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2 November 2002

FOOD SCIENTISTS FACE FARMER ANGER

EXCERPTS:

Hundreds of farmers from 10 countries are demanding that the current system of agricultural research be dismantled and replaced with farmer led, farmer centered approaches.

Although its mandate is to alleviate hunger, the farmers claim that CGIAR's focus on "techno-fixes," including a current move towards genetic engineering, has worsened agricultural problems.

"The failure of the CGIAR to defend genetic diversity in the light of [genetic] contamination is disgraceful," the People's Street Conference said in a Unity Statement.

"The agriculture promoted by the CGIAR, with its dependence on pesticides, fertilizers and other chemicals, is environmentally and socially unsustainable. Farmers have been plunged into debt, their health and the health of their families has suffered, their knowledge, culture and social systems have been exploited, and the agro-environment of their farms has been severely degraded," said Emmanuel Yap of MASIPAG - Farmer-Scientist Partnership for Development.

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Food Scientists Face Farmer Anger

[shortened - for full article:
http://ens-news.com/ens/oct2002/2002-10-31-01.asp]

MANILA, Philippines, October 31, 2002 (ENS) - Farmers' marches and a street conference protesting the corporatization and genetic engineering of foods have confronted the World Bank funded Consultative Group on Agriculture Research (CGIAR) at its annual general meeting in Manila this week. Inside, the researchers heard dire water shortage warnings.

Hundreds of farmers from 10 countries are demanding that the current system of agricultural research be dismantled and replaced with farmer led, farmer centered approaches.

The farmers brought their protest to the park across from the Makati Shangri-La Hotel in Manila.

Police and security with water cannons and other crowd control measures moved Wednesday to disperse the street conference and exhibition in the park opposite the Shangri-La hotel, venue of CGIAR's annual general meeting. After a short scuffle in which some of the displays, featuring NGO initiatives such as participative research and community seedbanks were confiscated, the park management allowed the exhibition to remain for one day.

The CGIAR is an association of public and private members supporting a system of 16 Future Harvest Centers that work in more than 100 countries. CGIAR says its mission is "to mobilize cutting edge science to reduce hunger and poverty, improve human nutrition and health, and protect the environment."

Although its mandate is to alleviate hunger, the farmers claim that CGIAR's focus on "techno-fixes," including a current move towards genetic engineering, has worsened agricultural problems.

Genetically engineered crops, such as corn resistant to insect pests, have grown from two million hectares in 1996 to 40 million hectares in 1999. In the United States more than 70 percent of all crops are genetically modified, according to CGIAR figures. The farmers fear transgene escape that cannot be controlled, making organic agriculture impossible.

"The failure of the CGIAR to defend genetic diversity in the light of [genetic] contamination is disgraceful," the People's Street Conference said in a Unity Statement.

"The agriculture promoted by the CGIAR, with its dependence on pesticides, fertilizers and other chemicals, is environmentally and socially unsustainable. Farmers have been plunged into debt, their health and the health of their families has suffered, their knowledge, culture and social systems have been exploited, and the agro-environment of their farms has been severely degraded," said Emmanuel Yap of MASIPAG - Farmer-Scientist Partnership for Development.

Inside the CGIAR meeting, the top science prize, the King Baudouin Award for outstanding scientific research that results in direct benefit to poor people, was given for collaborative research on protein-rich chickpeas.

Chickpea germplasm

The joint winners are two of the 16 CGIAR centers - the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), based in India, and Syria's International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas. The scientific breakthroughs recognized by the award include the successful introduction of chickpea varieties into rice fallows in Bangladesh, India and Nepal.

Four new members joined CGIAR on Wednesday - three countries, Malaysia, Morocco, and Israel, and the Syngenta Foundation. Created by Swiss agrochemical and biotechnology giant Syngenta last October, the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture supports research projects on sustainable food security in the poorest regions of the world.

CGIAR member countries now number 46, including 24 developing countries and 22 industrialized countries, and there are now four member foundations.

Ian Johnson, chair of the CGIAR said, "This new membership is further recognition of the value of the world class research work undertaken by the Future Harvest Centers of the CGIAR and will increase the resources available for solving the problems of poverty, hunger and under development."

But the street conference issued a statement objecting to the inclusion of the Syngenta Foundation, calling it "a prime example of the privatized approach of the CGIAR" that "sounds the death knell of independent, responsible public science."

In their Unity Statement, the street conference said, "From the start of the Green Revolution, the research centers of the CGIAR have promoted a top-down, one-size-fits-all approach to research that ignores the knowledge and experience of farmers, farming communities, and indigenous people."

Despite CGIAR "rhetoric," the farmers said their first concern is that, "the CGIAR has never been accountable to whom it claims to serve."  Instead, its governance structure is controlled by four rich countries of the North, say the farmers who claim CGIAR "continues to refuse attempts to genuinely involve farmers' organizations in its decision making processes."

The farmers demand that "there be no patents on life or any kind of intellectual property."

They called on the international scientific community to join peoples' movements in explicitly rejecting patents on life, and in proactively protecting plants, animals and agricultural processes from patents and other forms of intellectual property rights.