Killer technologies will not increase our food production

Posted: 18 Jan 2011 06:31 PM PST

Genetically modified (GM) crops are once again in the eye of a storm. With the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPM] taking a complete U-turn in its stated policy approach and now publicly supporting GM crops, the debate is heating up. National president of the All India Kisan Sabha, the farmers’ wing of the CPM, SR Pillai, has recently called those who oppose GM crops as being ‘superstitious’.

At the recently concluded 98th Indian Science Congress, industry lobbyists had made a strong pitch for GM crops. Ironically, while the Indian Science Congress has always refrained from discussing farmer suicides, it offered a platform to the biotech industry for promoting a risky and unstable technology.

This, however, doesn’t come as a surprise. In Europe, as the BBC reports, the GM controversy is back on the political radar. Politically incorrect efforts have been on for quite some time to re-energise the debate. Wikileaks tells us how the US embassy in Paris had, in 2007, urged Washington to start a military-style trade war against EU for opposing GM crops.

A year later, in 2008, the US and Spain had plotted to raise food prices in Europe to justify the need for introducing GM foods. With Europe still not accepting GM crops, India remains the prime target. Wikileaks informs that even India’s National Security Advisor, Shiv Shankar Menon, talked about the possibility of opening up to GM crops.

After Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh had imposed a moratorium on the commercialisation of Bt brinjal in early 2010, diplomatic and political pressure from the US has been increasing relentlessly. The multinational seed industry moved fast, first by taking a large number of journalists on an ‘educational’ trip to the US, and also within India, thereby shifting some of the media’s opinion in favour of GM crops.

At the same time, American multinational giants began the exercise to sway political opinion in favour of GM crops. The turnaround by CPM seems to be an outcome of one such approach. Nevertheless, it is important to explain some of the hotly debated aspects, which is lost in the hype being generated to push GM crops.

The first and foremost argument is that GM crops are important for a country that has more than 1 billion people to feed. It will ensure food security. The fact is there is no GM crop in the world that increases productivity. In fact, most of the GM crops under cultivation actually reduce productivity. The US Department of Agriculture admits that the productivity of GM corn and GM soya is less than that of normal varieties, and that makes me wonder how our politicians are suggesting GM crops for ensuring food security.

Furthermore, there is no shortage of food in the world. We have 6.5 billion people on Earth, and we produce food for 11.5 billion people. If more than 1 billion people go to bed hungry globally, it is because of the faulty distribution process rather than the unavailability of food. The same holds true for India, where one-third of the population cannot afford to buy food, but huge quantities of food is allowed to rot.

Almost all the GM crops that have been developed so far are for killing insects. Bt cotton, for instance, is supposed to kill sucking pests like pink bollworm, thereby reducing pesticides consumption. This, however, does not hold true for long. In China, cotton farmers growing Bt cotton are now reported to be spraying 10% more pesticides and thereby incurring losses.

In India too, as far as pesticides consumption on Bt cotton is concerned, its cultivation has, in reality, increased the application of pesticides. The Central Cotton Research Institute estimates that in 2006, pesticides worth Rs640 crore were sprayed on cotton. In 2008, it had increased to over Rs800 crore. Even in the US, where GM crops are widely cultivated, the usage of herbicides has increased by $300 million.

GM crops also create super weeds, which cannot be controlled by any chemicals so far. In the US, almost 15 million acres have become infested with super weeds. Georgia, for instance, has been turned into a wasteland due to infestation of super weeds. So far, at least 30 super weeds have been indentified in North America.

Numerous experiments all over the world have shown that GM crops pose tremendous health risks. Even Monsanto’s own studies on rats in Europe have demonstrated that the animals have problems with their body organs, and use of GM crops can also result in serious diseases and allergies. Some studies in Austria have shown that GM crops also lead to infertility.

Interestingly, all the scientists who dared to question the human safety aspect were hounded out of their jobs.

