Monsanto: Haiti's "New Earthquake"
"A new earthquake" is what Haitian peasant farmer leader Chavannes Jean-Baptiste of the Peasant Movement of Papay (MPP) called the news that Monsanto will be dumping 60,000 seed sacks (475 tons) of hybrid corn seeds and vegetable seeds on Haiti, seeds doused with highly toxic fungicides such as thiram, known to be extremely dangerous to farm workers. Hybrid seeds, like GMO seeds (in contrast to Creole heirloom or organic seeds) require lots of water, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides. In addition, if a small farmer tries to save hybrid seeds after harvest, hybrid seeds usually do not "breed true" or grow very well in the second season, forcing the now-indentured peasant to buy seeds from Monsanto or one of the other hybrid/GMO seed monopolies in perpetuity. Monsanto wanted initially to dump GMO seeds on Haiti, but even the corrupt Haitian government knew that this would spark a rebellion, so Monsanto cleverly decided to dump hybrid seeds instead. The Haitian small farmers organization has committed to burning Monsanto's seeds, and has called for a march to protest the corporation's presence in Haiti on June 4, for World Environment Day.
Since gaining their independence from France more than 200 years ago in a bloody slave uprising, Haitian farmers have wisely protected their seeds and nurtured native crop varieties. They know that true food security is maintained by farmers who save, trade and breed indigenous seeds using traditional organic methods.
As Chavannes Jean-Baptiste, the Executive Director of the Peasant Movement of Papay (MPP), wrote earlier this year, "We need to establish seed banks and have silos where we can store our Creole seeds. Local, organic seeds are the basis of food sovereignty. It's urgent that Haitians buy local seeds. ... What's the danger we face today? It's that food aid from USAID and others is getting dumped in the country."
Monsanto's seeds will be distributed by the United States Agency for International Development's (USAID) WINNER program. USAID is a tax-payer funded agency that promotes the United States' interests abroad. It is run by Dr. Rajiv Shah, an Obama appointee that the Organic Consumers Association opposed because of his work with the explicitly pro-GMO Gates Foundation. The Gates Foundation works closely with Monsanto.
Please click here to contact President Obama and USAID administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah today to tell them to support Haitian farmers' demands for sustainability and food security, not Monsanto's poison pill.
USAID and Monsanto's poison pill for Haiti is designed to the make the island nation into a slave colony once again, except this time they won't be slaves for France, but rather for Monsanto and corporate agribusiness. Join the Haitian people and the growing global movement of Millions Against Monsanto.
You can donate to the distribution of local, organic seeds within Haiti by clicking here.
Follow Ronnie Cummins on Twitter: www.twitter.com/OrganicConsumer
Chris Herlinger: Haiti, Six Months Later: Aid from Without, Hope from Within
There seemed to be an underlying theme of liberation theology at work in Haiti -- the idea that God is found in acts of solidarity, justice, and dignity.
Before anyone starts accusing, no, I don't work for Monsanto. I'm just a PhD student in genetics and sustainable agriculture who's hoping to help people understand the science behind what they eat.
Fanned.
Sure the Monsanto aid was intended to make the company look better. But it also seems to have been carefully thought out to meet objections and to provide a real benefit to the Haitian farmers. But thanks to comments like this and blog entries by ideologues like Cummins, I doubt that Monsanto will make the same mistake in the future.
The assumptions made below ware that Haiti needs farming help because they aren't feeding themselves, i.e. they need assistance of a technical or capacity building nature because they don't know how to feed themselves. I say what they need is for multinational corporations to FU*K OFF and stop creating the weakened and vulnerable agricultural systems we have today. It's food for christ sake, not some widget you can decide to live with or without.
The problem in Haiti stems from globalization and multinational agribusiness not from lack of technology or innovation. So fine, send monsnato seed to Haiti but please don't suggest that Haiti needs better seed. That's like saying that the fisherman in the gulf who's livelihoods have been ruined by the oil plume need some fishing tips from the european to get back on their feet.
" Rapid assessments undertaken by FAO and its partners in the Agriculture Cluster have shown that “host families” caring for displaced people are spending their meagre savings to feed new arrivals and consuming food stocks.
In many cases these poor people are resorting to eating the seeds they have stored for the next planting season and eating or selling their livestock, in particular goats"
http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/40177/icode/
mrsmdressup , PresidentRobertBooth, cglockson , Kalamama ….and anyone else.
Remember this? Anyone still following it?
As you can see in the article below, we still take advantage of them and really don’t care about their well being. Yes, I'm kind of a D!ck about the whole thing, but I get pissed at our rush to help problems we often help exacerbate in the first place, then leave and make worse. So don't get pisse at me. I think people in the US need people to be d!cks about this type of thing to get it. This is a perfect example here.
If you guys know anything about Monsanto, we are seriously F-ing these people for years to come.
First we low-ball thier rice and now we are basically, enslaving them with a nearly “non-reproductive” food. They will have to keep buying seeds from Monsanto (us).
