill themselves when they can't escape that cycle of debt.
AMY GOODMAN: They're consuming the pesticide.
SMITA NARULA: That's correct.
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AMY GOODMAN: Talk about genetically modified seeds and U.S. multinational corporations.
SMITA NARULA: So, genetically modified seeds. Bt cottonseed is the cottonseed input that dominates the cotton industry now. And what the genetic modification promises to do is to produce a toxin within the seed that kills a very common pest that affects the cotton crop in India. The Bt cottonseed, which is — has been marketed by Monsanto, among other multinationals, requires two resources that are already scarce for most Indian smallholder farmers. That's money and water. Bt cottonseeds cost anywhere from two times to 10 times as much as regular cottonseed, and they also require a great deal more water in order to yield successful crops. The farmers often go to private moneylenders, who charge exorbitant interest rates, to purchase the seeds, on the promises and based on aggressive marketing that they will bring greater financial security. But then, because 65 percent of cotton farms in India are rain-fed and don't have access to irrigation, the crops inevitably fail. And also, increasing drought has made that the case for many farmers. So they've gone into insurmountable debt to purchase the inputs. They don't have the yields. They repeat this cycle for a couple of seasons. And by the end of it, they're simply trapped in a cycle that they can't get out of, and they consume the very pesticide that they purchased, in order to kill themselves. And—http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql0mo-5jPbc&feature=player_embedded
A quarter... more
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From the blog post by Alex Muse (CEO of ShopSavvy, Inc., the creators of ShopSavvy)
"More and more produce items are sporting scan-able barcodes and we thought it might be cool if consumers could figure out where a particular fruit was grown. Did you know that 27% of produce is grown by family farms? We decided to partner with Top 10 Produce to help ShopSavvy users ‘Know Your Farmer’. The program is brand new, but over the coming months hundreds of farms will be added to the system. ShopSavvy users who scan produce will find pictures, maps, Facebook Pages, Twitter feeds related to the farmer who grew the fruit or vegetable."
http://shopsavvy.mobi/2011/03/08/food-traceability-on-shopsavvy/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
http://www.Top10produce.comFrom the blog post by Alex Muse (CEO of ShopSavvy, Inc., the creators of ShopSavvy)... more
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As more crops fail in India, the rate of suicides among farmers is climbing.
More than 17,368 Indian farmers killed themselves in 2009, the worst figure for farm suicides in six years, data from the National Crime Records Bureau indicate.
The suicides increased by 1,172 over the 2008 count of 16,196, bringing the total farm suicides since 1997 to 216,500.
"Poverty has assaulted rural India," journalist Palagummi Sainath, an expert on rural poverty in India, told Britain's The Independent newspaper. "Farmers who used to be able to send their children to college now can't send them to school."
Nearly all of the bereaved families of those who have committed suicide, he said, had problems with debts and land loss due to failing crops.
While the causes of poverty are complex, Sainath points to the long-term collapse of markets for farmers' produce. The price of cotton, for example, is 1-12th of the amount it was 30 years ago, in real terms. About half of the suicides are occurring in the four states of the country's Cotton Belt.
Vandana Shiva, a scientist-turned-activist, notes that the problem of farmer suicides started in 1997 when the Indian government removed cotton subsidies and genetically modified varieties of cotton were also introduced.
"Every suicide can be linked to Monsanto," Shiva told The Independent, saying that the biotech firm's modified Bt Cotton caused crop failure and poverty because it requires the use of pesticide and fertilizers.
India's increasingly erratic climate is taking a toll on Indian farmers as well.
In the past, farmers could prepare for droughts when they came every four years or so. Rajasthan, in northwestern India, only emerged from a 10-year drought this summer. And monsoons, which used to arrive once a year, have failed three times in the last 10 years across much of the country.
M.S. Swaminathan, chairman of the National Commission on Farmers, has called for a restructuring of the country's policies to help agriculture, saying the sector is entering a state of serious crisis, The Hindu newspaper reports.
