Corporate Control and Agriculture

The dilemma of present agriculture production often revolves around the debate of ‘Productivity versus Sovereignty’. In the periodic plans formulated by the government, often the terms that get repetitive usage include ‘food security’, ‘food sovereignty’, ‘improved production’, and ‘economic growth’. But does fueled economic growth ensure sustainability? Is it not evident that the spread of wealth is non-uniform, and that the richest few people in the world account for more wealth than that owned by the rest of the global population? When it comes to disparities regarding profits and income, the agricultural sector hasn’t been any different. Throughout history, humans have been more inclined to make lucrative choices instead of sustainable ones, whose consequences are only visible long after the choices have been made.

To sustain the burgeoning global population, various interventions have been done in the field of agriculture that aim on increasing food production. One such endeavor is the Green Revolution of the 20th century, which changed the fate of farmers and the farming that they do with their crops. The green revolution, despite its contribution to improving global food production and alleviating hunger and malnutrition, is still criticized on account of the threats imposed upon the environment and biodiversity, and for the economic growth attained by rich farmers keeping on stake the well-being of poor ones. Over the decades following the green revolution, many multinational companies have built their empires on the foundation laid by the very revolution. One such company is a US-based agricultural and biotechnology company named Monsanto (now acquired by a German pharmaceutical and pesticide company ‘Bayer’). Companies such as Monsanto and Bayer themselves produce chemical fertilizers to fuel the growth of the hybrid as well as genetically modified seeds they produce and distribute. In addition to that, the companies also impose upon the user farmers, herbicides and pesticides without the use of which, the perceived high-yielding seeds perish in the face of weed and pest infestation. The list of products goes on and on and it now seems that once self-sufficient farmers have now been made destitute, entirely dependent upon these companies to produce food which once they independently produced. Such seeds are also patented and are rightfully claimed by these companies as their ‘Intellectual Property’, shamelessly overlooking the contribution of farmers that saved, selected, and cultivated the seeds, conserved across generations a pool of genes from which, the modern seeds are developed and patented. Farmers- once the custodian of seeds across generations are having to buy seeds from these companies.