1. Bangladeshi farmers resist GE rice
2. Resistance in India
3. The People Fight Back in the Philippines
EXCERPT from item 3:
For the People's Caravan participants, IRRI and the CGIAR in general appear to act more as transit mechanisms facilitating the infiltration of chemically intensive monoculture crop production and the promotion of the productivity of a particular type of farmer-those with the resources to support a private seed industry.
IRRI is blunt about this: "The cost of hybrid seed, being 10 to 15 times higher than that of ordinary rice seeds discourages poor farmers from taking advantage of hydrid technology.it is only 'appropriate', or intended, for wealthy farmers on irrigated lowlands2." Clearly, this is a betrayal of the avowed task to promote the welfare of small farmers and the poor.
In addition, IRRI is now at the forefront of experimentation and field testing with GE crops, such as vitamin A fortified 'golden rice' and blight and blast resistant (BB) rice.
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1. Bangladeshi farmers resist GE rice
[The full report: Of Seeds, Farmers Rights and Struggles Against TNC Control in Bangladesh February 2001, with pictures, is available at http://www.poptel.org.uk/panap/caravan.htm (Bangladesh section)]
Extract...
UBINIG (Policy Research for Development Alternatives, Bangladesh) Executive Director Farida Akhter said many Asian countries like Bangladesh are rice producing countries with many rice varieties produced by the farmers themselves. "They do not need any company to intervene into their thousand year old production practice." She said, "UBINIG urges all farmers in the rice producing and rice consuming countries of Asia to resist planting genetically engineered rice as it will mean an aggression on their sovereign rights to produce their own staple
food. Genetically engineered rice is harmful socially, economically, environmentally and also an attack on farmers sovereignty." "Bangladeshi farmers will resist it by any means, we want the farmers of Asia to take a united position against genetically engineered rice," she said.
For more information contact:
UBINIG and the Nayakrishi Andolon (New Agriculture Movement) Fax: +880 291 24716 E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
SHISHUK (Shikkha Shastha Unnayan Karzakram) E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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2. Extracts from newly published report on the Continental Caravan in India
[For this, pictures and more new reports on Asian GM opposition and the Continental caravan 2000 see http://www.poptel.org.uk/panap/caravan.htm (India section)]
EXTRACT 1:
Sarojeni Rengam [Executive Director of Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific (PAN AP)], told the crowd that "today the pesticides market is a $32 billion industry. With the advent of seeds genetically engineered to
tolerate pesticides or be dependent on chemical inducers to promote growth and development, the use of hazardous pesticides will only increase if this technology is accepted and used" (See article on Bangaldesh activities). The legacy of the Green Revolution, promoting high-yielding varieties (HYVs) and intensive chemical farm inputs like pesticides, has poisoned our food, ravaged our land and left millions of small farmers landless or near landless and hungry. The advent of the 'Gene Revolution' will only intensify this trend as the control of our food supply shifts increasingly into the hands of a few large corporations.
EXTRACT 2:
The father of sustainable agriculture in Tamil Nadu, Mr. Namalvar also stated, " We have already done what has been said to be impossible, to grow food without poisons. We have moved away from hazardous pesticides and fertilisers and made use of available resources to grow our food. I am confident that the whole of Tamil Nadu can produce crops sustainably and profitably. Our aim is to make the villages pesticide free by the end of 2001." In Trichy, chairperson of the Asia Pacific Research Network (APRN), Tony
Tujan said, "As sustainable agriculture practitioners, we have shown the world that we can grow food without poisons. We must all come together to challenge industrialised agriculture and agrochemical TNCs." To this end, local pesticide activist with TNWF and SRED Santi Gangadharan expressed solidarity with farmers and people all over Asia for the "struggle against agrochemical TNCs and for land and food without poisons!" With a clenched fist she shouted, "Lets chase out TNCs like Monsanto! Lets force our governments to ban genetically engineered food! Preserve our natural resources. Ban all patents on life forms. Stop and reduce the use of pesticides and save our land, air, water and the environment!"
For more information contact: TNWF (Tamil Nadu Women's Forum) and SRED, c/o SRED (Society for Rural Education and Development) E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. PREPARE E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. CIKS (Centre for Indian Knowledge Systems) E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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One Year Since Seattle!