Noting that 45 percent farmers in a national survey said they want to quit farming, Swaminathan said farming has become nonviable.
"Unless we revitalize farming and make our farmers enthusiastic, it is difficult to feed 1 billion people and 1 billion farm animals. It is going to be a difficult period."As more crops fail in India, the rate of suicides among farmers is climbing.
More... more
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This is insidious. There is absolutely no need for GM rice in India. There are hundreds of natural varieties of rice in India. This is simply a move to once again place farmers in predicaments with expensive patented seed that will bring monoculture to India. This is the reality of globalization regarding food.This is insidious. There is absolutely no need for GM rice in India. There are... more
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Farmers all over Vidarbha in eastern Maharashtra will stage candle-light protests on the eve of US President Barack Obama's visit Friday, seeking to draw his attention to the plight of agriculture sector in the region, an official said.
The US policy of providing huge subsidies to cotton farmers in America has triggered over 216,000 farmland suicides in India, Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS) chief Kishor Tiwari said in a statement here Thursday.
He said that farmland widows would light a candle in all the affected villages in Vidarbha and they would make attempts to send a group of widows to Mumbai to protest Obama's visit.
'After permission was granted to commercially cultivate American Bt. Cotton, the lush green Vidarbha cotton fields became dying fields, claiming lives of more than 10,000 farmers -- who opted for this (Bt. Cotton) seed,' Tiwari said.
He said the NGO wants to inform the US president how the claims that Bt. Cotton brought genetic revolution in agriculture are a hoax and lead to distress for over three-fourths of farmers using it and an average of three suicides per day.
Tiwari pointed out that while the whole country gets ready to celebrate Diwali Friday, six farmers committed suicide in the past two days -- taking the toll to 645 in 2010Farmers all over Vidarbha in eastern Maharashtra will stage candle-light protests on... more
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Eastern Kenya is seeing a surge in suicides after farmers hit by unusual weather and unable to repay loans are taking their lives, police say.
As many as 2,000 people in Kenya's Eastern Province, many of them farmers, have committed suicide in the past year, up from a normal suicide rate of 300 per year in the area, Kenyan police records show.
The deaths come as eastern Kenya has experienced extremely poor crop harvests as result of prolonged drought and unusual rainfall at harvest time, which has led to contamination of maize harvests with aflatoxins, produced by fungus that grows in wet grain.
Aflatoxins, if consumed, can cause severe liver damage, and are considered highly carcinogenic.
The crop failures are devastating farmers, who since 2008 have taken out tens of millions of dollars in farm loans with their land as security, and now worry they could lose everything.
FARMS USED AS LOAN COLLATERAL
"They used their farms as collateral to get the huge loans which they were to service regularly. Many ended up not even being able to feed their families when the crop harvests failed," said Joseph Kimeu, regional manager of the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) in Eastern Kenya.
The board, an arm of the Kenyan agriculture ministry that buys and stores grain as an emergency stockpile for the country, last year declined to buy the little maize harvested by farmers in the area as it had been poisoned by aflatoxins after harvest-period rains.
John Mukele, a psychologist who practices in the region, said he has seen a surge of farmers traumatized by losing their crops or their land.
"I am receiving an average of more than 13 farmers who come for counseling at my office each weekday. Many have even become alcoholics and deserted their families as a result of frustrations. Some even tell me that suicide is only option. I always have to do my part to prevent tragedy," he said.
Temperatures up to 4 degrees Celsius warmer than normal in recent years in Kenya's Eastern Province have affected crop harvesting patterns and influenced planting seasons.
"The rains are coming when farmers are getting ready to harvest; sometimes the rains affect the maize by releasing fatal toxins into the maize shortly before it is harvested and consumed. The toxins in turn also affect the soil and future production becomes difficult for the farmer," said Mary Njenga, a Kenyan agricultural scientist and researcher.
That has severely affected repayment rates on bank loans. In 2008, Equity Bank, one of Kenya's largest private banks in terms of assets, set up a partnership with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) to give loans to more than 2.5 million Kenyan farmers and 15,000 agricultural enterprises.