Already farmers are committing suicide because of the faulty technologies imposed on them. How many more farmers do we want killed before we stop using such killer technologies?

Source: Daily News & Views, Mumbai/Bangalore/Ahmedabad/

Pune/Jaipur

'US was advised to start trade war over GM crops'

TNN, Jan 4, 2011, 06.25am IST

NEW DELHI: The US government was advised by its officials to start a military-style trade war against European countries that oppose GM crop cultivation, a new Wikileak release by the UK-based newspaper Guardian has shown. The US embassy in Paris in 2007, when France moved to ban GM corn by Monsanto, recommended that the US "calibrate a target retaliation list that causes some pain across the EU since this is a collective responsibility, but that also focuses in part on the worst culprits (those that oppose GM crops)." The leaked cables between US officials lay bare how the government was not averse to using it diplomatic and trade might to support companies like Monsanto spreading their business in other countries, going even to the extent of trying to use the Vatican to back its position. A cable mentioned: "Opportunities exist to press the issue with the Vatican, and in turn to influence a wide segment of the population in Europe and the developing world." The Guardian noted: "In other newly released cables, US diplomats around the world are found to have pushed GM crops as a strategic government and commercial imperative." The leaks are bound to ignite a debate in India again on GM crops. India had put a temporary moratorium on the cultivation of Monsanto's Bt Brinjal with activists claiming that the Indo-US agriculture knowledge mission was tied into interests pushing GM crops in India. Indian environment minister Jairam Ramesh had put the 'precautionary principle' up front while banning the cultivation of Bt Brinjal temporarily. Read more: 'US was advised to start trade war over GM crops' - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/US-was-advised-to-start-trade-war-over-GM-crops/articleshow/7214048.cms#ixzz1A2dFTnSP

An Open Letter to the Governments

Meeting at the 16th COP of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Cancun

People and communities throughout the global South need hundreds of billions of dollars each year to deal with the impacts of climate change, build resiliency and adopt alternative development pathways. The cost of compensation for past, present, and future damages due to climate change will only grow if, in addition, the necessary measures, are not taken in the industrialized countries to make a just transition to equitable, non-fossil fuel based economies.

We call on the governments of the world to comply with their obligations to ensure that new and additional public resources for climate finance are made available now in a way that is founded on the principle of historical responsibility, does not add to debt burdens, and is free from policy conditionalities.

We urge you to set up a Global Climate Fund under the authority of the UNFCCC that has an equitable governance structure, prioritizes the participation of affected communities, operates with full transparency, democracy, participation and accountability, and provides direct access to funding.

The World Bank and other multilateral development banks must not be given a role in establishing or governing the new Global Climate Fund nor in managing climate finance. Their nature, structure, track record, and policies, stand in contradiction to what should be the principles of fair and effective climate finance, and the structure and operations of a new fund.

· The World Bank is a lending institution that has long been imposing policy conditions and programs on South countries and peoples through its loans. Giving a role to the World Bank in climate finance will result in a significant part of climate finance flowing as loans, and will very likely come with conditionalities,

· The World Bank’s governance structures are undemocratic, with representation dominated by governments of rich, industrialized countries The Global Climate Fund should have a majority representation of South countries in its governance structure since they are the world’s majority and most affected by climate change. The needs and rights of communities impacted by climate change, and the transition to equitable and sustainable economies based on sovereign, democratic control and governance of natural resources must be at the center of decision-making on climate finance.
· The World Bank has a long track record of undermining human rights and ecological integrity. For example, in 2010 alone, the World Bank financed a record high $6.3 billion to fossil fuel projects, a 138% increase over the previous year. An institution that actively promotes the causes of global warming should not be given a role in global climate finance. Rather, it must be pressed to end such policies and practices, including the many false solutions that the Bank is now promoting.

· The World Bank actively privileges the private sector and private capital markets over public interests. Climate finance must be used to support the public good, not to promote private profit and the commodification of nature. It must come in the form of public resources, not rely on market-based programs for its generation and application. Innovative tools for raising public resources are already in our reach including redirecting fossil fuel subsidies and military spending, and taxing financial speculation.

