Seeds of Suicide 1-13-2007

13, January 2007 Seeds of Suicide

Vandana Shiva, Director of the Research Foundation on Science, Technology, and Ecology, recipient of the highly prestigious ‘Right Livelihood Award’ (alternative to the Nobel Peace Prize) - has directed a much needed spotlight on the appalling plight of Indian farmers. Saddling with crippling debt, many have ended their lives. The relatively recent phenomenon has been caused by globalization and trade liberalization, wherein US giants such as Cargill and Monsanto have displaced Indian seed products such mustard oil, sesame, linseed and coconut oils in favor of imported unregulated, untested Soya seeds. The high cost of these imported seeds, require high cost fertilizers, and have been genetically engineered (GE) to be non-renewable forcing farmers to renew their seeds annually. The cotton seeds are especially expensive to cultivate and is where large scale suicides have occurred. 

A case against Monsanto’s monopolistic practices is now pending before the Indian Supreme Court. Coupled with the high cost of GE cotton seeds is the huge $4 billion subsidies given to US agribusiness which artificially depresses world-wide cotton prices by more than 50%. Shiva’s has reported the growing number of suicides in an annual report, entitled “Seeds of Suicide.” Vidarbha in Maharashtra, is now experiencing eight suicides per day. 2, 800 widows of Punjabi farmer suicides have lost their land and forced to work as landless workers.  Monsanto has now captured 70% of the Indian market In order to maintain its high production, Monsanto has destroyed part of the rain forests of Borneo and the Amazon. Tragically, the WTO has turned out to be a boon for US agribusinesses and ‘bust’ for Indian farmers. Furthermore, Soya has caused serious health problems and its use should, therefore, be tightly controlled or banned outright. The government should offer the beleaguered Indian farmers support prices to protect them from price crop fluctuations and aggressively promote organic farming. Finally, India needs to return to cultivating its own seed production to protect it from the clutches of US agribusinesses.