PRESS RELEASE

PEOPLE’S AGENDA FOR REJUVENATION OF INDIAN AGRICULTURE

“WTO, THE AGRARIAN CRISIS AND FARMERS SUICIDES”

WTO KILLS FARMERS

Indian agriculture is in deep crisis as a result of a decade of trade liberalization. Farm debt and farmers suicides are the most obvious indicators of the agrarian crisis  engendered by WTO rules, the forced removal of QR’s and the consequent dumping and decline in farm prices and the rising costs of production as global corporations like Monsanto grab control of our seed sector.

Korean farmer Lee Kyung Hae became a martyr in Cancun and left behind him the rallying call “WTO Kills Farmers”. Two more Korean farmers took their lives when the Korean Government allowed rice imports in 2005. Korean farmers were the most active in protests at the Hong Kong Ministerial. 14 of them are still in Hong Kong jails. Their crime was raising the issue of crimes against farmers. Trade liberalization and WTO rules are literally killing farmers.

According to the National Sample Survey, 48.6% of farm houselholds are in debt. The two most important purposes of taking loans were stated to be “capital expenditure in farm business” and “current expenditure in farm business”. At the all India level, out of every 1000 rupees taken as loan, 584 rupees were borrowed for capital intensive agriculture.

Farmer’s Debt by Purpose of Loan, All-India

(NSSO, 59th Round)
Indebtedness is driving farmers to suicide. A change is needed in agriculture policy to end the vicious cycle of debt and the brutal epidemic of farmers suicides.

The Government is however continuing the policies of WTO favouring agribusiness corporations which are the cause of farmers distress. “WTO kills farmers and the Indian Government following WTO, is killing farmers” stated Dr. Kishan Bir Chaudhary, who was in Hong Kong for the WTO meetings and heads the longest farmers organization in India. Fourteen Korean farmers who were arrested are still in Hong Kong. We demand their immediate release. Their only crime is raising the issue of WTO crimes against farmers.

The “2nd Green Revolution” is Killing Farmers

The Government is promoting corporate farming and capital intensive agriculture. This is one of the causes of the agrarian crisis. Yet it is being offered as “renewal of Indian Agriculture” and the “2nd Green Revolution” based on biotechnology and new seeds. This was the theme of the Prime Minister’s speech at the Science Congress and the content of the U.S – India agriculture agreement.

Officials are preparing the joint “Knowledge Initiative on Agriculture” before President Bush’s visit in March. The initiative will promote cooperation between U.S and India on research, education and commercial links. The first Green Revolution, which has destroyed our soil and water, our seeds and biodiversity, also emerged as a U.S led initiative.

However, the “2nd Green Revolution” based on biotechnology is failing the farmers like the “1st Green Revolution” according to Dr. Vandana Shiva, whose path breaking study, the “Violence of Green Revolution” changed the paradigm of agriculture. The 2nd Green Revolution, based on  biotechnology and genetic engineering will have even higher social and environmental costs than the first Green Revolution.

Monsanto’s Bt. Cotton has already caused havoc in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh. A recent study by the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti has shown that during the June – December period in 2005, 212 farmers ended their lilves in one region of Maharashtra. Of these 182 were from the cotton heart land of India. 170 of the 182 suicides are of cotton growers who grew Monsanto’s Bt. Cotton. Monsanto sells its GM cotton seed to Indian farmers at the same price as it sells in the U.S. The price of transgenic seed (Rs. 1600 for 450 gms) has a “royalty” component of Rs. 1200, even though Monsanto does not have a patent for Bt. Cotton in India. In contrast, local seeds are sold for Rs. 550 a kg. Farmers suicides in Vidarbha overlap with regions where Monsanto sold its GM seeds. For the farmers of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra Bt. Cotton has emerged as a killer. The Andhra Pradesh Government has filed a case before the Monopoly and Trade Practices Commission in Delhi against Mahyco Monsanto Biotec (India) Ltd (MMBIL), challenging the “revenue model” adopted by the multinational for sourcing its transgenic Bollgard cotton seed technology to Indian Companies.

Terming the company’s decision to collect Rs. 1250 as royalty on each packet of cotton seeds sold in the state as a fit case to punish it under the MRTP Act, the State Government argued that Andhra farmers were forced to pay through the nose.

As seed monopolies grow, prices of seed will increase.

World’s Top 10 Seed Companies + 1

                 (Source : ETC Group Global Seed Industry Concentration
                                  Report 2005)

While costs of production rise, prices of agricultural produce are falling, not because of “efficiency” and “productivity” but because of $400 billion subsidies and agribusiness monopolies which drive farmers prices down.

