“
There
are two possibilities for my cotton
harvest: I will keep it until decayed or I
will burn it, even though I might lose in
production cost and effort, rather than
sell it to Monsanto.”
Baco, a farmer
in Manyampa village, South Sulawesi .
Indonesia is a major importer of cotton,
a raw material for its huge textile
industry. In 1999, Bt cotton was approved
by the Indonesian government and declared
environmentally safe for planting in the
country.
bt cotton in south
sulawesi
In 2000, forty tons of genetically
modified cottonseeds from South Africa
arrived at the airport in Makassar , South
Sulawesi. The seeds were imported by PT
Monagro Kimia, the Indonesian subsidiary of
Monsanto. The seed, developed by Monsanto,
is known as “Bollgard”, and “Bt” refers to
the gene for an insect-killing toxin
isolated from the soil microbe Bacillus
thuringiensis (Bt) and inserted into the
cottonseed.
The seeds were trucked away under armed
guard, to be sold to farmers in seven
districts in the province. Opposition was
strong from the very beginning. Local NGO
activists opposing the imports tried to
block the trucks leaving the airport, and
protested against the use of the Indonesian
military police to guard the vehicles.
Activists said that the seed should be
quarantined for detailed examination before
distribution, and accused the company of
attempting to disguise what they were doing
by using trucks marked “rice delivery”.
Protests continued in 2001, and hundreds of
farmers and NGO activists joined a
demonstration led by the Indonesian
Federation of Peasants' Unions calling for
a boycott of GM seeds and GM products.
In 2001 a coalition of Indonesian NGOs
campaigning on biosafety and food took
legal action against the decree authorizing
the sale of GM cottonseeds for cultivation
in South Sulawesi , citing the inadequate
environmental impact assessment and lack of
public participation. Unfortunately, the
NGO coalition lost the case in court in
September 2001.
conventional cotton
preferred
Monsanto promoted Bt cotton among
farmers by arguing that it was
environmentally friendly, that it used
fewer pesticides, that it would ensure an
abundant harvest, that it was good for
export and that it would increase the
welfare of farmers.
In general, however, Bt cotton was a
failure. It succumbed to drought and pest
infestations. Many farmers complained about
Monsanto's claims about the superiority and
performance of the genetically engineered
cotton. The government revealed that more
than 70 percent of the Bt crop locations
did not produce the promised expected
yields. Some Bt cotton growers confirmed
that they harvested around 500 kilograms
per hectare, whereas Monsanto repeatedly
boasted that its GM cotton would yield
three tons per hectare.
monsanto pulls out of south
sulawesi
In December 2003, the Indonesian
Minister of Agriculture finally announced
that Monsanto had pulled out of South
Sulawesi after three years of field
experiments there. In fact, the company had
already stopped supplying seeds to the
farmers in February of that year. One of
Monsanto's reasons for withdrawing was that
its cotton business in South Sulawesi was
no longer economically viable. The majority
of farmers are pleased about Monsanto's
departure, as they suffered losses with the
GM cotton. In fact many farmers' groups had
stopped planting Monsanto products long
before the seed supply was stopped in
February 2003.
more information:
Organic Consumers Association
:
www.organicconsumers.org/
gefood/IndonesiaCotton.cfm
testimony by ibi santi profile,
an indonesian farmer who burned her cotton
fields
|
“My name is Santi. I am a farmer
and the head of a women farmers group
in Bulukumba, South Sulawesi
One year ago, officers from the
plantation office came to my door and
persuaded me to plant Bt cottonseeds
in our 25 hectares of farm land. They
told me that it will yield a good
harvest, a productivity of 4 to7 tons
per hectare. They said the company,
Branita Sandhini [a subsidiary of
Monsanto] that provides us with the
seeds and fertilizers through credit
schemes will buy our harvest at a
good price, so we can pay our debt to
the company and improve our
welfare.So, despite my farmers
group's doubt and our limited
experience in cotton planting, I
encouraged them to alter the
cornfield into a Bt cotton field. For
the sake of our welfare, to improve
our future.
|
.But that was a lie. Good harvest was
nothing more than illusion. The harvest was
very poor, just 2-3 rugs (around 70-120
kilograms) for each hectare. Far from
helping, the company then raised the price
of the seeds and fertilizer before the
harvesting time and forced us to agree to
that one-sided decision by signing the
letter of agreement. If we didn't sign the
letter, the company refused to measure or
buy our harvest. The company didn't give
the farmer any choice, they never intended
to improve our well being, they just put us
in a debt circle, took away our
independence and made us their slave
forever. They try to monopolize everything,
the seeds, the fertilizer, the marketing
channel and even our life.
I refused it. We, I and my fellow group
members, did not deserve this kind of fate.
Many other farmers and their groups chose
to surrender their independence but we
didn't. Instead of signing the letter, we
burned our cotton. We were angry about the
company's dirty tricks, unfair treatment
and empty promises. We demand justice so we
burned our cotton to make the message
clear. We are not bluffing. We know that
we're risking our life by taking this
position through the tide of intimidation
and threat from local government and
security officers, but we'd rather die
protecting our right than surrendering it
to the hands of the company that has
deceived us.
This is my testimony. A testimony that
was based on my bitter experience, a
traumatic one. The practice of Bt cotton
planting has given us more harm than good.
Many of my fellow farmers have experienced
the same things. Their voices were unheard,
covered by the company's lies and our local
government's repudiation that put the blame
on our limited knowledge and experience. I
speak for them, the unheard voices, for the
injustice that they get so that we can
learn from the truth.”
source: Konphalindo