So far the partnership has given loans totalling more than $50 million.
AGRA, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation and the United Kingdom's Department for International Development, aims to assist smallholder farmers in Africa and improve the continent's often precarious food security.
MASS DEFAULT ON LOANS
But while farmers in some parts of Kenya have repaid their loans, almost none of the 7,000 farmers in Kenya's Eastern Province who received loans have reportedly been able to make repayments.Eastern Kenya is seeing a surge in suicides after farmers hit by unusual weather and... more
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In covering the environmental abuses of Monsanto one who is cognizant of the special relationship we have with the Earth cannot help but be repulsed by them. There is not one redeeming quality about them. They are arrogant, heartless, greedy, manipulative power brokers that use people, governments, organizations, consumers, and anyone else who gets in their way of domination. It is a domination of the global seed and pesticide market that is now bringing our Earth to a biodiversity and pollution crisis and a climate change precipice.
They have destroyed and defiled the environment with impunity, contaminated natural seeds with unstable toxic bacteria seeds, deforested our planet to make corn for gas tanks and GM soy that brings poverty and disease to places such as Paraguay, Argentina, Mexico, India, etc., (where farmers have been committing suicides in massive numbers due to economic ruin brought on by BT cotton.)
They toxified our water with PCBS, Dioxin, and Round Up, strong armed organic farmers, deceived consumers through collusion with the FDA to keep our food with GMO ingredients unlabelled, intimidated scientists who sought answers and who disseminated the answers when they found about just what their GMOs are made of and their effects, and then claim to be part of the "sustainable agriculture" movement that is looking to feed the world. It is one of the greatest and most sinister hoaxes perpetrated upon the world.
In the more than one hundred years they have been in business, Monsanto has not made one product that has benefitted the Earth. From saccharin, to aspartame, to Agent Orange, to PCBs, to genetically modified organisms, there has been one and only one motive: profit at any cost. And where we stand now that cost is the biodiversity of our planet and control of the very seeds and water that give us life. It is a control we cannot give up as it would then mean the loss not only of food sovereignty but our very freedom as human beings.
But even in the midst of all of this there are some bright spots. A federal court in California upheld a ban on the planting of their GM alfalfa seeds due to its being deregulated by APHIS without a proper EIS, and the planting of BT brinjal in India was denied by their environmental minister. There have been other bright spots as well from Ireland, to Poland, to even Haiti, where a seed shipment sent by Monsanto was protested with a symbolic burning of their seeds taking place just this month. Farmers all over the globe have seen the empty promises, high costs, environmental effects and deceptions of Monsanto and GMOs and are now reacting. Even farmers in our own country are speaking out against their tactics and calling for a return to sustainable agriculture in response to a Department of Justice investigation of Monsanto and seed monopolies and their business practices.
And yesterday, the USSC in a ruling being spun by Monsanto, while reversing the Federal court ban on GM alfalfa did uphold it could not be planted until deregulation and a full EIS was completed, and also acknowledged that farmers have the right to challenge "gene flow" (transgenic contamination) from GM crops to their organic crops if they can show harm. That is truly precedent setting.
So the question is, will this set a precedent for review of their other "seeds" such as BT corn, GM soy, BT cotton, sugarbeets, canola, etc.? We can only hope.
Hopeful signs that more are waking up to the deceptions and doing the necessary research to become aware of what they are eating and modifying their habits to be more healthy. The one organization that is helping tremendously in that is the Institute for Responsible Technology headed by Jeffrey Smith, a world renowned GMO activist. They have just put together a Non GMO website that gives you top information on how to avoid GMOs and eat more healthy thus perpetuating the 5% of American consumers it will take to get to a tipping point of awareness to begin turning the tide against Monsanto and all other companies using GMOs as a profit motive while compromising our food safety in the process. This is the one true way we can all be activists: through the wallet.
http://www.responsibletechnology.org
Of course, I have no illusions about the clout they carry as well regarding the DOJ investigation nor the court cases coming up involving Monsanto's link to PCB poisoning. A recent trial regarding PCB contamination of Anniston Alabama and the ensuing deaths and disease from it wound up in Monsanto's favor with those sickened left with little justice for their suffering. The major clout Monsanto carries with Washington DC even now under the Obama administration and the Vilsack USDA and their company's known methods of bribery leaves one wary of such attempts to hold them accountable for their many crimes against humanity and their agricultural and environmental terrorism.
