December 10, 2009

As world leaders now gathered in Copenhagen struggle to cobble together a global agreement to address climate change, the Southeast Asia Regional Initiatives for Community Empowerment (SEARICE) declares that agricultural adaptation strategies must not be overlooked in identifying the elements of such an agreement.

SEARICE is a regional development organization that promotes and strengthens the conservation and sustainable utilization of agricultural biodiversity in partnership with farmers and farming communities in Bhutan, Lao PDR, the Philippines, Thailand and the Philippines.

Food security is a foremost concern when projections of the impact of climate change are considered. As larger areas of agricultural land are inundated by floods or rendered unproductive by drought, the world’s food supply will increasingly be put at risk.

SEARICE asserts that ongoing programs to ensure the stability of the world’s food supply should be implemented in tandem with efforts to continually develop agricultural biodiversity. Keeping crop germplasm in storage is not enough. In order to assure the survival of crop varieties, especially those that are adapted to extreme climatic conditions, a continual, dynamic, and community-based system of plant breeding must be strengthened.

Through the work of SEARICE, rice farmers in Vietnam have been able to breed and develop 182 rice varieties, 3 of which are tolerant to saline conditions in the Mekong Delta region, in particular. A rice farming community in the Philippines has been able to select rice varieties that are tolerant to drought conditions. To date, more than 700 communities in 45 provinces of Bhutan, Lao PDR, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam are involved in breeding and selection of food crop varieties under very specific conditions, supported by local government units, civil society organizations and agriculture researchers.

The warming of the climate system is global. Yet, the solution must be local, taking into account specific community needs, and socially and culturally appropriate and sustainable solutions.

(Read SEARICE’s Statement on the 15th United Nations Climate Change Conference [COP15].

On December 5, 2009, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Bayer CropScience AG, the company that is applying for the importation of a genetically modified (GM) rice strain into the Philippines, has been slapped a US$2 million verdict by a federal jury for financial losses suffered by Missouri rice farmers as a result of contamination of their crop by Bayer's GM rice.

The case against Bayer was brought by two Missouri farmers, Kenneth Bell and Johnny Hunter. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the jury awarded Bell about $1.96 million and Hunter $53,336. Following the verdict, Hunter gave a statement, which the St. Louis Post quoted thus: "This is a huge victory, not only for Kenny and me, but for every farmer in America who was harmed by Bayer's LibertyLink rice contamination." The verdict, Hunter’s statement further read, is “a wake-up call that Bayer deserves."

The Missouri verdict was celebrated not just by farmers in Missouri but also by farmers in four other U.S. states, whose rice crops were contaminated by Bayer’s LibertyLink rice.

Bayer and a Louisiana-based university had been testing the LibertyLink rice for resistance to a herbicide, which Bayer also developed, when the GM rice was “accidentally” released and cross-bred with the U.S. rice crop. Thirty percent of America’s ricelands were reportedly contaminated.

The Missouri lawsuit is the first of over 1,200 cases that have been filed by farmers from five U.S. states since 2006, when a report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) sent U.S. rice futures plummetting by at least 14 percent in a matter of days. The USDA had found trace amounts of Bayer’s GM rice in U.S. long grain stocks.

If the Missouri case is any indication, Bayer may be facing “hundreds of millions of dollars in liability for rice crop contamination,” the St. Louis Dispatch reported, quoting the plaintiffs’ lawyer.

November 25, 2009

While Filipino farmers are working hard to persuade the Arroyo government to stop the importation of Bayer’s genetically modified (GM) rice, U.S. farmers have already sued Bayer for financial losses totaling US$150 million as a result of GM contamination of their rice crop.

The Bloomberg news service reported on November 4, 2009 that rice farmers from Missouri, a midwestern state of the U.S., are suing Bayer for the financial losses they sustained when their rice crop was contaminated by Bayer’s GM rice.