My Unit was in Haiti. I can’t believe how bad it was then! And I came back to the states and people would ask me, “Where did you go?” “…And where is that?”….Not too long after Haiti was completely forgotten about.
Unless we change our attitude, they will be forgotten about and taken advantage of again. … Like with this Monsanto case. People know Monsanto seeds are bad for them. Monsanto knows their seeds are bad for them.
How do you think our oil spill will affect them?
But this messenger, Cummins/OCA, has been discredited. Classic case of reach exceeding grasp. Playing the cards to attract $$.
Bill Gates EXPOSED! Wants Depopulation Through Vaccines!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0gvDkVcFkI&playnext_from=TL&videos=HuCfVdpbZF4
We clarified that Monsanto’s offer was only for conventionally bred hybrids. The Ministry let us know what crop seeds would be acceptable to their farmers. In a letter to Monsanto, the Ministry said: “Thank you for Monsanto’s generous offer to donate Vegetable seeds and Hybrid maize seeds to benefit the Haitian farmers. The vegetable seeds have been tested in Haiti previously and are well accepted by the farmers. They will definitely contribute to an increase in vegetable production in Haiti.”
http://www.monsantoblog.com/2010/05/20/five-answers-monsanto-haiti/
when you are done with your current book, check out "Confessions of an Economic Hitman" by John Perkins.
this book also goes over the m.o. of the IMF/World Bank
Haiti: If Monsanto is trying to ‘help’ you…RUN…RUN for your lives!
The following is adapted from comments by myself and others at another Huffington-Post blog entry,
Haitian Farmers Commit to Burning Monsanto Hybrid Seeds
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/beverly-bell/haitian-farmers-commit-to_b_578807.html
Monsanto offer 475 tons of carefully selected seed. Some of it is open pollination vegetable seed. The rest is hybrid maize (corn) seed. If you have open pollination seed, when you harvest your crop, you keep some and use it to grow the next crop. The seed you use for the next crop will be the same as used for the previous crop.
With hybrid seed, you get one good harvest because of hybrid vigor. I don't understand it. Maybe you can do better. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heterosis But the seed from that harvest isn't the same as the hybrid seed. It won't give the same results if you use it for the next crop. Farmers understand this. Monsanto understands this. The NGOs Monsanto is working with know this. Hybrids are used worldwide. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7651977.stmm
One of the comments was apparently from an official in the Haitian government. Prophete wrote:
"In Haiti we currently grow less than 50% of the food we eat. The rest is either imported through commercial companies or distributed as food aid. ......continued....
Being a net food importer calls for modernization of Haitian agriculture, and Hybrid corn seed is one of the ways to reach that modernization. Hybrid corn has been planted in Haiti since 1958, always on small acreages. The Department of Agriculture, as we were called then, was promoting its use on irrigated lowland in order for the hybrid corn to better express its yield potential. This is still our policy, now that we are called Ministry of Agriculture. The donation of this Hybrid corn seed was to increase the areas under Hybrid corn and improve food security." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/beverly-bell/haitian-farmers-commit-to_b_578807.html?show_comment_id=47703596#comment_47703596
Believe it or not, there is even an NGO in Haiti that is working to produce hybrid seeds.
Here is what ORE says: "Currently the majority of [Haitian] farmers are planting food grains bought in the market and crop yields are at subsistence levels. Improved seeds, selected for local conditions, offer farmers a better chance to harvest lucrative crops. The program is working with both newly developed hybrid and open-pollinated varieties of corn, selected black bean varieties, sorghum and pigeon peas. ORE has set up a seed processing facility in Camp Perrin where we produce approximately three hundred tons of commercial seeds a year, using material from our ongoing seed research and improvement program. The benefits are increased yields, higher income and improved nutrition." http://www.oreworld.org/seed.htm .... continued...
In the US, they even sell --- hybrid--- organic seed. See http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_20565.cfm and Blue River Hybrids http://www.blueriverorgseed.com/
Monsanto is working with NGOs in Haiti to ensure that it makes sense to use the seeds. Here is who they brought on board. http://winner.ht/ This group is connected with the US government. But it doesn't sound like your typical foreign aid project. It sounds awfully lefty to me. And an initiative connected with New York's Columbia university, home of the GMO lovers ---- yeah, right. http://www.earth.columbia.edu/articles/view/1791
-----start Monsanto-----
Here is what Monsanto says: "Monsanto contacted the Haitian Ministry of Agriculture and offered specific non-GMO seed varieties and quantities suited for Haiti’s growing conditions. The Ministry reviewed the offer and asked some questions, including whether we intended to include GMO seed because Haiti does not have the legal framework in place to approve or use biotech seeds today.
We clarified that Monsanto’s offer was only for conventionally bred hybrids. The Ministry let us know what crop seeds would be acceptable to their farmers. In a letter to Monsanto, the Ministry said: “Thank you for Monsanto’s generous offer to donate Vegetable seeds and Hybrid maize seeds to benefit the Haitian farmers. The vegetable seeds have been tested in Haiti previously and are well accepted by the farmers. They will definitely contribute to an increase in vegetable production in Haiti.” continued...
And I've signed this petition.