We call on you, the governments of the world, to keep the World Bank and other multilateral development banks out of the new Global Climate Fund and out of climate finance.

Seed accountability

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/112277/seed-accountability.html

By Devinder Sharma

There is no effort by the govt to provide exemplary punishment to the erring seed companies and also compensate the farmers. For past several weeks, thousands of farmers in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Jharkhand have been left in the lurch. They had planted urd and til crops in a large acreage, and to their dismay no grain formation took place in the standing crop.Unable to bear the economic loss, at least four farmers have reportedly committed suicide. Thousands of farmers have been pushed deeper into economic distress.

This is not the first time that the so called ‘improved seed’ has failed the farmers. And yet, there is no effort by the government to provide exemplary punishment to the seed companies and at the same time adequately compensate the farmers.The controversial Seed Bill 2010 that has been placed in parliament in the ongoing session fails to address the long standing demand of farmers. Originally drafted in 2004, the new seed bill appears to have been written by the seed industry, for the seed industry.

The proposed amendments once again favour private seed companies and corporations at the expense of farmers.As the seed industry grows, sale of spurious and sub-standard seeds has also grown. Particularly the sale of hybrid seeds has become a lucrative business with a large number of fly-by-night operators. In the absence of tighter controls, it is the farmers who bear the brunt and continue to suffer silently.The Seed Bill 2010 proposes a maximum fine of Rs 1 lakh for not keeping proper record of purity and germination of seeds as per the laid-out standards. And in case of spurious seeds, the bill proposes a jail term extending to one year and a maximum fine of Rs 5 lakh. Crop losses suffered by farmers will be evaluated by a local expert committee which will work out the compensation to be paid to farmers.This is simply unfair. When seed fails to germinate or develop grains, it is the farmers’ livelihood that is destroyed. It is therefore a question of life and death for a farmer. The resulting loss cannot be measured simply in terms of the seed price that the farmer had incurred. Compensation must include the livelihood loss, and should include a minimum liability amount.What is therefore required is a Seed Liability Bill. Drawn on the lines of the Nuclear Liability Bill, the proposed Seed Liability Bill must provide for a minimum economic liability that the seed companies must undertake in event of a crop failure.

The proposed Seed Liability Bill should have the following components:a) The seed liability bill must provide for mandatory price controls. At present, companies are charging prices at will and that too without any rationale. Tomato seed price for instance varies between Rs 475 to Rs 76,000 per kg, and Capsicum seed price between Rs 3,670 to Rs 65,200 a kg. More recently, seed companies have taken the Andhra Pradesh government to the high court challenging its decision to regulate prices and royalty. Therefore, the seed bill must include power to decide on price and price controls (including royalties).b) Since the penalties/punishments have been mild, the government has failed to check the menace of fake, spurious and sub-standard seeds. Companies selling spurious and sub-standard seed should be black-listed. The penalty should include an imprisonment for a maximum period of 10 years and a minimum fine of Rs 10 lakh. The penalty should also be commensurate with the turnover of the seed company. In addition, in cases of complete crop loss, the seed company should be directed to pay an amount equal to expected crop output, plus a 50 per cent assured return as livelihood security.c) Provision for re-registration increases the monopoly of the seed company for at least 20 years. This is unacceptable for the simple reason that it brings in monopoly control over seed through the back door.d) While seeds may be registered with the National Register of Seeds, it is imperative that state governments must be given the authority to decide on which of these registered seeds can be licensed to be used in their state.e) The Seed (Control) Order, 1983, had allowed the unbridled import under open-general license of planting material and seeds of flowers, vegetables and horticultural crops. This order was exploited by unscrupulous seed trade and business to import plant materials without undergoing any rigorous quality checks. The seed imports have come with a heavy load of pests and diseases posing serious damages to crop cultivation and to the country’s food security. Many hitherto unknown pests have also entered the country.f) All imports of seeds therefore must undergo mandatory seed testing procedures, including multi-location trials, to ensure its adaptability to the Indian conditions. No self-testing or certificates from foreign seed certification agencies should hold true for Indian conditions. g) Seed imports should only be allowed after pest risk analysis and local adaptability have been assessed. There is a need for a liability clause to be introduced that makes seed exporter responsible for any pest outbreak and also for the clean-up operations. This assumes importance in the wake of the Bhopal gas tragedy where the chemical companies have simply evaded any liability for the toxic clean-up.