After all, it was the FDA under the auspices of the last four administrations that gave them free reign over our environment and health by determining that their organisms were the same (principle of substantial equivalence) as all other food in order for them to circumvent labeling, when as we now see that is far from the truth. It was the USSC that gave them the patent to life itself thus opening the door to Intellectual Property Rights that now challenge indigenous peoples and the natural breeding of seeds for climate change tolerance which they can now purchase in biopiracy scams. In simple terms, our planet has been sold to the highest bidder in determining what we will plant, and what we will eat without our consent. That is not only undemocratic, that is immoral and criminal.
However, as with any crisis we are now in regarding our planet we have one hope: ourselves. Our consciences, our morals, our reasoning, our logic, our love for our families, our love for the Earth, our sense of justice, and yes, even our spirituality that tells us in line with the scientific facts as presented to us that we in large numbers have the ability to take back our food, our planet, and our futures. So even in the face of what Monsanto has been able to accomplish I remain hopeful of the global food movement having major victories in the coming year. But we must remain focused, cohesive, determined, and yes, even angry. We must remain so for the following:
For the farmers of India and their families, especially the widows of those whose lives were cut short by BT cotton.
For the American farmers whose farms and livelihoods are under threat from Monsanto's strong arm tactics in their desire to control all seed.
For the deforested lands of South America stripped to create a monoculture that has left many poor farmers poorer and sicker in the wake of greed over sustainability, and exacerbated a climate crisis no cap and trade scheme can heal.
For the soil of our Earth, its skin, that cries out for help to us as it is eroded, stripped, abused, and toxified for profit.
For our water, polluted, toxic, acidic, filled with pesticides and run off as the cost of industrial agriculture.
For our children, who deserve a cleaner, safer, more natural world to live in.
Let this next year be the year to truly hold Monsanto as an example of all of those things to be the first step in our moral imperative to save this planet and in turn the human species and all others we have so cavalierly dismissed in our desire to be masters of the universe.
More to come.In covering the environmental abuses of Monsanto one who is cognizant of the special... more
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EXTRACTS: ...in the year 2009-10 farmers cultivating cotton through organic practices earned 200% more net income than farmers who grew Genetically Engineered cotton [Bt cotton].
Bt cotton farmers... use 26 different pesticides, including pesticides targeting pests that the GE cotton is supposed to control, ... also lose financially due to their higher input costs.
In the region of Andhra Pradesh... the Bt cotton farmers incurred 65% higher debt...
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Organic farming gives Indian farmers greater financial security
http://greenpeace.in/safefood/news-blog/organic-farming-gives-indian-farmers-greater-financial-security/
Hyderabad, 15th June, 2010: A Greenpeace report released today said the monetary benefits of organic cotton farming are much greater than using the Genetically Engineered variety that makes farmers more vulnerable to financial collapse due to high debts and increased costs of cultivation.
The report titled "Picking Cotton – The choice between organic and genetically-engineered cotton for farmers in South India" shows that in the year 2009-10 farmers cultivating cotton through organic practices earned 200% more net income than farmers who grew Genetically Engineered cotton [Bt cotton].
The Greenpeace report is a comparative analysis of two methods of agriculture among cotton farmers in Andhra Pradesh. It not only shows the economic benefit of ecological farming (in this case organic) but also that Genetically Engineered (GE) cotton, despite using many toxic pesticides, still has greater crop loss to pests.
