Farmer Suicide

Cheery topic, I know... But I've been working on a paper for my Introduction to Globalization class. We have to take an issue in the news and examine it in terms of globalization.

Here's a bit from my paper, its' ALMOST done!

Please pardon any grammatical mistakes or poorly written sections, I haven't had a chance to proofread yet!

"Farmers are an integral part of global societies. They sustain the rest of humanity and play an important role in the development and sustainability of communities. Therefore, the health of farmers can be a good indicator of the health of a community. However, food production and farming have become globalized- in many parts of the world, individuals can find any produce 365 days a year. If many farmers in many parts of the world are suffering, our overall food system will suffer.

Local food systems are losing their individuality and biodiversity. Agribusinesses go into an area (including Monsanto, DuPont, Dow etc) and begin to market their seeds. This crowds out local seed and degrades the genetic history of the area.

India is an example of what is happening to farmers in an increasingly globalized food and crop system. It has even gotten to such an extreme that farmers are committing suicide due to issues related to the globalization of food production and the increased influence of agribusiness.

In this particular case, the crop causing the most problems is Bt cotton, which is sold by Monsanto. In summary, what has been occurring in India since around 1997 (around the point Bt cotton was introduced) is that representatives sell seed to Indian farmers on credit. They promise a high yield, which is mostly true, but only if farmers are also willing to spend on the larger amounts of fertilizers and water that these crops necessitate. Because the whole process is so expensive, the farmers don’t end up making a large profit. Because of intellectual property rights, the seed companies can require farmers to re-buy their GM seed every year, forbidding them to save seed as they have for centuries. Eventually farmers go into so much debt that their land is repossessed. Many farmers have been farming for generations, refining seed and growing a connection to their land. Too ashamed to live with losing their farms, they turn to the deadliest thing on their property- pesticides. Vandana Shiva reports that “According to official data, more than 160,000 farmers have committed suicide in India since 1997”."