Since 1997, more than 200,000 Indian farmers have committed suicide.
Their deaths are a symptom of the agrarian crisis that has plagued the kisan, or Indian farmer, over the last decade, and are indicative of a greater socio-economic struggle pervading rural India: widespread poverty and rapidly rising indebtedness.
Several factors, including climate change and globalization, have been blamed for the rise in farmer suicides over the last 13 years, though the main cause is said to be crop failure following the introduction of multinational corporations like Cargill, Syngenta and Monsanto to the Indian seed sector.
Traditional seeds, which have adapted to diverse ecosystems and are best suited to India’s unique climate, have largely been replaced with genetically engineered terminating seeds. Global corporations like Monsanto are able to prevent seed saving (a custom nearly as old as farming) by enforcing patents and developing seeds with non-renewable traits. Where poor farmers were traditionally able to put aside a small portion of the crop as a free resource for the following season, they now have to buy new seeds every year, and to do so they must acquire more loans from money lenders and seed companies. With yields far below what was promised by the corporations and advertised by Bollywood stars, Indian farmers have suffered crippling losses and incurred large debts they are not able to repay. The Vidharbha region in Maharashtra (the geographical centre of India) has suffered the highest level of farmer suicides — 4,000 per year — and has consequently been dubbed “The Suicide Belt”. Rather symbolically, the most common method of suicide for these farmers is swallowing pesticide, which causes an excruciating death.
In 2002 after the introduction of Monsanto’s Bt cotton to the Indian seed market, farmers lost a total of 1 billion rupees, due to crop failure. Monsanto had promised yields of 1,500 kilos per acre; instead, the harvest was as low as 200 kilos per acre. Farmers were also told they could expect an income of 10,000 rupees per acre, but instead they experienced losses of 6,400 rupees per acre. When farm-saved corn seed was replaced with Monsanto’s hybrid corn throughout the state of Bihar, the entire crop failed, leading to losses of 4 billion rupees for already poor farmers.
One of the main causes of rising indebtedness for Indian farmers is the high cost of purchasing these suicide seeds. Bt cotton, for example, was sold at prices over 2,400 times per kilogram as high as traditional cotton seed, despite the fact that Bt cotton can only be grown as a monoculture. Poor farmers were required to take out massive loans with high interest rates they were assured they would be able to repay come harvest time. But with failing crops and terminating seeds, farmers were forced to take out further loans to purchase more seeds and greater amounts of pesticide each farming season, thus leading to unmanageable indebtedness. Monsanto’s death trap has these farmers working to enslave themselves.
Another major difference between indigenous cotton varieties and Monsanto’s genetically engineered Bt cotton is that indigenous crops were rain fed, whereas Bt cotton required irrigation in order to thrive. Only the more affluent farmers with expensive irrigation systems had success with these so-called miracle seeds, while the desperately poor farmers saw very disappointing returns and sunk more deeply into debt in a desperate attempt to stay afloat. Monsanto argues that they have included a message on the boxes of these seeds warning of the need for an irrigation system; however, the message is written in English, which the majority of farmers purchasing these seeds is unable to read or write. Farmers who relied on India’s monsoons to water their crops struggled further with frequent droughts due to climate change.
These farmers were also told that they would no longer have to purchase expensive pesticides, as Bt cotton contained a natural insecticide that would take care of pest problems. However, Bt cotton is ineffective against many cotton pests and farmers actually began using 13 times more pesticides than was required with indigenous cotton seeds.
Additionally, because of free trade policies imposed by the World Trade Organization, there has been a significant drop in prices for farm commodities in India. While wealthy countries have been allowed to increase agribusiness subsidies, other countries (India included) have been prevented from protecting their farmers from artificially inexpensive imported produce. Between 1995 and 2001, cotton prices dropped by 50%, wheat prices dropped by 38%, and soya bean prices dropped by 35%. The forced removal of import restriction and the exorbitant subsidies paid to ridiculously wealthy global corporations has shifted control of Indian’s agribusiness industry to a handful of uber powerful corporations.
With most farmers yielding harvests an average of five times lower than was what promised by Monsanto, combined with the sudden and drastic rise in the cost of cultivation and a significant drop in the price of farm produce, thousands were lead into a well-crafted debt trap and were no longer able to support their struggling families. By making false claims of incredible yields, leaving out critical information, and advertising their product with supposed testimonials from “real” farmers and appearances by national celebrities, these global corporations gained control of the Indian seed market and successfully manipulated the struggling kisan into believing in their suicide seeds. These poor farmers were offered hope and met with devastation.
Ramchandra Tamtala, a farmer in the Virdarbha region, lies in hospital after swallowing insecticide in a failed suicide attempt. (Photo by None/Getty Images AsiaPac)
On the website called Becky and the Beanstock, the writer says this about seed saving: “When we save seeds, we are taking this history into our own hands. Literally, holding a seed is holding a story that stretches back, sometimes centuries. It’s a story that conjures up over-the-fence seed swaps. It’s a story that speaks to beating the odds, to adaptation and evolution, to finding a niche and holding on tight, just the way a bean tendril does. Seeds also speak of the future, of those untold, unfolded stories, the ones that you and I are shaping this very moment.” Unfortunately, corporations like Monsanto are shaping the future of India’s seed market and the story unfolding is a tragedy. These multinational companies with monopolistic corporate interests have turned India’s agribusiness industry into a suicide economy and are systematically killing the kisan.
The key to solving this agrarian crisis is greater transparency from corporate giants like Monsanto (which, sadly, will never happen, as it would seriously affect profits), a shift from monoculture to biodiversity in agriculture (the reintroduction and promotion of non-GMO, renewable, organic, and open pollinated seed varieties), and adequate government support for struggling farmers.
My mom recently sent me a box of things my grandmother had put together for me and The Book of Good Cheer, “a little bundle of cheery thoughts”, was among the goodies. This adorable little vintage book (it’s 97 years old!) contains quotes about positivity and living a happy, full life, and despite having a few too many religious and work-related quotes for my liking, (as well as a few borderline sexist statements, which isn’t surprising, given the time period in which it was written and published), there’s some pretty inspirational stuff in there.