"Our study illustrates how farmers growing GE cotton face high debts and high costs of cultivation, becoming more vulnerable to financial collapses”, said Dr Reyes Tirado, Scientist, Greenpeace International, who authored the report.
Bt cotton1 farmers not only use 26 different pesticides, including pesticides targeting pests that the GE cotton is supposed to control, but also lose financially due to their higher input costs.
In the region of Andhra Pradesh the cost of cultivation is much higher for Bt cotton farmers. The Bt cotton farmers incurred 65% higher debt –accumulated during 2008/09 and 2009/10– than the non-Bt organic cotton farmers.
The farmer distress in the state had lead to the central government announcing a 5 year relief package for farmers amounting to 20,000 crores in the year 2008.
"It is preposterous that on the one hand government dolls out thousands of crores in the name of bringing relief to farmers while on the other they permit and promote Bt cotton cultivation and ensure that the farmer can never escape the debt treadmill.” said Dr G.V Ramanjaneyalu, Executive Director of Centre for Sustainable Agriculture who was present at the report release.
The controversies around Bt cotton have finally forced the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee, the agency responsible for the commercial release of GE crops in the country, to do a review of its performance since 2002, the year it was released.
"Bt cotton has only benefitted the multinational seed giants like Monsanto who has earned 1580 crore Rupees as royalty from its patented Bt cotton seed since its release" [1] said Rajesh Krishnan, sustainable agriculture campaigner with Greenpeace India. He concluded that "Cotton farming that uses ecological practices and avoids genetically engineered seeds and agrochemicals is the most beneficial for Indian farmers."EXTRACTS: ...in the year 2009-10 farmers cultivating cotton through organic practices... more
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A documentary on GM crops, particularly Bt cotton, in India. The film covers losses suffered by farmers, allergies, animal deaths, field trial violations, state governments asserting their rights to reject GM, regulatory failures, and successful alternatives to GM. (Time for all 5 parts: 35:33)
It's time for satyagraha.A documentary on GM crops, particularly Bt cotton, in India. The film covers losses... more
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1.Bt cotton has failed admits Monsanto
2.Setback for Bt cotton; main pest develops resistance
3.Bt cotton flunks pest resistance test in Gujarat
4.Bt cotton ineffective against pest in parts of Gujarat, admits Monsanto
5.Cotton in India - Monsanto media release
NOTE: The picture now emerging about Bt cotton from pro-GM sources - Monsanto and India's Central Institute for Cotton Research - is one where:
*the main pest (bollworm) is developing resistance
*"new sucking pests have emerged as major pests causing significant economic losses"
*productivity of cotton has fallen
*pesticide expenditure has gone up
Monsanto is hyping its GM Bollgard II cotton as the answer (see item 5) but agricultural scientists are calling Monsanto's advice "ridiculous" as Bollgard II has no additional toxin to combat bollworm (item 4). In fact, US farmers recently complained about bollworms "slipping" through Bollgard II and needing to be treated with pesticides. "We were supposed to have enough control of bollworms with BGII to not have to treat for bollworms," said the farmers at a meeting with Monsanto where they pressed for a rebate on Monsanto's technology fee. Details of the meeting here: http://bit.ly/bdc3EN
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1.Bt cotton has failed admits Monsanto
Dinesh C. Sharma
India Today, March 6 2010
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/86939/India/Bt+cotton+has+failed+admits+Monsanto.html
New Delhi - The ongoing debate on biotechnology crops in India took a new turn on Friday when American seed firm Monsanto disclosed that cotton pest--pink bollworm--has developed resistance to its much-touted Bt cotton variety in Gujarat.
The company has reported to the regulator, the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), that pink bollworm has developed resistance to its genetically modified (GM) cotton variety, Bollgard I, in Amreli, Bhavnagar, Junagarh and Rajkot districts in Gujarat.
This was detected by the company during field monitoring in the 2009 cotton season.
The Bt cotton variety in question was developed using a gene--Cry1AC--derived from soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis. It was supposed to be resistant to pest attacks. But, of late, the pest has developed resistance to the gene.
