Every 30 Minutes": Crushed by Debt and Neoliberal Reforms, Indian Farmers Commit Suicide at Staggeri

[KoKo]

Every 30 Minutes": Crushed by Debt and Neoliberal Reforms, Indian Farmers Commit Suicide at Staggering Rate
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Every 30 Minutes": Crushed by Debt and Neolibe
A quarter of a million Indian farmers have committed suicide in the last 16 years—an average of one suicide every 30 minutes. The crisis has ballooned with economic liberalization that has removed agricultural subsidies and opened Indian agriculture to the global market. Small farmers are often trapped in a cycle of insurmountable debt, leading many to take their lives out of sheer desperation. We speak with Smita Narula of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at New York University Law School, co-author of a new report on farmer suicides in India.

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/5/11/every_30_minutes_crushed_by_debt

[freshwest]

1. I posted about this elsewhere some time back. Monsanto also plays a role in it. It breaks my heart.

[Sonoman]

2. Correct. GM crops are in large part to blame.

The poor farmers cannot afford new seed stock every year and the Monsanto rice does not produce nearly enough seed to remain perennially viable.

The poor bastards are so destitute they have to kill themselves with ant poison, a truly terrible way to go.

Sonoman

[dkf]

3. Monsanto rice has been engineered to be obsolete?

Wow.

[Sonoman]

4. Yep. It yields a tiny fraction of seed compared to traditional rice.

The price of rice in India (Staple Food #1) to more than double in the past year.

The purchase of Monsanto GM seeds is required under our Foreign Aid 'gifts'.

Effing criminal, if you ask me.

Sonoman

PS Same thing with corn in Mexico.

[dkf]

6. No one has explained this to me before.

Damn. It puts a new perspective on things. Do only coerced farmers use this? How widespread is it's use?

[Sonoman]

7. It is happening all over the globe.

In India, the farmers are required by law to use GM seeds (gee, I wonder who is paying those bribes?).

In Russia it is bulghur (a wheat-like grain)

In Mexico it is corn

India is rice and onions

On and on, Middle East, Brazil and most of S America, almost all of Central America, Northern Africa, basic staple foods are being compromised and the prices are skyrocketing..

Not only do these plants deplete the soil to the extent where native seeds will no longer propagate or even produce, they do not generate new seed stock.

In our super-market culture, most Americans don't even come close to grasping what this all means.

Remember when the North Koreans were eating dirt in order to consume root and seed stock?

That was nothing compared to what is to come.

The banana as we know it will be extinct within ten years. Think about that. You can think US Fruit Co (Chiquita) for that. We invaded Honduras and Costa Rica to get that ball rolling ( google Smedley Butler and check it out).

The Water issue is on the radar, but I believe it is a diversion to keep our eye off the real target.

When the repubs talk about massive starvation, it is their people who are behind it.

I hope starving peasants rip the flesh off of them.

Everything I just wrote can be supported by fact, but by the time it waltzes into the kleig-lights it will be far too late.

If you have made it this far thru my diatribe, I thank you. This needs light of day.

You could probably go to NPR and do a search for 'food prices' or something. I don't know much about how to do that.

We are just concerned farmers and we wish the US public would wake up.

Sonoman

PS In Central America they are - right goddam now mixing mud with masa to make tortillas.

[dkf]

8. Do all GMOs have this property or is it only certain types?

[Sonoman]

13. As far as I know, all of them.

Monsanto has gone past DNA to re-write rDNA (google that) to pretty much include all varietals.

I am no conspiracy theorist, just a simple farmer.

Don't even get me started on Monsanto's Universal Poultry Model (from the friendly folks who ginned up the 'Avian Flu' ) or the Universal Swine Model (the 'way back 'Swine Flu').

Texas A&M has been working closely with Monsanto on all of these projects.

Unfortunately, my family (not me) is neck-deep in all of this sordid business.

Hell, it's only money.

Sonoman

[dkf]

16. Man I really need to bone up on this topic.

Scary stuff. I mean really really frightening.

Makes me wonder how vulnerable the food supply is.

Thanks so much for explaining all this.

[Sonoman]

17. Seriously, dkf, we are looking at a global die-off.

It will be partial extinction, but that is just fine with The Powers That Be.

They need a functional (once-was) Middle Class, but the bottom-feeders (poor folks) have to go, as they are just taking up usable space.

The whole thing is just so bizarre, but it is just too real.

And pretty damned sad.

Sonoman

[dkf]

18. My brother, who I thought was way far out, was telling me why we need to buy a farm

And seeds. He was talking about some sort of seed bank some secret group was putting together and I thought he was off his rocker.

Now I have to go ask him what he was talking about.

Sigh.

[OwnedByFerrets]

12. Best post of the day. Thank you.

[Sonoman]

15. Thank you, OBF...

Actually, I have been around here for years and I have always looked forward to reading your input.

Sonoman

[OwnedByFerrets]

25. Well Thank you. Unfortunately, my input has gotten much

more cynical over the past two years. ^5

[Vehl]

19. +1 , I first realized the Monsanto plan after watching the documentary "Food Inc"

Not only will farmers be sued if Monsanto finds Monsanto seeds amongst their own seeds, but strangely enough (here in America as well) The farmers are guilty till they prove themselves innocent! Often , with many adjacent farms using monsanto crops, its impossible for farms to remain free of monsanto seeds which get blown over by the wind/birds. Furthermore Monsanto genetically engineers its produce not to generate plantable seeds so that the farmer has to buy from them again and again!

the entire thing made my blood boil

[dkf]

24. Looks like I have to see food Inc now.

Thanks.

I think I was pooh poohing the issue because I seem not to have caught on to this.

[AlabamaLibrul]

10. Genetic use restriction technology (GURT), colloquially known as terminator technology

is the name given to proposed methods for restricting the use of genetically modified plants by causing second generation seeds to be sterile.

Here's the obligatory primer via Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_use_restriction_technology

The part about how it's not used anywhere is dead wrong.

A web search on "terminator seeds" and similar terms brings up quite a bit of info.

[dkf]

11. The wiki says they didn't use this.

It did say they have to sign agreements to not save or sell seeds for further replanting.

[Sonoman]

22. Just read the first para on Wiki

Genetic use restriction technology (GURT), colloquially known as terminator technology, is the name given to proposed methods for restricting the use of genetically modified plants by causing second generation seeds to be sterile. The technology was developed under a cooperative research and development agreement between the Agricultural Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture and Delta and Pine Land company in the 1990s, but it is not yet commercially available.<1> Because some stakeholders expressed concerns that this technology might lead to dependence for poor smallholder farmers, Monsanto Company, an agricultural products company and the world's biggest seed supplier, pledged not to commercialize the technology in 1999.<2> However, customers who buy seeds from Monsanto Company must sign a Monsanto Technology/Stewardship Agreement. "The agreement specifically states that the grower will not save or sell the seeds from their harvest for further planting, breeding or cultivation".<3> This legal agreement preempts the need for a "terminator gene". Late in 2006, Monsanto acquired Delta and Pine Land company.

[dkf]

23. Gotcha.

[RagAss]

5. If I got to that point...the bullet would not be going through my head !

[WillyT]

9. K & R !!!

:kick:

[dkf]

14. You hear of this GMO stuff before?

Gosh I feel so oblivious on the true ag issues.

[gkhouston]

20. I had to re-read your title to make sure it didn't say, "Indiana farmers".

I suspect that would have also been accurate. :-(

[Liberal_in_LA]

21. heartbreaking

[underpants]

26. 40,000 suicides due to US cotton subsidies

http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1503/15030640.htm

2009
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5465845&mesg_id=5466800