Monsanto, the world's most hated corporation, will stop at nothing to increase its profits, even if it means swindling struggling Indian farmers.
For generations, farmers have saved seeds from year to year -- but the company has now made that illegal.
Monsanto is sowing the seeds of debt bondage by charging outrageous annual royalties to keep using their seeds. Farmers are hopelessly saddled with crippling debt. Since Monsanto's crops were introduced, over 200,000 farmers in India have committed suicide.
Stand with India's farmers & tell Monsanto to stop charging crippling royalties on its seeds.http://action.sumofus.org/a/monsanto-royalties/?akid=12130.7187485.FoKglj&rd=1&sub=fwd&t=1
New numbers show farmer suicide rates have reached record highs in rural states as Monsanto's infamous seeds have propagated throughout the country, and it's about to get worse. Now, the new Indian government has opened GMO testing on eggplant, corn, rice and chickpeas, which could mean even more royalties across the agricultural industry.
For centuries, farmers made a living by saving seeds from one year's crop to the next. But today, Monsanto has put an end to that by claiming patent rights over seeds -- the fundamental source of all plant life -- and forcing farmers to pay for new seeds year after year after year.
The result is a crippling cycle of poverty, from which farmers see no way out.
Stand with India's farmers & tell Monsanto to stop charging crippling royalties on its seeds.
Bt cotton is currently India's only GMO crop, but it makes up 95 percent of all cotton farming in the country, giving Monsanto a massive monopoly on the market. These seeds cost about three to eight times the cost of conventional seeds.
As Vandana Shiva has said, when corporations control seeds, they control life. Monsanto is taking a renewable common resource and turning it into a nonrenewable, commodity.
The battle between Indian farmers and Monsanto is heating up. Now more than ever, we need to raise our voices to show Monsanto the whole world is watching -- and we won't stand by while it makes billions in profits at the expense of the world's poor farmers.
Stand with India's farmers & tell Monsanto to stop charging crippling royalties on its seeds.
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For more information:
Monsanto and the Seeds of Suicide, Common Dreams, March 27, 2013
Monsanto's Shares Surge as its Drive to Force GM Crops into India Gathers Pace, RINF, February 4, 2015
Farmer suicides went up to 12,360 in 2014: Report, Business Standard, July 18th 2015
