[asia-apec 881] Hey TNCs! You Can't Feed the World on Greed

[PAN Asia Pacific]

Hey TNCs!  You Can't Feed the World on Greed

By Suria Prakash and Jennifer Mourin


Kuala Lumpur, Thursday 12th Nov.  Transnational companies are
increasing their control over agriculture production and trade all
over the world, and this is creating new dependencies in the Third
World, said participants in a workshop on TNCs at the Forum on
Land, Food Security and Agriculture at the Grand Olympic Hotel. 
The workshop said it was necessary to monitor the actions and
strategies of TNCs, inform the people about them, and counter these
actions and strategies with alternative community based
strategies. 

TNCs have pushed, and will benefit most from, globalisation.  They
are now in a frenzied process of 'consolidating and restructuring'
themselves to be able to gain monopoly control over agricultural
production, pesticide marketing, seeds, etc.  For example, the top
10 pesticide companies now control 80% of the world's pesticide
sales, and the top 10 seed companies control 23% of the world's
seeds market, and the trend in seeds is towards greater
concentration.  Agrochemical, seed and food processing companies
are merging and integrating, and soon five or six companies will be
dominating the world'' food supplies.  They will be telling us what
to grow and where, and deciding what food we should eat. 

This is an alarming trend, the participants said.  Monsanto, Cargill
and Novartis came in for special mention. 

To make themselves more acceptable, the TNCs are now projecting a
'green' and 'environment friendly' image.  The constant message, by
both pesticides and genetically engineered food companies, that
they were trying to 'feed the world' and 'protecting the
environment', are part of this promotional exercise.  But "more
bio-diversity has been lost to industrial and chemical agriculture
than to any other cause", said Barbara Dinham, of Pesticide Trust,
London.  "And more and more old pesticides are being pushed to
developing countries". 

TNCs are also using government structures, and international and
national development agencies to promote their products. 
Monsanto's recent effort in Bangladesh to provide 'micro credit' to
farmers in collaboration with the Bangladesh Grameen Bank (rural
bank) is a case in point.  "The micro credit system is a part of
globalisation and Monsanto's effort to expand its markets", said
Farhad Mazhar, of UBINIG, Bangladesh. 

"In this process, the farmers lost both ways.  They had to pay high
interest to the bank for the loan, and also had to buy Monsanto's
propriety technology with the money", he said. 

On the other hand, Monsanto projected deal worldwide as an example
of how an 'advanced genetic engineering technology' could help
farmers in a poor country.  However, because of world-wide protest,
the Grameen Bank later withdrew from the project.  But several
other such dubious 'rural development' programmers" go through in
the developing countries with active support from politicians and
bureaucrats, who are co-opted into TNC game plans.  NGOs are also
often co-opted into these programmes. 

Dr Romeo Quijano, of the Philippines, narrated how he was bullied by
TNC (Hoechst) for talking publicly about the harmful effects of the
pesticide endosulphan.  Such 'bullying tactics' by TNCs against
critics, farmers and even against governments are quite common,
pointed out other participants. 

Dr Quijano characterised TNCs as "insensitive, amoral, unethical,
unable to appreciate the truth, and inherently unscientific and
greedy.  With the strength of their capital, they use brute power
to satisfy their greed". 

TNCs were also heavily influencing the Codex, the forum that sets
world food safety standards, in their favour.  "It is therefore
important for the South to lobby hard at the Codex", urged Dr
Michael Hansen, of the Consumer Policy Research Unit, USA.  "If
there is enough lobbying from the South, it help quite a lot", he
said. 

The workshop recommended the support and development of campaigns
against TNCs and also to create alternatives to TNC strategies at
the community level to counter their growing power. 

These actions included: 

-       Research company strategies, actions and products.  

-       Create awareness at the local level

-       Monitor practices and impact of the company

-       Expose corporate abuses and practices at all levels, e.g.
        through action alerts, and demands for accountability and
        ethical practices 

-       Ensure compliance with codes and international instruments

-       Initiate boycotts, legal suits, shareholder demands, etc.

-       Strengthen international networking and monitoring for
        advocacy against TNCs 

-       Participate in UN or inter-governmental conferences to bring
        abuses to the notice of the international community. 

Alternatives at the community level included :

-       Organising at local level

-       Undertaking specific actions like monitoring health effects
        of pesticides, or monitoring pesticide free villages; global
        seed network; community level conservation, breeding and
        seed exchange 

-       Study and publicise successful sustainable farming
        initiatives with details of yields and economic returns 

-       Promoting breastfeeding as the basic food security at the
        household level. 

                                - end -