GMW:_Agro-imperialism_-_Green_Revolution_to_biotechnology

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GMW:_Agro-imperialism_-_Green_Revolution_to_biotechnology

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> Fri, 2 Jul 2004 14:41:02 +0100

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> http://www.gmwatch.org

> ------

 

> interesting article from Bangladesh

> ------

> Agro-imperialism: Green Revolution to biotechnology

> Md Nazrul Islam

> The Daily Star, July 2 2004

>

http://www.thedailystar.net/2004/07/02/d407021501100.htm

>

> Is the Green Revolution (GR) a curse or blessing for

> us? Four decades after the introduction of the GR,

> the time has now come to evaluate its overall

> impact.

>

> It seemed that political imperialism bade farewell

> to the third world countries, but in reality it

> exists in different forms. Agro-technology is such a

> form that has invaded the developing countries in

> the name of development. Under the guise of

> technology transfer, the neo-colonialists have

> entered into the developing countries, capturing

> their economy, culture, and society.

>

> The technological transformation in agriculture is

> termed as the GR. It was introduced in our country

> in the 1960s. 'Miracle Seeds' are central to the GR.

> Nobel Laureate agriculture scientist Norman Borlaug

> invented 'miracle seeds' through bringing out dwarf

> hybrid wheat seeds in 1954.

>

 

> It is necessary to understand the geo-political and

> social condition of the 1950s to understand

> agro-imperialism. In the middle of the 20th century,

> colonial powers started withdrawing from their

> colonies in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, giving

> independence to various countries including India,

> Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam.

> Resentment was brewing among the peasant societies

> in these newborn countries for land and

> agri-reforms. The Communist Party of China, which

> came to state power at that time, extended its

> support to the peasant societies of these countries.

> The direct patronisation of the Communist Party of

> China to the peasant bodies became a serious concern

> for the US and its western allies. The US, which was

> looking for new strategy to exert its influence on

> these countries, used this miracle seed of Norman

> Borlaug as a magic medicine to thwart China.

>

> The Rockefeller and Ford Foundations, which played a

> pioneering role in establishing the International

> Wheat Research Institute in Mexico, now came forward

> to transfer the hybrid seeds in Asia through setting

> up the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)

> in the Philippines in 1960.

>

> In the meantime, under the financial assistance of

> these two organisations, agriculture scholars from

> India, Pakistan, Indonesia, and the Philippines went

> to the USA for higher studies and training in

> US-agriculture.

>

> After having been brainwashed in technological

> agriculture production, they returned back home and

> became desperate to dismantle the thousand years old

> traditional agriculture system, ignoring the people,

> soil, climate, land ownership system, nature and

> bio-diversity of their own countries, and terming

> the traditional system as 'outdated'. There was no

> dearth of money as USAID, the World Bank and other

> US-controlled organisations were ready to finance

> their ventures. The brainwashed scientists gave

> plans, and the politicians, already perplexed as to

> how to maintain political stability, grasped their

> ideas.

>

> The dwarf hybrid rice seeds from IRRI came to the

> market in 1966. Under the direct patronisation of

> the government, the seeds quickly spread all over

> the country with an ambitious pledge to uproot

> hunger, poverty and conflict from society. The crop

> production process engendered by this dwarf hybrid

> seed is termed as the Green Revolution.

>

> The hybrid seeds, which were termed as High Yielding

> Variety or HYV, are in the real sense not high

> yielding. We could, more accurately, call them 'High

> Responsive Variety' as these seeds have the capacity

> to withstand high doses of chemical fertilizer,

> pesticide, and water. Not only do they withstand

> high doses, without application of high doses of

> inputs, not a single grain will come from hybrid

> seeds. On the other hand, the traditional seeds

> cannot withstand high doses of these inputs. As a

> result, the western countries arranged all means to

> give with one hand and take away with other. They

> sold fertilizer, pesticide, irrigation appliances,

> etc. We had to set up fertilizer factories, but the

> machinery, technology, and technologists were

> theirs. That's not the end, fuel being used in

> irrigation is imported from foreign countries. We

> have to use our precious natural gas for producing

> fertilizer and electricity. A sizable quantity of

> electricity is being used for irrigation purpose.

> The power plant machinery was also imported from

> their countries. If you calculate the multiplier

> effects of all these inputs being used in

> cultivating HYV, you would find that the benefit is

> zero.

>

> What has the GR given to us? Has prosperity and

> peace resulted? Has poverty reduced? Has per capita

> income in real terms increased? Has per head food

> and nutrition intake increased? Statistics shows

> that there were no significant changes of these

> indexes. Rather, during the last four decades the

> marginal farmers have slowly been added to the

> number of the landless. Per capita income in real

> terms has not increased, the number of poor people

> not decreased, the gap between rich and poor

> widened, social inequality increased, and conflict,

> crime, and social instability multiplied.

>

> The GR presented our farmers dependency instead of

> making them self-sufficient. Our farmers had never

> been dependent on others for agri-inputs like seeds,

> fertilizer, and irrigation water. The found these in

> nature. The seeds of traditional indigenous

> varieties were under the full control of the

> farmers. The housewives used to preserve the seeds

> for the next season braving all odds. If somebody

> did not have, they easily got those from neighbours.

