The Shivraj Singh Chauhan government recently formed a separate “Agriculture Cabinet” and passed a comprehensive “Organic Policy” to make Madhya Pradesh an organic State, an important priority and poll promise under the Bharatiya Janata Party's Swadeshi ideology.
However, the “pro-organic” noise doesn't seem to be translating into action. Concerns are being raised over the government massively subsidising a seed distribution programme involving the U.S.-based seed giant Monsanto and two other biotech companies.
The hybrid maize expansion project, currently being implemented under public-private partnership in seven tribal districts in the State, is an extension of “Project Sunshine.”
“Project Sunshine” is the name of Monsanto's hybrid maize expansion programme seeking to bring about a “Yellow Revolution” in tribal areas of India and is being implemented under various names in Gujarat, Orissa and Rajasthan, among others.
In Madhya Pradesh, the project provides 90 per cent subsidy for Monsanto's Dekalb hybrid-maize seeds, a move which many fear will lead to the death of the traditional non-hybrid “white maize,” also known as the Open Pollinated Variety (OPV) seeds currently in use reducing farmers' control over their seeds.
“It is a pilot project covering the major tribal districts and it seeks to address the food security problem in these areas,” Agriculture Secretary M. M .Upadhyay told The Hindu.
“I don't understand the concerns some people are raising. Hybrid maize has been used in the State and across the country for decades now and has proved to be highly effective in boosting production,” he said.
Monsanto's Dekalb hybrid maize seeds are being distributed in the State with 50 per cent subsidy from the Rashtiya Krishi Vikas Yojana fund, while the Tribal Welfare Department is subsidising another 40 per cent.
However, pro-organic agriculture activists in the State have recently written to the Chief Minister, asking him to scrap the project, now being implemented in Jhabua, Dhar, Seoni, Chhindwara, Ratlam, Khargone and Alirajpur districts.
“Traditional farming practices in these areas are extremely cost-effective. The farmer uses his own seeds every year, he uses home-made organic manure, employs his family as labour, and the stem and other parts of the crop can be used as cattle feed,” says G.S. Kaushal, former Director, Agriculture Department.
“The high-input hybrid maize will make farmers dependent on the market as they will have to buy new seeds every year along with fertilizers, etc, resulting in increased production cost. And how will they afford that once the subsidy is discontinued?” asks Dr. Kaushal.
The project has also drawn criticism for being at odds with the State's newly announced Organic Policy, which seeks to promote organic agriculture.
“It is hard to understand why the State government is using taxpayers' money to provide ready market for corporations like Monsanto even when an organic policy is in place,” says Nilesh Desai of the Madhya Pradesh Beej Swaraj Abhiyan (Seed Sovereignty Campaign).
There have been consistent protests against similar projects in Orissa (Project Golden Days), Gujarat (Project Sunshine) and Rajasthan (Project Golden Rays).
“Farmers in Orissa are beginning to realise the dangers of this yellow maize. This year, local customers in some areas didn't even buy yellow maize and the farmers had to go dry it so it looked more like the smaller, white maize,” says Debjeet Sarang, a pro-organic agriculture activist from Orissa.
“Some areas of Kalahandi district are completely under hybrid maize now. This so-called Yellow Revolution is coming about at the cost of nutritious millets. It's a worrisome trend,” he says.
Keywords: agricultural reforms, Yellow Revolution, Madhya Pradesh, BJP, Project Sunshine, Swadeshi ideology
Why is the govt. subsidizing Monsato's seeds? Let the farmer buy it if he can afford it. Tax payers' money is being used to enrich some companies? If the economics of it works out the farmer will use it if it does not he will not. All these years the govt. and corrupt bureaucrats have ensured the Indian farmer moves from poverty to debt trap by supporting technologies that are capital intensive, destructive to the environment and health of people. In the process few politicians, technocrats, companies and doctors have made a killing.
This article exibits the thinking of the Soviet communists : Let us have equal poverty instead of unequal wealth. Hybrid crops in corn have been around for decades, with both private and public hybrids available. They yield 2 times more than Open pollinated, the difference between having only enough food to barely eat on your 1 acre plot, or having enough for food and enough to sell too. If a farmer has made 5000 Rs by selling surplus corn after taking into account his normal family expenses, he has more than enough left to buy seed and fertilisers for next year. And he can now buy goats or otherwise diversify his income. Some of us really should go and directly observe a small farmer's life and understand the economics and risks surrounding them.
Today, some of these farmers are at GUARANTEED risk, as opposed to the imaginary or probabilistics risks the article and some of the comments allude to. Maybe it is different for intellectuals, but if I were a farmer, I would anyday take a probabilistic risk if I can get rid of a nearly guaranteed risk.
Rather than subsiding seeds to support a hybrid culture, a pro organic revolution seems like the more sustainable measure. But in order to promote an organic culture, the government needs to provide necessary support to the farmers and this can be done if money is invested in the right areas rather than being scattered for all the wrong causes. After hearing several stories of farmer suicides and their plight, the future will look bleak if the government is not clear enough to decide what is good for its people and their lives.
Worrisome indeed. But does anyone has any interest/inclination to pay attention to such subtle issues?
Obviously this is a ploy to make farmers lose seed sovereignty ......it is only when every Indian farmer has to depend on a Monsanto or the other handful of seed trans-nationals that our policy makers and industry will be happy ..Then they will be forever on the tread mill of dependency and the companies can declare quarter on quarter growth and profit!
Please Email the Editor