The same gene has been used in Bt brinjal to make it resistant to pests. Bollgard cotton was cited as a great success of GM technology by Union science minister Prithviraj Chavan in his July 2009 letter to former health minister A. Ramadoss.
"Resistance is natural and expected," Monsanto said in a statement. The company blamed pink bollworm resistance to Cry1Ac protein in Gujarat to "early use of unapproved Bt cotton seeds" by farmers and "limited refuge planting". Farmers are supposed to maintain a distance between Bt cotton farms and other farms as a "refuge". It also advised farmers to take up "need-based application of insecticide sprays" and "properly manage crop residue and unopened bolls after harvest". A second generation variety, Bollgard II, introduced by Monsanto in 2006, contains two proteins, Cry1Ac and Cry2Ab.
The company says no resistance has been observed in the variety anywhere in the country, including Gujarat.
The revelation has not surprised environment action groups. "This is the pattern Monsanto has been following everywhere. Once Bollgard 1 fails, they start pushing Bollgard 2 and tell farmers to apply more pesticides. This is a vicious circle that Indian cotton farmers have got into," Devinder Sharma of Forum for Biotechnology and Food Safety said.
"There is a lesson here for Bt brinjal because the arguments in favour of the crop are same as those given for Bollgard cotton," Kavita Kuruganti of Kheti Virasat said.
In a report submitted to environment minister Jairam Ramesh, K.R. Kranthi of the Central Institute for Cotton Research had cautioned about the likely failure of Bt cotton. "Farmers are not following the recommended 'refugia'. With about 90 per cent area under Bt cotton, bollworms can develop resistance soon. The concern needs to be addressed on priority before it is too late," the report says.1.Bt cotton has failed admits Monsanto
2.Setback for Bt cotton; main pest develops... more
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A first hand report from the GMO battlefront, India.
For over six months now I have been deeply involved, as an ordinary citizen of India in waging a war against the attempts of seed companies like Monsanto to control our food. Add Bill Gates and you have got a powerful mix of people and companies who will stop at nothing. With that kind of money and political power it's next to impossible to stop.
First the facts: Patented gene technologies will not help small farmers survive climate change, but they will concentrate corporate power, drive up costs, inhibit public sector research and further undermine the rights of farmers to save and exchange seeds.
http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/10558-the-worlds-top-ten-seed-companies-who-owns-nature
Background: Bt Cotton
Armed with the growing power and a 26% share in Mahyco, it's Indian counterpart, Monsanto unleashed Bt Cotton in India. PR, News and other media bought off, people started hearing how Bt cotton has been successful and made for amazing yields.
Till farmers started committing suicide. Today the numbers are placed at more than 200,000. The magical Bt Cotton was neither magical nor so Bt'ed with common sense. Predictably, the secondary pests developed a resistance and started creating havoc.
But the company had paid off the top politicians and greenwashed, blackwashed, bloodwashed the case of Bt Cotton.
Find out more about the humanitarian, ecological, environmental disaster of Bt Cotton here:
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/farmersSuicidesBtCottonIndia.php
Bt Brinjal
So in 2009, the GEAC (Genetic Enginnering Approval Committe) gave the go ahead to the world's first genetically modified food that was to be directly consumed by humans - the Bt Brinjal. Also known as eggplant and aubergine.
Dr. Pushpa Bhargava was a member of the GEAC. A renowned microbiologist, Dr. Bhargava expressed shock at the approval.
Greenpeace launched a campaign protesting the decision.
Millions of educated Indians got into the act.
And within 72 hours, our environment minister, Mr. Jairam Ramesh's offices were flooded with over 70,000 faxes and thousands of emails, saying Bt Brinjal must not be approved.
Never before was such a spontaneous environmental protest seen in this country's history. Jairam Ramesh put off the decision till February. He said he would travel around the country and hold a series of public consultations. He would take the opinion of people, scientists and farmers.