> But the hybrid seeds are no longer under the control

> of the farmers. Seeds have now turned into consumer

> items. They are produced in specialised farms.

> Farmers, irrespective of their size, are at the

> mercy of the seed producing agencies. They have to

> pay huge sums of money for seeds. As a result, there

> is massive corruption before every sowing season.

> The black-marketers, profit-mongering traders, and

> corrupt government officials control the supply and

> availability of seeds.

>

> The worst impact of the GR is that hundreds of

> thousands of crop varieties disappeared after the

> introduction of the monoculture system. Its hybrid

> seeds destroyed our rich genetic bio-diversity and

> natural and ecological balance.

>

> Not only that -- the over extraction of surface and

> ground water caused reduction in the water level.

> Most of the water bodies, including rivers, hoars,

> and beels, were silted up, turning them into arable

> land. As a result, water conservation capacity of

> our water bodies severely declined. Those, which

> hold a small quantity of water, have become unfit

> human use due to excessive use of chemical

> fertilizer and pesticide in the crop fields. On the

> other hand, although production of paddy increased

> to some extent, production of straw severely

> decreased. Paddy straw is one of the main fodders in

> our country. The straw produced from hybrid seeds is

> not palatable for the cattle heads due to use of

> chemical fertilizer and pesticide. The impact is

> easily visible. The country has become cattle-less.

> Insects, earthworms, and frogs disappeared,

> resulting in decrease in poultry bird production. In

> a nutshell, the GR has totally destroyed our rich

> bio-diversity.

>

> Was there any alternative to the GR? How would 140

> million people of this small country be fed? The

> alternative can be found in nature. Nothing can be

> derived from nature by making it hostile. The exotic

> varieties failed to yield any benefit for our

> millions of marginal farmers. We have to go back to

> our roots. The success lies in the improvement of

> our indigenous varieties, development of cropping

> patterns, and proper use of resources.

>

> But it's matter of great regret that our

> agricultural scientists do not do research with our

> own subjects, the teachers do not teach domestic

> issues. The agricultural institutions totally depend

> on western technology and books. The

> scientists-teachers run after lucrative scholarship

> offers in the west and having completed their

> courses, they come back brainwashed. They praise

> western agriculture and want to introduce western

> agriculture in our country in toto. But, they forget

> the basic difference between the society, land

> ownership pattern, and farmers of the west, and

> ours. The American and European agriculture is

> farm-based. Their farmers (it's better to call them

> agri-industrialists) produce crops for industries.

> Most of our farmers produce crops for their own

> consumption. Our agriculture is labour-intensive,

> theirs mechanised. Think, what would happen if our

> total agriculture was mechanised? Millions of

> agri-laborers would become jobless. And it's

> happening. The rich farmers in northern Bangladesh

> are introducing tractors and other mechanical

> appliances in their farming, making thousands of day

> labourers jobless. They are moving towards towns and

> cities in search of work, swelling the slums there.

>

> The agro-imperialism is not limited to the GR. With

> the passage of time, farmers of many third world

> countries are realising the hollowness of the GR.

> Farmers of many countries, including India and

> Southeast Asia, are returning back to the pre-GR

> traditional farming system. Organic farming is

> getting popularity fast. Now, the western

> multi-national companies (MNC) have started

> propaganda, saying that the hybrid seeds failed to

> cope with the growing demand of food. It is the time

> to replace it with 'Genetically Engineered' or

> Biotechnology seeds. Our agricultural scientists

> have already swallowed the bait of the MNCs like

> Monsanto, Novartis, Dupont, Ciba Giegy, etc.

>

> Our agriculture scientists are heading towards

> another technological disaster. Biotechnology seeds

> are even more dangerous than the GR hybrid seeds.

> The farmers have no control over hybrid seeds, but

> at least government agencies have some control. In

> contrast, control over biotechnology seeds will

> entirely be in the hands of MNCs. The list of the

> bad effects of GM food is long. Without mentioning

> them here, I only raise the issue of the risk to our

> farmers. Once the biotechnology seeds capture the

> market, the remaining genetic diversity will be

> quickly destroyed. Millions of marginal farmers of

> our country will then become pawns of the MNCs. They

> have to use seeds, fertilizer, and pesticide of a

> particular company. There would be no scope for

> bargaining as the government would have no control

> over those. But who will make our scientists

> understand? They have already sold themselves to the

> MNCs. The roots of agro-imperialism run deep.

>

> Creating awareness is now the only means to avert

> the disaster. We have to make our farmers conscious;

> we have to build a social movement. In India, such a

> movement has already been started with the

> initiative of environmentalists and the media. Our

> sensible agricultural scientists and

> environmentalists should also come forward to combat

> the impending threat, otherwise a dark curtain will

> fall on our agriculture system and farmers.

>

> Md. Nazrul Islam is a graduate of Bangladesh

> Agricultural University, journalist, and

> environmentalist

>