Global Week of Action against Debt and the IFIs

October 7-17, 2010
Break the Chains - Transform the System


We’ve been told that the global economy is on the road to recovery. The Wall Street casino that triggered the global financial and economic crisis is back up and running; the largest banks are back to paying out enormous bonuses to their CEOs and investors; the International Financial Institutions (IFIs) have a new lease on life with massive increases in their operating capital and political role.
People and the planet should not pay the costs of the crises!
For the hundreds of millions of people around the world who were pushed even further into poverty and marginalization due to the crisis, and for the planet Earth itself, however, this “recovery” is meaningless. Together with the food, climate, and fuel crises, the economic crisis led to massive job and wage losses, cut-backs in the provision of basic human rights to healthcare, education, housing, water, electricity, and social security, violent evictions from land and territories, increased concentration of corporate control and exploitation of natural resources, and a rise in racist, gender, religious, and sexual discrimination, among other impacts. The costs of this truly systemic crisis continue to rise, including also skyrocketing social crisis and heightened militarization, war, and criminalization of protest, even while the financial sector is again reaping record profits.
Debt levels around the globe have also increased dangerously, as a result of policies designed to subsidize the wealthy and favor the free flow of capital in a market that was supposed to be self-correcting. The debt domination that countries in the global South have suffered for decades is beginning to affect countries in the North more directly, and the types of painful “austerity measures” that devastated populations throughout the South are more widely being applied in the North. Still, it is people and the planet in the South, and those most vulnerable in the North, that stand to bear the brunt of a renewed debt crisis.
The peoples of the South do not owe; they are the creditors!
The debt that is accumulating is not just financial however. By and large, the response to the crises has been a continuation of failed policies of the past, increasing the ecological, climate, social, and economic debts owed to working people and the marginalized. The alarming failure of governments in the North to make concrete commitments to settle their climate debt to the South, through deep domestic emissions cuts and compensatory finance and technology, threatens our collective future. Similarly, limited, lender-driven and conditioned debt relief has ignored the need to respect the self-determination and sovereignty of all peoples and to address demands to end the impunity of the casino economy and make reparations for the damage done through illegitimate indebtedness.
Other wrong-headed responses to the crises include: lending for crisis needs, fossil fuels, agrofuels, mega infrastructure and energy projects or so-called clean development mechanisms; promoting the carbon market and the notion of a “green” capitalism; and the central role given to highly questioned institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, regional development banks, the Financial Stability Forum, or the World Trade Organization.
People and the planet demand debt cancellation and reparations, NOW!
Enough is enough! What people and the planet are demanding is to break the chains of debt domination and the subjugation of all life to the dictates of the market in an economic system based on accumulation and overconsumption by the few, rather than justice and solidarity among the many. We, the peoples, must unite locally and globally to build alternatives of equity and equilibrium for all, without debts or domination.
Instead of more illegitimate debt and new institutions like the G20 - the self-proclaimed “premier forum for international economic cooperation”-, that exclude the majority of countries, it is time to transform a system whose failure has become increasingly evident. Rather than profiting from the crises on the backs of the same peoples, countries, and planet that for too long now have been paying the costs of their enrichment, the governments, corporations, and institutions of the North, together with elites in the South, must provide reparations for the debts they have incurred and their responsibility for these multiple crises and the disproportionate use of the planet’s resources.
Stop Illegitimate Lending – Transform the System!
We call on movements and organizations all over the world to join forces in this fight and to unite in the GLOBAL WEEK OF ACTION AGAINST DEBT AND IFIs, October 7-17. Together let us carry out actions wherever we are, in support of the following demands and ongoing struggles:
· No more debt in response to the crises provoked by the lenders
· Unconditional cancellation and repudiation of all illegitimate financial debts
· Restitution and reparations for ecological, climate, economic, social and historical debts owed by the governments and corporations of the North to the peoples of the South
· Respect for the sovereign right of countries to repudiate or stop servicing debt claims in order to meet their human and nature rights obligations
· Solutions to the economic, climate, energy, and food crises that are equitable, participatory, and transformational
· World Bank and regional development banks out of Climate Finance
· An end to the nefarious practices of vulture funds, which profiteer at the expense of impoverished countries and debt cancellation.
· No more irresponsible lending to finance destructive projects or to prop up illegitimate governments.
· Creation of new financial institutions and global and regional financial architecture that put people and the planet before profits and corporate power
· An end to the militarization and criminalization of social protest

