Frankie Cordeira Jr.

Description: Monsanto Has Lost $11 Million As Indian Cotton Farmers Begin To Use Indigenous Seed We Are Change The corrupt company has been linked to the deaths of 300000 farmers. Article via True Activist by Jess Murray After illegally pushing a form of Bt cotton into India and Africa over 10 years ago agrochemical company Monsanto is now losing millions of dollarsdue tofarmers now planting their own indigenous seed. In the past Monsanto has been accused of writing laws and breaking them in order to enter the Indian market. However the company has now begun paying heavily for their misdeeds following more than 300000 farmer deaths between 1995 and 2013 many of which were attributed to Monsanto. Farmer suicides throughout Maharashtra which is considered to be the Cotton Belt in India have also been linked to the greed of the corporation according to reports . The Indian government has now begun actively promoting the use of indigenous seed whilst also publicizingMonsantoprofiteering illegally on Bt cotton seed. This year has already seen Monsanto lose nearly $75 million in royalties (5 billion rupees) due to farmers changing their seed choice. Consequently this has led sales figures in India to fall by 15 percent which may sound like a relatively small market share but it is currently making a huge impact on the companys bottom line. If the market change continues as it is this could be the end of Monsanto in India.Keshav Raj Kranthi head of Indias Central Institute for Cotton Research said Just wait for the crucial three to four years to see a complete natural turnaround. By then most farmers will give up Bt cotton and go for the indigenous variety. Additionally after finding the seed produced a poor quality cotton that fetched low prices for the farmers who chose to grow it Burkina Fasso in West Africa also recently rejected Monsantos Bt cotton seed. Monsanto has argued that the genetically modified seed is better however many studies have disputed that statement claiming thatMonsantoscomparisons did not examinehybridized and indigenous seed (not GM seeds) that give better crop quality and higher yields . Bt cotton is classified as a genetically modified seed that contains a bacterium calledBacillus thuringiensis which produces toxins that are harmful to a variety of insects including bollworms that attack cotton. However just as weeds become stronger against weed killing formulas many organisms also become stronger against genetic mutations of Mother Natures creations. Monsanto has even admitted thatinsect resistance toBacillus thuringiensisis natural and to be expected. Studies have found that the indigenous varieties of cotton have reacted better againstthe bollworm whitefly drought and other dangers that cotton farmers face. Monsanto has since threatened to pull out of India completely after the government threatened to lower their royalties. Although doing so will bring a lot of relief to cotton farmers in India it could take generations to recapture the indigenous crop completely due to 96% of Indias cotton crop currently beingdeveloped with Monsantos Bt cotton. However if this were to happen in the future it will also bankrupt Monsanto simultaneously.Sanjeev Kumar Balyan Indias Junior Agricultural Minister said of MonsantoThe greed has to end. What are your thoughts? Please comment below and share this news! This article ( Monsanto Has Lost $11 Million As Indian Cotton Farmers Begin To Use Indigenous Seed ) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author and TrueActivist.com The post Monsanto Has Lost $11 Million As Indian Cotton Farmers Begin To Use Indigenous Seed appeared first on We Are Change .
By Frankie Cordeira Jr.
Pinned to Domestic and Global News on Pinterest
Found on: http://ift.tt/2nTiW3G