The People Fight Back in the Philippines
[Includes coverage of Trans-Asian protests against Monsanto, IRRI and GM Rice]
February 2001 By Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific [For this, pictures and more new reports on Asian GM opposition and the Continental caravan 2000 see http://www.poptel.org.uk/panap/caravan.htm] Farmers in the Philippines are mobilised, they are vocal and they want justice! This was the resounding sentiment and undercurrent of nationwide events spearheaded by Kilusang Magbubukid Ng Pilipinas (KMP-Peasant Movement of the Philippines), between October 13 and November 26 in the lead up to the People's Caravan 2000 in the Philippines between November 26-30. Thousands of farmers participated in activities in the Northern and Central Luzon regions; in Davao City, Davao del Sur and General Santos City in Mindanao, before converging on Manila to call for land and food without poisons!, genuine agrarian reform, and to hold dialogue and participate in activities with the caravan participants from India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Thailand and Japan. For KMP chairperson Rafael Mariano the People's Caravan was an important
development in increasing solidarity among Asian farmers against globalisation and the monopoly control of transnational corporations (TNCs) of food production and consumption systems. The Philippines, among other countries, is gripped by the tragedy of a collapsing agricultural sector. Small farmers, who constitute the majority of the country's population, are being ravaged by the unethical practices of TNCs sanctioned by the process of globalisation. For years, agrochemical TNCs have been pushing an industrial farming regime synonymous with the use of hazardous pesticides, export-oriented crops and now genetically modified organisms (GMOs) throughout Asia.
Of poisoned lives and communities fighting back
On November 27, the Filipino leg of the People's Caravan kicked off with fora and demonstrations all over the country and a press conference in Manila. In Munoz, Nueve Ecija, farmers from Central Luzon held discussions with PhilRice representatives registering their opposition to research by the institution into genetically engineered (GE) rice. Arguably the most poignant part of the press conference in Manila featured former worker with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Emerson Delphin, visibly suffering from Parkinson's disease. Delphin shared his concern over the human health implications of pesticides-which he specifically came into contact with during his work as a laboratory assistant from 1971 to 1993, handling pesticides like Basudin, Furadan, Azodrin, Malathion and Micpin. He was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1992. He was retrenched in 1993 and at age 52, he continues to bear the pains of this dreaded disease.
According to chairperson of Alyansa ng mga Magsasaka, Manggagawa (ALMASEK) (a KMP 'chapter') Adela Ramos de Leus-Pastido, many residents in communities surrounding IRRI, in Laguna, like Delphin suffer from Parkinson's disease, cancer and other conditions.
In a study undertaken by the Master Occupational Health (MOH), University of the Philippines (UP), 21 of 44 agricultural workers from Barrio Mainit Bay, Laguna were found to have varying symptoms of illnesses related to chemical poisoning. Of the 44 interviewed 34 were previous employees of IRRI and the rest of the Institute of Plant Breeding, UP.1
IRRI was established in 1960 as the prototype for a world network of 16 nonprofit international agricultural, forestry, and fishery research centers supported by the Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). The institute proclaims to be working towards "increasing rice yields and incomes in Asia", particularly for small farmers to combat poverty, hunger, and malnutrition. However since the inception of the Green Revolution we have seen poverty, hunger and malnutrition all go on the rise (see Box 1: IRRI working towards combating poverty, hunger and malnutrition?)
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IRRI working towards combating poverty, hunger and malnutrition?
For the People's Caravan participants, IRRI and the CGIAR in general appear to act more as transit mechanisms facilitating the infiltration of chemically intensive monoculture crop production and the promotion of the productivity of a particular type of farmer-those with the resources to support a private seed industry.
IRRI is blunt about this: "The cost of hybrid seed, being 10 to 15 times
higher than that of ordinary rice seeds discourages poor farmers from taking advantage of hydrid technology.it is only 'appropriate', or intended, for wealthy farmers on irrigated lowlands2." Clearly, this is a betrayal of the avowed task to promote the welfare of small farmers and the poor.
In addition, IRRI is now at the forefront of experimentation and field testing with GE crops, such as vitamin A fortified 'golden rice' and blight and blast resistant (BB) rice. The first research samples of 'golden rice' have already arrived in the region (January 19)3.
IRRI Director General, Dr. Ronald P. Cantrell said, "The arrival of these initial samples at IRRI is a very significant step and allows us to finally start on the required testing process using local rice varieties." However, according to ALMASEK, the experimentation and field-testing of GE crops is against the wishes of the communities surrounding IRRI already impacted by pesticide poisoning.
In one of its most recent ventures, IRRI, in conjunction with the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and the Asia Pacific Seeds Association (ASPA)-a group composed of all the major seed corporations operating in Asia, including Monsanto, Novartis, Dupont, Aventis and RiceTec-is also working towards the further development and use of hybrid seeds in Asia.
Hybrid rice seed development and its use is targeted for India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and the Philippines.2
Speaking on pesticide use and its impacts during the opening press conference of the People's Caravan in the Philippines, Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific Executive Director Sarojeni Rengam said, "We need governments that will protect their citizens from harm. We need accountability from agrochemical TNCs and international institutions like IRRI."