KISAN SWARAJ YATRA

KISAN YATRA flag off TODAY from Sabarmati

to JOIN - SEE the ROUTE with CONTACTs below

COME, JOIN THE YATRA!

JAI KISAN! “KISAN SWARAJ YATRA”

Date	Event at:	Night Stay at
GUJARAT: CONTACT KAPIL SHAH: 094-270-54132 or jatantrust@gmail.com
October 2, Sat	Sabarmati, Ahmedabad	Villages in Sabarkantha & Saurashtra (2 teams)
October 3, Sun	Saurashtra/Sabarkantha	Saurashtra/Sabarkantha
October 4, Mon	Bharuch	Bharuch
October 5, Tue	Dahod	Raipuria (In Jhabua)
October 6, Wed	(Banswara in Rajasthan - field visit to farmers)	Raipuria in Jhabua
MADHYA PRADESH: CONTACT NILESH DESAI: 094-253-29222 or ndesai52@gmail.com; JAYANT VERMA: 094-251-51871 or vermaj51@gmail.com
October 7, Thu	Petlawad	Raipuria
October 8, Fri	Badnagar	Raipuria
October 9, Sat	Indore	Bhopal
October 10, Sun	Bhopal	Jabalpur
October 11, Mon	Jabalpur	Jabalpur
October 12, Tue	Seoni	Nagpur
MAHARASHTRA: CONTACT AARTI PANKHARAJ: 094-224-60587 or aarti_pan23ngp@yahoo.co.in
October 13, Wed	Nagpur and Sewagram	Sewagram
October 14, Thu	Akola	Jalna
October 15, Fri	Jalna	Ralegaon Siddhi
October 16, Sat	Ralegaon Siddhi	Mumbai
October 17, Sun	Mumbai	Mumbai
October 18, Mon	TRAVEL TO GOA	Goa
GOA: CONTACT MIGUEL BRAGANZA: +91-832-2255913 or myofai@gmail.com
October 19, Tue	Goa	Goa
October 20, Wed	Goa	Dharwad
KARNATAKA: CONTACT KRISHNA PRASAD: 098-808-62058 or sahajasamrudha@gmail.com and KODIHALLI CHANDRASEKHAR: 098-442-93908 or kodihallikrrs@gmail.com
October 21, Thu	Dharwad	Haveri
October 22, Fri	Haveri, Ranebennur and Davanagere	Davanegere
October 23, Sat	Chitradurga, Shira, Tumkur	Bangalore
October 24, Sun	Bangalore	Bangalore
TAMIL NADU: CONTACT SELVAM RAMASWAMY: 094-436-63562 or organicerode@gmail.com and KANNAIYAN: 094-449-89543 or sukannaiyan69@gmail.com and VICTOR: 094-860-86938
October 25, Mon	Chennai, by afternoon	Ashram on ECR Road
October 26, Tue	Tiruvannamalai & Pondy	Pondicherry
October 27, Wed	Kumbakonam & Trichy	Trichy
October 28, Thu	Salem	Salem
October 29, Fri	Erode and Coimbatore	Coimbatore
KERALA: CONTACT SRIDHAR: 099-953-58205 or mail.thanal@gmail.com
October 30, Sat	Palakkad	Calicut
October 31, Sun	Calicut	Mananthavady
Nov. 1, Mon	Mananthavady	Mysore
Nov. 2, Tue	Mysore	Stay in Hosur??
Nov. 3, 4, 5 (Wed, Thu, Fri)	TRAVEL TO CHITTOOR….	Chittoor
ANDHRA PRADESH: CONTACT RAMOO: 090-006-99702 or ramoo@csa-india.org and KIRAN VISSA: 097-017-05743 or kiranvissa@gmail.com
Nov. 6, Sat	Chittoor	Kadiri?
Nov. 7, Sun	Anantapur	Hyderabad
Nov. 8, Mon	Hyderabad	Vijayawada (night driving)
Nov. 9, Tue	Vijayawada/Hanuman Junction	Visakhapatnam (night driving)
Nov. 10, Wed	Visakhapatnam	Koraput
