[asia-apec 1065] MONSANTO IN THAILAND! Monsanto, IRRI push pesticides on thai farmers with micro-credit

[PAN Asia Pacific]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PLEASE CIRCULATE WIDELY


MONSANTO, IRRI, PUSH PESTICIDES ON THAI FARMERS
THROUGH THAI DEVELOPMENT NGO

April 6, 1999

(Pesticide Action Network-Asia and the Pacific and BIOTHAI strongly
oppose the proposed project between Monsanto, IRRI, the PDA, and
the Department of Agriculture to encourage Thai farmers in the
Northeast to use Monsanto’s agrochemicals and technologies.) 

A project outline has been drawn-up between the Population and
Community Development Association (PDA), Monsanto Company (USA),
Monsanto Thailand, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)
and the Department of Agriculture (Thailand).  The project,
entitled "Innovative Partnerships for Agricultural Changes in
Technology" (INPACT), will use a micro-credit system to encourage
rice farmers in the Nang Rong and Lamplaimart Districts in Buri Ram
Province, Northeast Thailand, to use Monsanto’s pesticides and
other technologies. 

Both IRRI and Monsanto will train farmers on how to use their
recommended technologies.  The technologies include:
-land leveling
-Monsanto’s conservation tillage technology
-tractor operation
-use of herbicides
-use of seeds with "improved quality and traits" 
-harvesting and threshing technology 
The participating farmers will then work with PDA to teach other
farmers to "increase the number of farm households impacted."

The intentions of the project are clear: 
1. To develop large-scale extensive and industrial rice farming in
Thailand; 
2. To increase and introduce sales and use of Monsanto’s herbicides
in Thai rice farming; and, 
3. To improve Monsanto’s tarnished name through alliances with
established development groups.

It is also likely that the project will be used to introduce
Monsanto’s genetically engineered seeds or its hybrid seeds into
Thai rice farming.  Monsanto is currently developing rice
genetically engineered to be resistant to its herbicides.  It also
holds patents on the infamous Terminator Technology-- which makes
seeds sterile and prevents farmers from saving seed from year to
year as they have for generations.  Such a technology would be
especially damaging  to Thai rice farming, given that the
high-quality of Thai rice is the result of generations of careful
selection and breeding by Thai farmers. 

PAN-AP and BIOTHAI believe that it is inappropriate for a
development organisation to work with Monsanto, a US transnational
chemical company that is responsible for such products as PCBs and
Agent Orange-- both of which continue to cause suffering and death. 
Currently, the company is trying to create a new image as a "life
sciences" company seeking to feed the world.  Monsanto has invested
heavily in biotechnology, buying up many smaller companies, and,
due to recent acquisitions, is now the world’s third largest seed
company.  Almost all of its biotechnology work on agriculture
focuses on the development of crops resistant to its herbicide,
Roundup Ready.  Farmers that buy these seeds are required to sign
stringent contracts and are not allowed to save seeds or use other
agrochemicals. 

Monsanto has encountered widespread resistance wherever it has tried
to introduce its genetically engineered crops.  Also, the seeds are
costly and not compatible with the small-scale farms of Asia that are
not heavily reliant on agrochemicals.  In response, the company has
tried to forge alliances with development groups that can not only
"clean" Monsanto’s image, but also bring Monsanto’s products to
farmers through development programs and micro-credit schemes.  For
instance, in July 1998, Monsanto offered the Grameen Bank of
Bangladesh, a pioneer of the micro-credit system, US$150,000 to
provide loans to poor farmers to buy Monsanto’s agriculture products
and to establish a Monsanto-Grameen Center. After a wave of local
protests and widespread international condemnation, Grameen withdrew
from the agreement. 

Monsanto’s efforts in Thailand mirror what happened in Bangladesh.
Like Mohammad Yunus (the founder and President of the Grameen Bank)
Meechai Viravaidya (the founder and head of PDA) is a high-profile
innovator of development projects.  He is also a former Minister of
Industry and is currently a Senator. Monsanto has offered support to
other non-governmental organisations, such as BIOTHAI, and they have
refused to accept it.  We hope that Mr.  Viravaidya will follow Mr.
Yunus and the other Thai organisations’ example, by withdrawing from
the INPACT project. 

We also believe that it is entirely inappropriate for IRRI to be
working in conjunction with Monsanto. IRRI is an international
agency funded through the Consultative Group on International
Agriculture Research, which operates from the World Bank.  It is
based in the Philippines and its gene bank contains nearly all
Asian rice cultures, including Khao Dawk Mali (Jasmine) rice.  The
director of biotechnology of Monsanto (USA) and the company’s main
contact for the INPACT project is a former high-level employee of 
IRRI.  Also, Meechai Viravaidya is on the IRRI Board of
Directors.   Working relationships between IRRI and Monsanto will
increase opportunities for Monsanto to access the genetic resources
of Thai farmers for its own profit. 

INPACT claims that its goal is to "improve the livelihood of the
rural community in North East Thailand", but the outline suggests
the opposite.  The project is actually designed to reorganise Thai
rice farming in such a way that multinational agribusinesses, such
as Monsanto, can make profits.  For example, the project will use
Monsanto’s "conservation tillage", described in Monsanto’s annual
report as "the practice of substituting the judicious use of
herbicides for mechanical tillage."  At the same time, the project
aims to mechanise Thai rice farming with tractor operations and
threshing technology.  In other words, INPACT will create farms
suited to Monsanto’s technology and its financial interests. 

Mechanised farms that are highly dependent on the products of
multinational companies will never improve the livelihood of
Thailand’s rural communities! 

For more information please contact:

Witoon Lianchamroon                                     
BIOTHAI                                         
Tel.  66 2 952 7953                                     
Fax.  66 2 952 7371                                     
Email: biothai at wnet.net.th                              

Devlin Kuyek
Pesticide Action Network- Asia and the Pacific (PAN-AP)
Tel.  6 04 6570271
Fax.  6 04 6577445
Email: panap at panap.po.my