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Demanding land for food!
Delegates and local organisers rallied in front of the Department of Agriculture following the press conference to symbolically hand over a 'Notice of Closure'-for the department's acceptance and promotion of chemical intensive agriculture, and now GE technologies. This 'Notice of
Closure' was also directed at the Department of Agrarian Reform in response to the department's rhetoric over working towards implementing genuine agrarian reform. For KMP genuine agrarian reform is at the top of its agenda (See Box 2: KMP calls for genuine agrarian reform).
Forging solidarity and unity
Addressing hundreds of farmers, students, environmentalists, consumers and the press, in front of the Department of Agriculture, a representative from student groups present said, "We are one with your struggle, to free the
people of the world, especially the farmers, from the oppression of TNC control. Our government is promoting and encouraging this control. Farmers are drowning in poverty and our people are being exploited."
-------------------------------------- BOX 2 ---------------------------------------
KMP calls for genuine agrarian reform
For KMP its number one mandate is the struggle for genuine agrarian reform that provides land to landless small farmers and peasants with sufficient support for sustainable rural livelihoods, economies and futures independent of TNCs.
Mariano is critical of the Filipino government's commitment to the World
Trade Organisation (WTO) in promoting the World Bank's imposition of market-assisted land reform, or private sector land reform. Legislation passed by the Department of Agrarian Reform promotes "cooperative schemes"-joint ventures and contract growing-allowing landlords and foreign capitalists to appropriate land.
Under contract growing, the land and labour to grow a specified crop by a corporation is provided by farmers. Contracts signed with corporations for ten or more years force farmers into buying their farm inputs and selling their produce to the corporation. Consequently, according to Mariano, corporations like Dolefil and Del Monte continue to gain control of vast
tracts of land without actually owning it. This so-called 'partnership' perpetuates massive indebtness while corporations expand their massive profit earnings.4
"In effect, [these] schemes reduce the farmers to being farm-workers receiving measly wages not even on a regular basis to augment their daily need for food and sustenance," Mariano said.
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Prompted by Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific (PAN AP) Executive Director, Sarojeni Rengam, the crowd then chanted with clenched fists "Resist, resist agrochemical TNCs .We don't want pesticides . We don't want GMOs . Resist, resist agrochemical TNCs ..."
An environmentalist with the People's Network for the Environment, the Philippines, said, "We are in solidarity with you in fighting and struggling against products that are destroying the environment."
Speaking on the challenges of pesticide exposure and poisoning faced by her local community in Laguna, local activist Deling Adela Pastidiom-with Pumalag (Unity of Peasants), Laguna and the Alliance of Peasants, Workers and other Sectors, the Philippines-said, "We have to fight against agrochemical TNCs that produce poisons and profit from them. They tell us these poisons are safe, but they are telling us lies. The truth is that people around us are dying. We have to be in unity against agrochemical TNCs, IRRI and our government."
Raising their fists to the air once again the crowd then chanted "IRRI out, IRRI out . GMOs are not allowed . IRRI out, IRRI out . GMOs are not allowed."
Policies for the people
According to KMP the Department of Agriculture supports the entry of GMOs into the country despite justified caution by government legislators. KMP referred to the Departments' draft of an Administrative Order (AO) on the 'rules and regulations for the importation and release into the environment of plants and plant products derived from the use of modern biotechnolgy.'
On November 28, the People's Caravan participants met with Congress officials to bring to their attention the potential adverse impacts of agrochemicals and GE crops. Among those attending were members of the Congress committees on human rights, health and agrarian reform.
In her opening address Rengam informed Congress of the hazardous impacts of pesticide use and the potential for long-term disruption to the human endocrine (hormone) system causing development and reproductive abnormalities.
Directing his comments to the committee on agrarian reform, Mariano asked for a response concerning the human health impacts on farmers and agricultural workers "trapped" into export crop production underpinned by massive pesticide and fertilser use, and potentially GMOs.
In response the committee commented, "We are very much disturbed by some
statements of fact put forward by the executive director [Rengam]. Of course the bottom line here is human rights". And asked, "Is the People's Caravan 2000 advocating a total departure from the use pesticides, meaning . pesticide dependence?"
Rengam said, "We are saying pesticide reduction is possible. It has happened in many countries such as Indonesia, Vietnam and India. We are looking at an 80 per cent and some are claiming a 90 per cent reduction in pesticide use where sustainable agricultural practices are being implemented. We are also claiming it is possible to grow food without poisons. In Bangladesh, Indonesia, Thailand and Tamil Nadu, India, there are cases of huge movements of farmers practicing sustainable farming without the use of pesticides."
