[iDC] seed patents, Indian farmer suicides, and the future of Iraq

[Andreas Schiffler]

Nancy Scola wrote:
>
> Without further ado, the story is below. <http://nancyscola.com>
>
> Why Iraqi Farmers Might Prefer Death to Paul Bremer's Order 81
>

Thanks for the story. I was neither aware of the plight in India nor the 
orders affecting Iraq ... I guess what troubles me most, is that inner 
"told you so" feeling: these stories do not seem unexpected to me.

Going forward however, one desperately needs practical solutions. Ones 
that go beyond "the good old days" farming nostalgia - agriculture must 
adapt to the realities imposed by the population growth. Ones that 
politicians can be made to push and represent - ways the Monsanto's of 
the world can be made to perform more responsible actions. Ones that 
ordinary city-dwellers can associate with - ways to affect farming 
practices with your wallet.

A few ideas come to my mind:

The Indian farmer problem seems to be as much an economic/monetary issue 
as it is a patent/corporate-lock-in one. As much as GM seeds highlite 
the problems arising form imposing capital-intensive production methods 
on non-capital-based agricultural economies, it is probably not the only 
form to create ruin. Canadian wheat farmers in Saskatchewan, although 
operating at 100x the capital level, face essentially the same problem 
through their expensive machinery and storage facilities even if they 
don't grow GM crops. So in the end it is access to long term capital at 
reasonable rates that makes the difference. In the west, governments 
keep bailing out depressed farming economies through subsidies and 
emergency aid. But in the developing world there is not comparable 
support structure in many cases. So how about a microcredit scheme 
specially targeted to farming and supported by people like you and me. 
Microcredit schemes are worth a Nobel Price 
(http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2006/press.html). 
P2P lending system are now in place and seem to be working 
(http://www.mapleleaftwo.com/p2p-lending-emerges/). And as an added 
benefit, this may even give us (who are investing money) leverage on 
what crops the farmer (who are borrowing) could plant - i.e. my credit 
may have strings attached. Would I do it? Maybe, especially if I am not 
alone investing.

Another big problem seems to be the lack of alternative seeds. GM crops 
can be very productive, so they do act as an irresistible lure - never 
mind the marketing. But do low-risk alternatives exist in the 
marketplace. One idea may be to borrow from Open Source Software: more 
public domain crops which are competitive with yields and features of 
current GM crops need to be developed and made available by governments 
around the world. Support systems like http://www.bioforge.net are a 
start, but do not transpire any real choice to farmers on the ground yet 
it seems. So politically this could be facilitated through laws aimed at 
opening up the competitive arena. Just like Microsoft was made by the EU 
to open software protocols (and pay a hefty fine, which they did just 
now), biotech companies could receive the same treatment and be forced 
to share some of their genetic IT to allow parallel developments to 
actually happen. Let's hope the EU continues their current leadership in 
this area ...

As for the city dwellers: at least ASK for that fair-trade coffee at 
Starbucks and TRY to make it to the local farmers market this weekend. ;-)

--AS