#gm technology

NBRI brings a reason for farmers to celebrate | Develops pest resistant cotton plants

Delivering unfaltering support to GM technology!

To bring about the next food production breakthrough, a further revolution is proposed, courtesy of biotechnology. Claims are made on behalf of genetically modified (GM) new rice varieties: that they will produce 50 percent higher yields, mature 30-50 days earlier, be more disease and drought-resistant, and grow without fertilizer or herbicides. The truth is that no case in history has the introduction of genetically modified (GM) technological innovation favored the poorest in society: on the contrary, it erects barriers between poor people and their resource base. There is too big a gap between the economy in which new seeds, additives and inputs are located. If they accept the package they risk becoming locked into a technology they can neither afford nor control. If they do not, they get driven or priced out. Those who gain most are those in command of the technology, and of wider agricultural commodity markets: agrochemical companies and landowners who can afford to take the risk of jumping onto the bandwagon and sharing in its profits. To ensure that this will be the way it goes, corporations are now busy taking out patents on seeds they have 'discovered' in the southern hemisphere. Under the 1995 WTO agreement on 'Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights' (TRIPS), corporate giants such as Du Pont and Monsanto have managed to gain scores of patents on strains of maize, rice, and other key food crops. These strains, originally the birthright of people who have grown them for generations, are now undergoing transgenetic manipulation to improve their performance. They are then promoted back under license to the countries they came from. Vandana calls this 'biopiracy' and points out that small formers who normally plant from stored seed can easily fall victim to dependency on this corporate attempt to lock up the food chain and keep its profits in their hands.