Alternatives do work
Farmer Habibur Rahman with Narakrishi Andolon or the New Agriculture Movement, Bangladesh, told Congress he has stopped using pesticides, implemented farming practices such as mixed cropping and inter-cropping to control pests, and has seen his productivity increase.
Farmer leader Albertina Hendrastuti with the Women's Farmers Group Network in Indonesian said through practicing sustainable agriculture they had been successful to the extent of a 90 per cent reduction in pesticide use.
Highlighting the shift to sustainable agriculture in Tamil Nadu, Kollapuri Murugan, farmer and leader with the Landless Labourers Movement, said 15 000 farmers in nine districts were growing food without the use of pesticides with the vision of working towards making Tamil Nadu pesticide free within five years.
Drawing on an example of sustainable agriculture in the Philippines, MASIPAG (Magsasaka at Siyentipiko para sa Ikauunlad ng Agham Pang-agrikultura) Executive Director Manuel Yap said a MASIPAG organic farming project had produced rice yields higher than the national average for conventional rice production.
Upon hearing the testimony of the People's Caravan delegates the officials pledged to call for studies into the effects of agrochemicals and GE crops in support of relevant legislative action. The committee on health recommended a ban on GE food for five years. One official reported he was seeking a restraining order on the field testing of Bt corn in General Santos, Mindanao while another reported he had filed a proposal for mandatory labeling of GE food entering the country.
Celebrating seeds, culture, diversity and resistance
A "Safe Food Festival"-part of an overnight protest vigil at the Department of Agriculture-that same day brought hundreds of farmers together in celebrating more sustainable, healthy agriculture.
Rafiqul Haque, UBINIG (Policy Research for Development Alternatives), Bangladesh, advised Philippine farmers to reject the seeds and pesticides of TNCs. Rahman told the crowd that Bangladeshi farmers were rejecting GE rice and was pleased to learn about the resistance to GE rice in the Philippines.
The office of Monsanto in Makati was the first stop on the agenda the next day, November 29. The 'gene giant' was ordered with a symbolic 'Notice of Eviction'. Similar protest actions were held in front of the Monsanto office in General Santos City, Mindanao.
The U.S. embassy was next on the list, where hundreds of farmers gathered to commemorate "One Year Since Seattle" and condemn "imperialist" globalisation and the role of U.S. based TNCs in the domination and control of Asian agricultural production.
On a lighter note, the People's Caravan engaged primary, secondary and college students that same afternoon at the People's Forum, St. Scholatica's College. The issues raised prompted one of the teachers to give an impromptu lecture to her students making sure they really understood the message of the caravan.
Hendrastutm told the students it was very important for them to develop a "love for the land and a love for vegetation because if we look after nature, nature will look after us." She added, "We have to be wary of what looks like the perfect vegetable, the perfect fruit, the perfect flower.
This perfection is a trick. These 'perfect' vegetables, fruits and flowers have been sprayed with pesticides. They are actually very dangerous to us . and have real impacts on children's intelligence. Mothers, children, students and consumers need to unite with farmers in support of growing food without poisons."
The culmination of the People's Caravan in the Philippines on November 30 coincided with the growing People's Movement protesting their disillusionment and dissatisfaction with the Estrada administration.
In front of over 50 000 people, Advisor to the Assembly of the Poor, Thailand, Veerapon Sopa, and Rengam gave impassioned speeches to the crowd gathered in support of the resignation of Estrada.
Speaking in Thai, Sopa nonetheless enthralled the ever swelling crowd with his words of solidarity, and a song of resistance from Thailand he shared to register the feelings of true international solidarity that was at the very heart of the caravan.
Equally rousing, Rengam said, "We come in solidarity, in support of your
struggles against pesticide poisoning, against the release of genetically engineered organisms and crops. Marginalised communities all over the world are fighting back against the ruthless tactics of transnational corporations who want to control our food production, who want to control our livelihoods, who want to control you. Resist these forces, stand up to them, come together and fight for land and food without poisons!"
1 ASSERT Health and Safety Newsletter. May-December 1999. Vol.10, No.3. 2 Based on information by Mga Magsasaka at Siyentipiko Para sa Ikauunlad ng Agham Pang-Agrikultura (MASIPAG), This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and the Guardian Article by James Meikl (May 2000) "Biotech firms keen to take on rice' circulated by south-north development monitor (SUNS) #4684. Email edition. June 9, 2000. 3 International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). Press Release. January 22, 2000. 'Golden Rice' Arrives in Asia'. 4 Mariano. R. 1999. "Politics of Pesticides". www.geocities.com/kmp_ph/reso/polpest/polpest.html
------------------- For more information contact: KMP Fax: +632 922 0977 E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Webpage: www.geocities.com/kmp_ph/strug/peoplescaravan/caravan.html