ORISSA: CONTACT DEBJEET SARANGI: 099-385-82616 OR livingfarms@gmail.com and SAROJ MOHANTY: 097-771-54149 and S CHANDRASEKHAR: 09437973831 schandrashekar@siddharthvillage.org or BINAYAK SWAIN: 098-611-12338 or batnet97@hotmail.com
Nov. 11, Thu	Koraput	Koraput
CHATTISGARH: CONTACT JACOB NELLITHANAM: 094-255-60950 OR farmersrights@gmail.com
Nov. 12, Fri	Jagdalpur	Raipur
Nov. 13, Sat	Raipur	Bilaspur
Nov. 14, Sun	Bilaspur	Sambalpur
ORISSA: CONTACT DEBJEET SARANGI: 099-385-82616 OR livingfarms@gmail.com and SAROJ MOHANTY: 097-771-54149 and S CHANDRASEKHAR: 09437973831 schandrashekar@siddharthvillage.org or BINAYAK SWAIN: 098-611-12338 or batnet97@hotmail.com
Nov. 15, Mon	Sambalpur	Bhubaneswar
Nov. 16, Tue	Bhubaneswar	Baripada
Nov. 17, Wed	Baripada	Kaanthi (Medinipur, WB)
WEST BENGAL: CONTACT ANSHUMAN DAS: 094-330-79847 or dasanshuman@yahoo.com and DEBAL DEB: 094-326-74377 debaldeb01@yahoo.com
Nov. 18, Thu	Kaanthi, East Medinipur	Kolkata
Nov. 19, Fri	Kolkatta	“Basudha” farm, Bankura dist.
Nov. 20, Sat	Bishnupur	“Basudha” farm, Bankura dist.
JHARKHAND: CONTACT PANKAJ BHUSHAN: 094-729-99999 or mail.tarafoundation@gmail.com
Nov. 21, Sun	Dhanbad	Patna
BIHAR: CONTACT PANKAJ BHUSHAN: 094-729-99999 or mail.tarafoundation@gmail.com
Nov. 22, Mon	Patna	Muzaffarpur
Nov. 23, Tue	Muzaffarpur & Samastipur	Champaran
Nov. 24, Wed	Champaran	Gorakhpur
UTTAR PRADESH: CONTACT DHARMENDAR MALIK: 092-196-91168 or bku.tikait@gmail.com and UTKARSH SINHA: 099-357-36877 OR utkarshks@gmail.com
Nov. 25, Thu	Gorakhpur	Varanasi
Nov. 26, Fri	Varanasi/Sultanpur	Lucknow
Nov. 27, Sat	Lucknow/Bareilly	Moradabad
Nov. 28, Sun	Moradabad/Haldwani	Haldwani
UTTARAKHAND: CONTACT BIJU NEGI: 097-604-21947 or negi.biju@gmail.com
Nov. 29, Mon	Haridwar	Haridwar
Nov. 30, Tue	Roorkee/Saharanpur	Saharanpur
HARYANA: CONTACT UMENDRA DUTT & GURNAM SINGH OF BKU
Dec. 1, Wed	Kurukshetra/Ambala	Nahan
HIMACHAL PRADESH: CONTACT KULBHUSHAN UPMANYU: 09418412853 or kbupmanyu@gmail.com
Dec. 2, Thu	Nahan/Solan	Chandigarh
PUNJAB: CONTACT UMENDRA DUTT: 098-726-82161 or umendradutt@gmail.com
Dec. 3, Fri	Chandigarh/Ludhiana	Ludhiana
Dec. 4, Sat	Patiala/Sangrur	Bathinda
RAJASTHAN: CONTACT RANA: 094-141-33141 OR mlpctrust@gmail.com
Dec. 5, Sun	Bathinda & Hanumangarh	Bikaner
Dec. 6, Mon	Bikaner	Bikaner
Dec. 7, Tue	Jodhpur (by afternoon)	Jodhpur
Dec. 8, Wed	Beawar/Ajmer	Jaipur
Dec. 9, Thu	Jaipur	Rewari
HARYANA: CONTACT SUNDERLAL: 099-960-22534 or scriakhori@yahoo.co.in
Dec. 10, Fri	Rewari & Gurgaon	Gurgaon
DELHI: CONTACT NAYANI: 099-997-78674 OR nasa.nayani@gmail.com or Gautam at: g_agarwala1@yahoo.com or YUDHVIR SINGH: 098-994-35968
Dec. 11, Sat	Delhi	Delhi

