Adonis Diaries

The ‘suicide belt’ in farming regions: Monsanto of “genetically modified seed” is the culprit

A farmer has been committing suicide every 30 minutes: And Monsanto was the cause. How that?

5 million farmers are launching a lawsuit against Monsanto for as much as 6.2 billion euros (around 7.7 billion US dollars). The reason?

As with many other cases, such as the ones that led certain farming regions to be known as the ‘suicide belt’, Monsanto has been reportedly taxing the farmers to financial shambles with ridiculous royalty charges.

The farmers state that Monsanto has been unfairly gathering exorbitant profits each year on a global scale from “renewal” seed harvests, which are crops planted using seed from the previous year’s harvest.

The practice of using renewal seeds dates back to ancient times, but Monsanto seeks to collect massive royalties and put an end to the practice. Why?

Monsanto owns the very patent to the genetically modified seed, and is charging the farmers not only for the original crops, but the later harvests as well. Eventually, the royalties compound and many farmers begin to struggle with even keeping their farm afloat.

It is for this reason that India slammed Monsanto with groundbreaking ‘bio-piracy’ charges in an effort to stop Monsanto from ‘patenting life’.

Jane Berwanger, a lawyer for the farmers who went on record regarding the case, told the Associated Press:
“Monsanto gets paid when it sell the seeds. The law gives producers the right to multiply the seeds they buy and nowhere in the world is there a requirement to pay (again). Producers are in effect paying a private tax on production.”

Note 1: Currently, the African State of Burkina Faso (Haute Volta) is the prime State for the US multinational Monsanto, growing genetically altered grains (mainly tomatoes and cotton) on vast land…

Note 2: This is technically a reblogging from a top post, with slight editing and addition of a note http://worldtruth.tv/5-million-farmers-sue-monsanto-for-7-7-billion/