For centuries Indian farmers were planting the seeds provided by mother earth. A gift from gods that anyone had the right to use.
“ We used to plant our own seeds. We kept a small part of the harvest, to plant in the next year. They were natural seeds. They would flourish with or without water. No need to buy seeds from the market, so no extra expenses.”
“We used to have cotton, corn, pepers, we had everything.
These seeds were yours?
Yes , peppers, corn, cotton, everything was ours.
And you won a prize for your agriculture
Yes, I won a prize too!
If your seeds were good, why did you have to buy from elsewhere?
Others were using them, I thought the production would be better. But these seeds got us debts. They promised us production 200 KG per field. The first time the expenses for the seeds were low. Then we used fertilizers once or twice. Now we use them 5 times and it’s still not enough.
Lands has lost its power because of the BT cotton. No harvest at all with other seeds.
You don’t use your own seeds?
Not anymore, they fooled us to an extend you cant imagine. They brought us BT seeds and told us they don’t need many chemicals. This happened for a year. But new pests came a year after, like milibug. At first they told us that we didn’t need to spray at all. But then “you have to use products for that worm, for the other worm…” The condition now? Monsanto produces the chemicals too. The biggest chemical company? Monsanto!
Do you think they will stop selling this pest killing products now? Would a company lose its profits? No! Indian farmers do costly cultivation. They depend on the multinational companies for the seed and the fertilizers they need more and more. A farmer didn’t have to spend on seeds before. Now he gives 40% for the seeds alone.
There was no need for expenses on fertilizers before. Now he gives 20% for them. He gives 10% for insecticides, once unnecessary. All these expenses make 70%/ It’s them who left the farmers with this weight.”
200.000farmers have committed suicide due to debts from 1997 to 2008.
“it was a bad day. He was walking around. His mother was sick in bed. He sat back. His wife was sleeping over there. We didn’t see what he was doing. He had poured oil on him. We saw a strong fire. Then he came here and collapsed. We were all together and he was being burnt in front of our eyes. He was burnet very quickly. We did whatever we could. We transferred him to the hospital. He died 2-3 hours later.
He was tellins us… he knew… We told him not to take this matter too seriously. We couldn’t imagine what he was about to do. He was upset, he was thinking for hours alone. We were telling him that the hard days would pass.”
He was tellins us… he knew… We told him not to take this matter too seriously. We couldn’t imagine what he was about to do. He was upset, he was thinking for hours alone. We were telling him that the hard days would pass.”
(Vandana Shiva – Pro-farmers activist)
“A story that we have suddenly become Scandinavians and don’t see the sunlight and therefore becoming depressed and farmers are ending their lives . It is amazing how fertile mans imagination can be when it wants to find excuses to not understand the real roots of the crisis. The governments own data shows that the majority of farmers who have committed suicide were deeply indebted. Our data shows that the majority of them got into debt because of BT cotton.
More suicides of the 200.000 are in the cotton belt , most of them have grown BT cotton . The story of Indian farmers is the story of how these cooperation’s have emerged as criminal cooperations. I often say : if 200.000 people have been killed by a dictator we would have called it a genocide.”
“A story that we have suddenly become Scandinavians and don’t see the sunlight and therefore becoming depressed and farmers are ending their lives . It is amazing how fertile mans imagination can be when it wants to find excuses to not understand the real roots of the crisis. The governments own data shows that the majority of farmers who have committed suicide were deeply indebted. Our data shows that the majority of them got into debt because of BT cotton.
More suicides of the 200.000 are in the cotton belt , most of them have grown BT cotton . The story of Indian farmers is the story of how these cooperation’s have emerged as criminal cooperations. I often say : if 200.000 people have been killed by a dictator we would have called it a genocide.”
(Monsanto spokesperson (example of an excuse maker))
“Suicides in India are a tragic phenomenon , and unfortunately have existed way before the introduction of BT cotton in 2002. The primary cause for suicides is indeptiveness and some of the other causes are inadequate infrastructure, irrigation , not enough rainfall, and so forth. “
“Suicides in India are a tragic phenomenon , and unfortunately have existed way before the introduction of BT cotton in 2002. The primary cause for suicides is indeptiveness and some of the other causes are inadequate infrastructure, irrigation , not enough rainfall, and so forth. “
(family from suicide)
“He was telling me anything about the load. I was always finding him glum, absent in thinking. He was thinking all the time. He was never happy. He only pretended he was happy when he was outside home. I told him “god is testing us, lets not be sad , we will get over it”. He said that this was improbable, because we have debts and no vintage. “how will we live? How will we raise our children?”. He was sad about that and he talked little.
We were at school and the girls told me “your father drank poison”. I didn’t know what that was. “
(farmers)
“The seeds he gives us are the main reason for the suicides. They put “terminators” inside them. If we were keeping a tree’s seeds and planted them a year after, the new tree would be the same. But if we plant seeds from that mutated tree, nothing will come out. But nobody told that to any farmer at the beginning. “
“He was telling me anything about the load. I was always finding him glum, absent in thinking. He was thinking all the time. He was never happy. He only pretended he was happy when he was outside home. I told him “god is testing us, lets not be sad , we will get over it”. He said that this was improbable, because we have debts and no vintage. “how will we live? How will we raise our children?”. He was sad about that and he talked little.
We were at school and the girls told me “your father drank poison”. I didn’t know what that was. “
(farmers)
“The seeds he gives us are the main reason for the suicides. They put “terminators” inside them. If we were keeping a tree’s seeds and planted them a year after, the new tree would be the same. But if we plant seeds from that mutated tree, nothing will come out. But nobody told that to any farmer at the beginning. “
Great quites - documentary highly suggested for all!
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