Monsanto-Mahyco had politicians by their side. The science and technology minister of India, the agricultural minister of India came in defense of Bt Brinjal. Said it was harmless.
With all the power in their hands, Monsanto thought it had the game in their hands.
Except they made a little mistake. They hadn't realized that bigger than money, bigger than politics, bigger than anything else is something called the country.
It was India's food security at stake and people came out in millions and took a stand against this blatant attempt at a new kind of colonialism.
And the Indians fought a pitched battle against Monsanto and their allies. Watch videos and see reports here:
http://greenpeace.in/safefood/
Blogs like this were continuously giving out information which the mainstream media and newspapers refused to cover.
http://greatindiansale.blogspot.com/search?q=bt+brinjalA first hand report from the GMO battlefront, India.
For over six months now I have... more
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Ever felt that the approval of GM crops and foods by GM 'regulators' across the world has lacked transparency, due democratic process, and scientific rigour?
Then take a look at India for a lesson in how we can begin to take back the power we've given away to corporations and their bought-and-owned politicians and scientists.
Over the past week we've put onto our website (http://www.gmwatch.org/ - Latest News) a stack of documents from independent scientists and other experts submitted to the Indian government, commenting on its Expert Committee's (EC II) recent approval for commercialisation of GM Bt brinjal (aubergine/eggplant).
The approval process appeared to be based on junk science generated by the GM company Mahyco (a subsidiary of Monsanto), who created the GM Bt brinjal in question. Their data was not made fully public or independently evaluated.
When the approval announcement met with public outcry, the Minister for the Environment and Forests, Jairam Ramesh, intervened and launched a public consultation and review process.
In response, a group of citizens, independent scientists, and other experts stepped into the knowledge gap to shine a light on the questions and problems around Bt brinjal that Mahyco and its friends in the Indian government didn't want the public to know about.
For example, Aruna Rodrigues (lead petitioner in the GM Public Interest Lawsuit in the Supreme Court), with members of civil society, has set up an Independent Scientific Peer Review Panel in an extra-governmental process to do the job that the 'regulator' failed to do.
We'll continue to put more documents up as they come in.Ever felt that the approval of GM crops and foods by GM 'regulators' across... more
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This is a beautiful article about the Agriculture in India, before and after the "colonization".
How traditions and culture has been destroyed by it only bringing poverty and death.
GMO, a chemical agriculture and the farmer suicide, here a few excerpts:
"Then came along the colonialists. We all kinda know what happened. I'd just like to place an exerpt from Lord Macaulay's speech in the British Parliament on 2nd Feb 1835 (quoted elsewhere in various contexts on the web--typically nationalistic sounding ones). I first found it in Amartya Sen's book The Argumentative Indian:
'I have traveled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such calibre, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native self-culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation.' "
One more:
"The colonialists are back (strong statement, indeed ;-) )--under the name of Monsanto, DuPont and several other MNC "Agri Businesses" who promise to solve the problem of the world's poverty. (Does that ring a bell?) Last time, it was by releasing the locked up nitrogen in a finite endowment of natural gas to create fertilizers, developing an infrastructure of farm mechanisation that relied (and still relies) on fossil fuels (specifically diesel) and quickly releasing water stored up in deep aquifers through the use of, yet again, cheap fossil fuels. (A significant portion of electricity comes from Coal + Oil + Natural Gas.)
This time, they're back with the same old excuse of attempting to solve world's poverty by manipulating our domesticated life forms' DNA."
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6166
The article ends with a famous American Indian quote:
Only after the last tree has been cut down, Only after the last river has been poisoned, Only after the last fish has been caught, Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten.
My hope is for Monsanto and its monopoly on the food to end as soon as possible.
One way to do it is to STAND TOGETHER, UNITY IN DIVERSITY true for the ecosystem and true for the people of the World.
Join the Organic Revolution and let's put them down!
http://current.com/groups/organicgreen/This is a beautiful article about the Agriculture in India, before and after the... more
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