[Reader-list] GM Seeds and Economy

[A. Mani]

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KILLER SEEDS: The Devastating Impacts of Monsanto’s Genetically
Modified Seeds in India

by Iqbal Ahmed

	
Global Research, January 12, 2012


Monsanto’s operation in India illustrates monopolization and
manipulation of the market economy, tradition, technology, and
misgovernance. The world’s largest producer of genetically engineered
seeds has been selling genetically modified (GM) in India for the last
decade to benefit the Indian farmers – or so the company claims.

In a country of more than 550 million farmers who are largely poor and
uneducated and the agriculture market rife with inefficient business
practices, the Indian government sought to reform the market by
eliminating subsidies and loans to the farmers.

The government reform did not help the farmers. With pressure from the
World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Indian
government has “forced market liberalization on India which means the
elimination of government subsidies and government-backed loans to
farmers.”

Enter Monsanto with its “magic” GM seeds to transform the lives of the
poor Indian farmers.

The U.S. agri-business giant took full advantage of its entry into the
Indian market. It entered into an agreement with state governments
including Rajasthan and Andhara Pradesh to introduce a Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) that dictated the terms of disseminating the GM
technology in Indian market.

For Monsanto, it is one thing to convince farmers to use artificial
seeds for the purposes of enriching their lives, it is quite another
to manipulate nature and technology to profit from them.

Killer Seeds

The irony is GM seeds have not been effective in India and the
consequences are not as rosy as what Monsanto had promised to deliver.
Scathing reports of mass suicides of  Indian farmers broke out as
recently as three years ago when scores of farmers took their own
lives in order to escape the burden of high prices and failure of
Monsanto’s GM seeds.

Monsanto offered its GM seeds to the farmers of India with hopes of
reaping plentiful crops. Plain and mostly uneducated farmers thought
Monsanto had come to provide a “magic” formula that would transform
their lives. They had no idea what was coming.

Monsanto’s seeds in India did not produce what the company had
promised and farmers hoped. The expensive seeds piled up debts and
destroyed farming fields. In many instances, the crops simply failed
to materialize. The farmers were not aware that the GM seeds required
more water than the traditional seeds. And lack of rain in many parts
of India exacerbated the crop failure.

With no harvest, the farmers could not pay back the lenders. Burdened
with debts and humiliation, the farmers simply took their own lives,
some by swallowing poisonous pesticides in front of their families. To
date, an estimated 200,000 farmers have committed suicide all over
India.

To add to the misery, wives inherited the debts along with the fear of
losing their homes and lands. With no money coming in, they also had
to pull their kids from the schools. The mass suicide among the Indian
farmers is known as the “GM genocide.”

In its company website Monsanto declares that its pledge is “our
commitment to how we do business.” And then there are the business
philosophies with virtuous words like “integrity” and “transparency.”

Monsanto’s business practices in India quite remarkably live up to the
company’s motto. It purposefully leverages its power and influence in
government to penetrate farming markets with motive but without
morale.

Market Power

Using its colossal market power, Monsanto craftily penetrated into the
Indian markets.

Monsanto convinced the Indian government that its GM seeds would
produce better crops. According to a report by Farm Wars, one former
Managing Director of Monsanto claimed that Monsanto manipulated
research data “to get commercial approvals for its products in India.”

Indian regulatory agencies, instead of verifying the data, simply
remained compliant with the findings of what Monsanto presented. “They
did not even have a test tube to validate the data and, at times, the
data itself was faked,” the Farm Wars report says.

Government regulations worked in favor of Monsanto to monopolize the
Indian seed market. For example, “Prime Minsiter’s Office” in India
pressured various state governments to sign MOUs with Monsanto to
privatize the seed market.

Through these “vested interests” with the Indian government, Monsanto
eventually has monopolized the GM seed market for more than a decade.

Unable to purchase traditional seeds, the farmers had to pay a hefty
price for the expensive GM seeds. Many farmers had to borrow money
from the local lenders to buy Monsanto’s seeds. To cite an example of
how expensive the GM seeds are, 100 grams of GM cost $15 to the
farmers compared with $15 for 1000 grams of traditional seeds.

Vandana Shiva, a renowned scientist and activist in India, wrote that
Monsanto had also planned to control water in India. Its aim was to
control water supply through privatization. In other words, Monsanto
sought to profit from water, a lifeline of Indian livelihood. By
seeking control of water, Monsanto also seized the opportunity to
benefit from the scarce water supply that plagues communities
throughout India.

Manipulation and Misinformation

The failure of Monsanto’s GM seeds was palpable. The farmers held onto
their hopes for better crops after they had planted the “magic” seeds.
Their crops never came. Throughout the villages in India the harvest
from the GM seeds failed. The parasites destroyed the so-called
“pest-proof” GM seeds.

Monsanto uses methods of manipulation and misinformation to reap their
own benefits and profits at the cost of the farmers who rely on
organic methods to grow their crops and animals, a tradition that
existed in India for centuries.

By a contractual clause, the farmers could not save Monsanto’s GM
seeds for reuse after the first season.

Whether or not the farmers understood this legal binding would merit
an examination to underscore the extent of Monsanto’s market power and
conniving business practices. Misleading and forcing farmers to buy
the GM seeds through government policy and market monopoly must be
purged as part of reforming the Indian agricultural market.

Action Against GM seeds

Prince Charles does not like what Monsanto is doing or causing to the
lives of  farmers in India. He has expressed his contempt for the
“bio-tech leaders” and “politicians” who have caused suicides among
Indian farmers. His charity organization promotes “long-term benefits
of sustainable agriculture” that would provide “decent returns” to the
farmers.

Facing pressure from the anti-GM seed activists, NGOs, and local
communities, the Indian government gave in. In 2010, Indian
Environment Minister issued a temporary “moratorium” on Monsanto to
introduce genetically engineered egg plant seeds in India. Only time
will tell how long this policy effects will last.

In a country where money, politics, and business often go hand in
hand, the farmers are at the mercy of their own fate.


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