X-post from GD: Haitian farmers to Monsanto: Go F**k yourself

[Mika]

Thanks to DUer marmar....

Haitian farmers to Monsanto: Go F**k yourself
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8390189

Haitian Farmers Refuse Monsanto Hybrid Seeds
A coalition of peasant farmers is standing up for food sovereignty.

by Beverly Bell
posted May 21, 2010

“A new earthquake” is what peasant farmer leader Chavannes Jean-Baptiste of the Peasant Movement of Papay (MPP) called the news that American agribusiness giant Monsanto will be donating 60,000 sacks (475 tons) of hybrid corn and vegetable seeds to Haiti—some of them treated with highly toxic pesticides. The MPP has committed to burning Monsanto’s seeds, and has called for a march to protest the corporation’s presence in Haiti on June 4, World Environment Day.

In an open letter sent May 14, Jean-Baptiste, both Executive Director of MPP and the spokesperson for the National Peasant Movement of the Congress of Papay (MPNKP), called the entry of Monsanto seeds into Haiti “a very strong attack on small agriculture, on farmers, on biodiversity, on Creole seeds…and on what is left of our environment in Haiti.”<1> Haitian social movements have been vocal in their opposition to imports of seeds and food from agribusinesses, which they say undermine local production and local seed stocks. They have expressed special concern about the import of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

For now, without a law regulating the use of GMOs in Haiti, the Ministry of Agriculture rejected any offer of genetically modified Roundup Ready seeds. In an email exchange, a Monsanto representative assured the Ministry of Agriculture that the seeds being donated are not genetically modified.

With that exclusion, the Haitian Ministry of Agriculture approved the donation (Elizabeth Vancil, Monsanto’s Director of Development Initiatives, called the news “a fabulous Easter gift” in an April email). <2> Monsanto is known for aggressively pushing seeds, particularly GMO seeds, in both the global North and South—including through highly restrictive technology agreements with farmers who are not always made fully aware of what they are signing. According to interviews by this writer with representatives of Mexican small farmer organizations, contracted farmers then find themselves forced to buy Monsanto seeds each year under conditions they find onerous and at costs they sometimes cannot afford. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.yesmagazine.org/blogs/beverly-bell-in-haiti/haitian-farmers-refuse-monsanto-hybrid-seeds

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[naaman fletcher]

1. I hate Monsanto.

The seeds are great, that is why people use them, but Monsanto ends up with too much power. Even if you don't buy their seeds their guys prowl around your farm to see if you have any crops with their DNA. Of course, the wind and bees don't quite understand property lines so of course cross-pollination occurs.

The other problem (my ex-inlaws are cotton farmers) is that the same great cotton seed they charge an arm and a leg for in the US they sell to the Chinese for almost nothing. Back in the day American companies didn't actually strive to undercut American industry or agriculture.

[Mika]

2. Check out this doc: The World According to Monsanto

Here.

http://twilightearth.com/environment-archive-2/the-world-according-to-monsanto-full-documentary/

You'll find it on google videos and youtube also.

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[naaman fletcher]

3. thanks..

I won't have a chance to watch it until tonight, but I will.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Thanks for the reading and the video. Will examine tonight, when I can concentrate on them.

Recommending.

http://substate.files.wordpress.com.nyud.net:8090/2009/02/no-monsanto.jpg