Prices of some important traded primary products, in US dollars

* Relates to 1999, and percent change is 1999 compared to 1995.

The forced removal of QR’s by WTO has linked the falling prices at the international level to decline in farm prices at the domestic level, robbing our farmers of nearly Rs. 1 trillion every year, and robbing thousands of their lives as they commit suicide in despair.

The WTO Ministerial offers no protection to our farmers

“The WTO Ministerial does not bring relief to our farmers. Its outcome will aggravate the farm crisis” said Mr. S.P. Shukla who was India’s ambassador to GATT during the Uruguay Round and is currently the Convener of Indian People’s Campaign against WTO. While the Government has claimed that the decisions arrived at in Hong Kong will protect our farmers, the pressure on our farmers will further increase. Firstly, northern subsidies will not end. The export subsidies that are to and by 2013 are an insignificant proportion of subsidies that distort prices and lead to dumping. Secondly, the category of “special products” does not prevent imports and have the destruction of domestic markets. And only 1 to 20 percent of total tariff lines can be classified as special products.

The diversity of crops that Indian farmers grow are not merely “tariff lines”. They are the basis of farmers lives. They are our biological and cultural heritage. They are the source of livelihood of millions. From the pepper, cardamon and coconut in the gardens of Karnataka and Kerala, to the saffron and apples of Kashmir, from the rices of Orissa and Bengal, to the wheats of Punjab, Haryana and U.P, from the jowar and bajra of Rajasthan, to the Mandua and Jhangora of Uttaranchal, every farmer and every species is necessary for India’s ecological and food security.

The Governments agenda for renewal of agriculture is in fact no different from the WTO package of capital-intensive corporate farming. This will not renew our agriculture, it will destroy the livelihoods of our peasants and small farmers.

PEOPLE’S AGENDA FOR REJUVENATION OF INDIAN AGRICULTURE

The peoples agenda for the rejuvenation of Indian agriculture has to be an alternative to the WTO driven, government supported corporate agenda.  During 2006 we will strengthen the movements for defending our agriculture and our farmers.

1. We reject the outcome of the Hong Kong Ministerial and demand that QR’s be brought back in agriculture.
2. The vital natural resources like land, water and biodiversity are necessary for survival and hence should be accessible to all. Monopolies and concentration of ownership in land, water, and seeds are the threat to life and hence in violation of Article 21 of our Constitution. Seed sovereignty is the basis of food sovereignty and cannot be destroyed to expand Monsanto’s markets and monopoly.
3. The 2nd Green Revolution has already failed the farmers of India as the experience with Monsanto’s Bt. Cotton shows. Indian farmers need a real green revolution which builds their natural assets of soil, water and biodiversity, reduces costs of production while increasing output. Organic agriculture is increasing farmers incomes three to four times by reducing costly inputs. Lot external input agriculture is the way to the future. Small farms are also more productive then large industrial farms and hence the answer to both unemployment and food insecurity.
4. Capital-intensive corporate farming is leading to debt and impoverishment of our peasantry. Corporate farming and contract farming cannot be the basis of India’s agricultural rejuvenation.
5. Farmers have a right to just and fair remunerative prices. The Government has a duty to not just announce MSP but to implement it to ensure the survival of the farmer.
6. The U.S – India agriculture agreement “Knowledge Initiative in Agriculture” will undermine our farmers livelihood, our indigenous agricultural knowledge and farming systems. It will promote the interests of Monsanto, Cargill and Walmart. We demand that this anti farmer initiative be stopped. Serving interests of U.S agribusiness cannot be the basis of “India’s agricultural renewal.”
7. As an alternative to the U.S and agribusiness led Government agenda for agriculture renewal, we will evolve through a broad based mobilization, a people’s agenda for rejuvenation of Indian agriculture.
8. We will be organizing public hearing and peoples Courts in various parts of the country to find solutions to the agrarian crisis and to the epidemic of farmers suicides.
9. Farmers suicides are a national tragedy and a national shame. 2006 must see an end to farm suicides. We will resist all policies that are killing our farmers, and we will promote systems that secure rural livelihoods, including the livelihoods of landless peasants and protect our resources and our sovereignty.

For Further Information Contact :

Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology
A-60, Hauz Khas
New Delhi – 110 016.
Tel : 0091-11-26968077 , 26561868, 26535422
Fax : 0091-11-26962569, 26856795