http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=32395
Daily Star, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Unsustainable agriculture: Reason for high-price of food grains
By Nazrul Islam
Atypical skinny, bearded farmer was examining his paddy field, which
was attacked by a disease unknown to him and his co-farmers. Anxiety
and uncertainty shadowed his face as the leaves of his hybrid paddy
plants were withering fast (Prothom Alo, April 4, 2008).
Some 32,000 hectares of paddy land (according to official figures --
actually the figure is much higher), mostly with hybrid rice, had been
attacked by the disease just prior to the flowering stage of the
plants. The farmers don't know how to solve the problem. Some experts
and agriculture officials were prescribing some solutions, but those
were somewhat sketchy and unrealistic.
Their reassuring words -- "there is nothing to be worried about" --
could hardly calm the farmers as they knew that if they did not find
any immediate remedy of the disease, it was unlikely that the diseased
field would produce any grain.
Crop loss means affected farmers would be brought to their knees. The
investment, which was exceptionally high for hybrid crops, and the
crop loss would be disastrous as it would be difficult for a farmer to
feed his family for the next six months.
In contrast to the above scene, the face of a farmer of Netrokona haor
area wore a smile as he was harvesting indigenous boro. He is happy
having his crop readied for harvesting without much input (Dainik
Jugantor, April 2, 008). He was also happy with the yield as he was
expecting 15-16 maunds of paddy per bigha. Prothom Alo also carried,
on April 7, a news item of harvesting of HYV boro in Khulna.
Actually, the inevitable has happened. Im****ted hybrid technology
can't be sustainable in Bangladesh. There are lots of problems
associated with hybrid seeds. The profit-mongering private companies,
with public sector patronisation, are cleverly concealing the ultimate
disastrous future of Bangladesh's subsistence agriculture.
They want to commercialise agriculture through introducing
modernisation or machanisation; ousting the small farmers from their
holdings. The introduction of hybrid seeds and GMOs is the beginning
of the process to dispossess the small and marginal farmers of their
lands.
We (who advocate eco-agriculture) have long been issuing warnings
against mindless spreading of hybrid seeds and GMOs. But, despite the
warning, hybrid seeds are fast covering Bangladesh's land. This is
going on unabated, as our farmers are not aware of the long-standing
adverse effects of the non-renewable seeds. On the other hand, none of
the countries in Europe has yet allowed hybrid seeds and GMO food.
The crux of the current global rice crisis is also unsustainable
agriculture. Vietnam, the world's second largest rice ex****ter,
suffered huge production loss for three consecutive seasons due to
pest attacks. Rice monoculture in Vietnam has pushed its farming into
jeopardy. The insects associated with paddy became virulent. No
pesticide could eradicate or contain them. The impact of pest attack
was so widespread that Vietnam is now worried about feeding its own
people.
A similar situation is prevailing in Cambodia, also a major rice
ex****ting country. On the other hand, India's granary, Punjab,
nowadays produces less quantity of rice as vast tracts of land went
out of rice cultivation due to developing salinity. The Philippines
leased out a million hectares of land to a Chinese company to grow
hybrid crops.
It is true that global rice production was a bit less last year. But
the extent of shortage is not so high that the global population will
have to starve for non-availability of food grains.
Previously, rice production was much higher than the demand, and, at
times, huge quantities of rice were destroyed. Actually, multinational
companies (MNCs) across the globe control production of a sizeable
quantity of food grains. They produce agricultural commodities in
their own farms and also through contractual farms. These companies
are big enough to create an upheaval in world food grains market. And
that has happened in the recent times.
The price of rice has doubled in the last two months in the
international market, but there is no dearth of rice anywhere if you
want to buy it at higher price. A well-organised syndicate, patronised
by big MNCs and publicised by some big media houses, created the panic
of shortage in South Asia, where people take rice as a staple.
The rice price has been artificially increased. The ultimate aim of
the MNCs is to push forward hybrid seeds and GMOs in South Asia in a
big way, citing the exigency of building food security.
But we have already seen that hybrid seeds are unsustainable and
unpredictable. They will not guarantee our food security. Rather, they
may break the backbone of our farmers and the country's economy,
because our small and marginal farmers would not be able recover from
a total crop loss, which is a common phenomenon in the case of hybrid
crops. We should not forget that, a few years back, hybrid seeds
produced sterile paddy stalks in Bogra and some other districts.
I believe that there is no crisis of rice in the country. During 1974
famine, I still remember that food grains were sometimes not available
in our local bazar, at a remote village of Bogra, in exchange for
money. I saw that many small rice traders returned empty-handed from
district town or trading centres.
The 1974 famine mainly hit the northern districts, where repeated
flooding damaged the aman crops. However, there were other reasons of
non-availability of food grains among the poor at that time. No such
situation has arisen in the country till now.
The main problem is that the prices of most of the essentials have
gone beyond the purchasing capacity of poor and fixed income people.
Abundance of items is meaningless to a person if she/he does not have
the required money to buy those. And there is little possibility of a
decrease in the prices of rice and other essentials to what they were
even three months back. So, the only way out of the current situation
is to increase the purchasing capacity of the people through creating
more jobs and increasing wages in some cases.
Another problem is that the government godowns are empty, as food
grains were not procured during the last boro and aman seasons because
the government-fixed price was too low.
However, while visiting my village during the last aman harvesting
season, I saw that local rice traders were stockpiling paddy for
future profit. One of my acquaintances purchased some 2,000 maunds of
paddy.
Now, how do we solve the food problem? We don't have any option other
than increasing our domestic production. We mustn't go ahead for
immediate benefit by destroying sustainability.
Some people are asking the poor to eat potatoes. I don't see anything
wrong with the suggestion. But who is the advice for? Poor people eat
anything they get when they are hungry. The suggestion should be aimed
at those who can afford not only costly rice but also other costly
things. It requires 8 kgs of food grains in order to grow a chicken to
weigh 1 kg. Now imagine how much food grains a year the booming
poultry industry eats up.
So, policy-makers will have to determine whether they will encourage
cultivation of food grains or flowers or strawberries. They will have
to determine whether our agriculture policy will patronise the small
and marginal farmers or the MNCs.
We have to determine whether we will feed the chickens or the poor
with the food grains. We need a comprehensive homegrown, pro-people
agricultural policy. When and how we get it is the big question.
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