Who will feed Uttar Pradesh? In other words, who will feed India in the days to come?

Who will feed Uttar Pradesh? In other words, who will feed India in the days to come?

Dr. Devender Sharma

It is the most populous State in the country, and is also the biggest producer of foodgrains. Land acquisitions will take away a third of the cultivable lands for non-farm use. Such huge diversion of farm lands will result in drastic cut in food production, and has threatening socio-political implications.

India is witnessing a thousand mutinies. Pitched battles are being fought across the country by poor farmers, who fear further marginalisation when their land is literally grabbed by the government and the industry. From Mangalore in Karnataka to Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh, from Singur in West Bengal to Mansa in Punjab, the rural countryside is literally on a boil. Large chunks of prime agricultural land are being diverted for non-agricultural purposes.

While the continuing struggle against land acquisition for instance by farmers in Aligarh, which took a violent turn, and became a political ploy is being projected as a battle by farmers for big money, the reality is that a majority of the farmers do not want to dispense with their ancestral land. They are being forced to do so. This has serious implications for food security.

Let us take the case of Uttar Pradesh. It is the most populous State in the country, and is also the biggest producer of foodgrains. Western parts of Uttar Pradesh, comprising the fertile Indo-Gangetic plains, have been considered part of the green revolution belt. According to the 2008 Statistical Abstracts of Uttar Pradesh, in addition to 41 million tonnes of foodgrains, the State produces 130 million tonnes of sugarcane and 10.5 million tonnes of potato.

Uttar Pradesh produces more foodgrains than Punjab but because of its huge population, it is hardly left with any surplus. What is however satisfying is that Uttar Pradesh has all these years been at least feeding its own population.

This is expected to change. And that is what I am worried about. The proposed eight Expressways and the townships planned along the route, along with land being gobbled by other industrial, real estate and investment projects are likely to eat away more than 23,000 villages, one fourth of the total number of villages. Although Mayawati government has dropped the townships along the Yamuna expressway, but the company that is investing in real estate claims that as per their pact with the State government, they have to be given land at an alternative location.

