Loss of plant seed variety

Thai rice farmers need 900,000 tones of rice seeds per year. Ministry of Agriculture provides 50,000 the remaining 850,000 t are supplied by large corporations. E.g. the CP corporation, who is attempting to gain control over rice seed market in Thailand.

The loss of rice seed variety in Thailand is attributable to many different factors
Need for farmers to sell rice on the market. They need to meet certain specifications placed by the buyers.
The companies involved in rice trade have a monopoly at all stages of rice production and tremendous amount of control of government policy. When big companies say they only buy one variety of rice from farmers this puts pressure on farmers to produce only that variety, meaning indigenous varieties are decreasing.
Another factor is a law on the protection of plant species was passed 3-4 years ago in Thailand. (The law) was passed in a way to meet the needs of big companies involved in agricultural trading. There were three elements to the law: The first element was supposed to provide protection for indigenous species, second part was supposed to provide protection for new plant species, third part dealt (with) the establishment of a fund to finance development of indigenous species. The companies that gain from the trade in rice and agricultural produce have been able to make use of the law for their own benefit.

The specific way in which this is happening is the part of the law that deals with the protection of indigenous species was purposely delayed in effect the part of the law that protects new plant species came out before the part that protects indigenous species. Because of this companies that were doing experiments with indigenous species to produce hybrids were able to produce these hybrids and then take out licences to become the owners of these hybrids. This has happened in the case of important species like pepper, eggplant, and other sorts that are bulk export products for Thailand. As a result of this process farmers have been forced to rely on buying factors of production which they didn’t have to buy before.

Specifically farmers are forced to spend large amount of money to buy chemical fertilizer, to buy seeds that have been registered by companies so that farmers no longer have the right to plant them without paying the companies. To pay for other kinds of inputs that are controlled by large companies which they never had to pay for before. As a result of having to pay more and more for inputs the costs of production have gone up tremendously and farmers have been forced to take out loans for production and they have been put into debt. Eventually farmers have to sell their land to pay off their debt. Once landless they have no other choice than to move into urban centres and into slums. All of this has occurred as a result of small scale farmers in Thailand being forced to engage in a kind of agriculture that is not appropriate for the ecological circumstance of where they live.

The result is a destruction of the culture of small scale farmers and the human dignity of small scale farmers. At this point it seems clear that the answer to this problem is to increase efforts to achieve food sovereignty to take this agricultural production out of the international trade system and to make sure that agriculture is not subject to free trade.

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The speeches from Regaining Control of the Commons: WSF 2007 are provided for information and educational purposes. The transcription has been undertaken on a volunteer basis. Due to resource limitations we are unable to provide a complete transcription. We apologise for the breaks in the text.

Disclaimer: The view in this and the other articles do not (neccessarily) represent the position or views of Friends of the Earth Australia nor Friends of the Earth International.