The stalemate between the Punjab government and a US-based
agribusiness giant is indicative of the increasing complexity of
interests involved in agricultural production.
The Punjab government
remains keen to gain access to genetically modified (GM) seeds,
especially Bacillus Thuringiensis (BT) cotton, yet remains reluctant to ensure intellectual property rights of Monsanto,
the multinational corporation (MNC) which owns this technology. In the
absence of adequate patent protection capacity, Monsanto is demanding
that a fine of between $12 and $15 per acre be paid by the Punjab
government. The Punjab government seems ready to make a one-time payment
to Monsanto for the right to permanently market its seeds and then let
farmers share these seeds amongst themselves. Monsanto, however, wants
that farmers be compelled to purchase its seeds for each sowing season.
While sharecroppers and small-scale farmers increasingly rely on
expensive pesticides and fertilisers, the majority of them still uses
seeds from preceding harvests or borrows seeds from other farmers,
instead of purchasing expensive seed varieties. Although there are now
hundreds of companies in Pakistan, licensed to market seeds, they still
account for about a third of the total market share. MNCs are thus keen
to tap this market potential. Our Senate textile committee is in favour
of promoting the use of BT cottonseeds
to boost cotton production for the textile industry. International
agencies such as the World Bank and the WTO also support the need for
protecting intellectual property rights of multinational corporations
and place faith in their high-tech solutions for boosting agricultural
productivity.
However, environmentalists and development practitioners point to the adverse impacts of using GM seeds.
Some of them insist that BT cottonseeds do not protect the crop from
the sorts of pests most prevalent in Pakistan and may even be dangerous
for consumers. Reluctance to using GM seeds is not confined to Pakistan
alone. Via Campesina, the
global, million-strong peasant movement for land, seed and food
sovereignty, particularly in the Latin American countries, stresses how
poor farmers produce ecologically sustainable and healthier crops, than a
monoculture of crops using GM seeds.
In India, while these expensive seeds promised lucrative profits,
multitudes of poor farmers experienced crop failures leaving them
heavily indebted and compelling hundreds of thousands of suicides.
Genetic modification of seeds is also deeply unpopular in Europe. French
scientists have just released a study claiming that rats fed GM corn or
exposed to its top-selling weedkiller suffered tumours and multiple
organ damage.
After a damning report of a parliamentary committee on agriculture,
the Indian Supreme Court recommended a 10-year moratorium on field
trials of all GM foods and the termination of all ongoing trials of
transgenic crops across India. Such developments need to be given
attention by our Technical Advisory Committee of the National BioSafety
Committee, which has recently allowed field trials of BT corn in the
country.
Besides health safety issues, critics point out that BT corn is a
highly-pollinating variety and its pollen can easily travel and
contaminate adjoining crops using normal seeds, inhibit their seed
germination and even make farmers with contaminated crops liable to
patent infringement. The existing version of our Plant Breeders Rights Bill 2012
is primarily focused on acknowledging corporation patent rights instead
of protecting farmers concerns. The drafters of this bill should have
paid greater attention to how other developing countries, such as
Bangladesh, Bhutan, Ethiopia and Vietnam, have sought to protect
farmers’ traditional knowledge and biological diversity in their
legislative measures.
There is little evidence on ground of attempts to bolster indigenous
seed stocks to prevent the potential monopoly of GM seeds in our rural
areas. This is an issue which NGOs and other development agencies
working with poor farmers must particularly turn their attention to.