Former Agriculture Minister Ajit Singh has in a statement said that one-third of total cultivable land of Uttar Pradesh will be eventually acquired. The State government neither denies nor confirms this, but acknowledges that land diversion is ‘large’.

This means that out of the total area of 19.8 million hectares under foodgrain crops in Uttar Pradesh, one-third or roughly 6.6 million hectares will be shifted from agriculture to non-agriculture activity. Much of the fertile and productive lands of Western Uttar Pradesh will therefore disappear, to be replaced by concrete jungles. In addition to wheat and rice, sugarcane and potato would be the other two major crops whose production will be negatively impacted.

As per rough estimates, 6.6 million hectares that would be taken out of farming would mean a production loss of 14 million tonnes of foodgrains. In other words, Uttar Pradesh will be faced with a terrible food crisis in the years to come, the seeds for which are being sown now. Add to this the anticipated shortfall in potato and sugarcane production, since the area under these two crops will also go down drastically, the road ahead for Uttar Pradesh is not only dark but laced with social unrest.

Already a part of the BIMARU States, Uttar Pradesh will surely see surge in hunger, malnutrition and under-nourishment. I shudder to imagine the socio-economic and political fallout of the misadventure that the government is attempting with such a massive land takeover. If the State government’s can provide an incentive of Rs 20,000 per acre to those farmers whose lands are being taken away, I fail to understand why the same incentive cannot be provided to every farm family to protect agricultural land?

What is not being realised is that Uttar Pradesh alone will send all the estimates of the proposed National Food Security Act go topsy-turvy. At present, as per the buffer norms, the government keeps around 20 to 24 million tonnes as buffer stocks for distribution across the country through the Public Distribution System (PDS). In the last few years however the average foodgrain stocks with the government have been in the range of 45 to 50 million tonnes.

Even with such huge grain reserves, Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has expressed his inability to provide 35 kg of grain per month to every eligible family. Imagine, what will happen when Uttar Pradesh alone will put an additional demand of 14 million tonnes. Who will then feed Uttar Pradesh?

Policy makers say that with rapid industrialisation the average incomes will go up as a result of which people will have the money to buy food from the open market and also make for nutritious choices. But the bigger question is where will the addition quantity of food come from? Already, Punjab and Haryana, comprising the food bowl, are on fast track mode to acquire farm lands. Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhatisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab are building up ‘land banks’ for the industry and Rajasthan has allowed the industry to buy land directly from farmers setting aside the ceiling limit.

Internationally, the food situation is worsening ever since the 2008 food crisis when 37 countries were faced with food riots. Even now, food prices globally are on an upswing. As Russia extends the wheat export ban till the next year's wheat harvest sending global prices on a hike, deadly food riots were witnessed last week in Mozambique killing at last seven people. According to news reports, anger is building up in Pakistan, Egypt and Serbia over rising prices.

Knowing that the world can witness a repeat of 2008 food crisis that resulted in food riots in 37 countries, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has called for a special meeting to discuss the implications.

Extended drought and resulting wildfires has caused a 20 per cent drop in wheat harvest in Russia sending the global wheat prices on a spiral. Wheat futures obviously would take advantage, and according to Financial Times wheat prices have gone up by 70 per cent since January. India may therefore find it difficult to purchase food from the global market if it thinks it can bank upon the international markets to bail it out. This is primarily the reason why several countries, mainly China and the countries of the oil rich Middle East are buying lands in Africa, Lain America and Asia to grow food to be shipped back home for domestic consumers.

Gone are the days when a worried Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister, while addressing the nation on Aug 15, 1955 from the ramparts of the Red Fort in New Delhi said: "It is very humiliating for any country to import food. So everything else can wait, but not agriculture." That was in 1955. Fifty-five years later, in 2010, UPA-II thinks that food security needs of the nation can be addressed by importing food. Land must be acquired for the industry, because the industrial sector alone will be the vehicle for higher growth. There can be nothing more dangerous than this flawed approach. Is India slipping back into the days of ‘ship-to-mouth’ existence?