Bayer and the Louisiana State University had been testing the GM rice for resistance to the Liberty herbicide, which Bayer also developed, when the GM rice was “accidentally” released and found its way into the U.S. rice crop. Thirty percent of America’s ricelands were reportedly contaminated.

The Missouri lawsuit is the first of over 1,200 cases that have been filed by farmers from five U.S. states since 2006, when a report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) sent U.S. rice futures plummetting by at least 14 percent in a matter of days. The USDA had found trace amounts of Bayer’s GM rice in U.S. long grain stocks.

News of the contamination resulted in a US$150M decline in rice futures as well as a fall in exports as the European Union (EU), Japan, Russia and other overseas markets either cut back or stopped their importation of the U.S. long grain rice.

The Bloomberg story quoted lawyer Don Downing, who is prosecuting the Missouri farmers’ case, as having accused Bayer of “sloppy” testing in its rush to beat Monsanto Co. to the punch. Monsanto, another giant agrochemicals company, is also developing herbicide-resistant crop varieties.

Covering the Missouri trial, Bloomberg quoted Downing's opening statement thus: “Bayer was supposed to be careful. Bayer was not careful and that rice did escape into our commercial rice supplies.”

Meanwhile, Bayer has repeatedly claimed that its herbicide-resistant rice poses no food safety issues. Yet, its GM rice has yet to be commercially marketed in the U.S.

In the Philippines, Bayer is lobbying hard for the importation of one of its GM rice strains into the country. In light of Bayer’s U.S. debacle, Filipino farmers’ groups are appealing to the BPI (Read Farmers' petition letter to the BPI: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4) to protect the country's farmers from similar financial ruin that could result from the entry of GM rice into the country.--by Teresa L. Debuque

For further information, contact:

Golda Hilario/Paul Borja

SEARICE policy officers

Tel: (+632) 433-7182/433-2067

Telefax: (+632) 922-6710

Mobile: 091751245496; +639175119498

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November 24, 2009

Farmer leaders representing 20 farmer organizations from various parts of the Philippines are urging the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) not to allow the importation by a private corporation of a genetically modified rice variety as food.

Bayer CropScience AG, a multinational agrochemicals company, has a pending application with the BPI to market Liberty Link 62 rice (LL62) in the country. Bayer’s application, which was made in 2006, was put on hold in 2007 when a lower court granted a petition filed by concerned individuals to disallow the importation. However, last November 9, the Court of Appeals (CA) reversed the lower court ruling, thus paving the way for the grant of Bayer’s application.

The potential risks to public health and to the environment were among the reasons cited by the farmer leaders in petitioning the BPI to keep LL62 out of the country. LL62 was developed by Bayer to be tolerant to a herbicide, whose effects when ingested or exposed to, have yet to be determined.

In a petition letter hand-delivered to BPI director Joel Rudinas on November 18, the farmers said, “Ang karamihan po sa amin ay ilang taon nang hindi gumagamit ng kemikal na abono at pestisidyo sapagkat nakita po namin na ang mga ito ay nakakasama sa lupa, tubig at sa katawan namin at ng publiko na sinusuplayan namin ng pagkain.” (“Most of us have not used chemical fertilizers and pesticides for many years because we have seen for ourselves the damage these chemicals can cause on the soil, water, and on our health and that of the public whose food needs we supply.”) The introduction of the herbicide-dependent LL62 would undermine years of painstaking work by organic farmers all over the country.

The farmer leaders also took issue with the fact that farmers were not consulted about Bayer’s application, or at least given enough information about the matter. “Hindi ito simpleng usapin ng teknolohiya kundi usapin ng bigas na siyang pangunahing pagkain ng Pilipino,” said Candido Baldapan, who represents the Bohol-based Farmers' Consultative Council (FCC). (“This goes beyond issues of technology. This concerns rice, the staple food of Filipinos.”)

While Bayer intends to import LL62 grains for consumption and for processing, the farmer leaders fear that it is a short step away from the entry of seeds of this variety. “Kung mangyari ito, hindi malayo na makontamina ang mga lokal na binhi na aming tinatangkilik at inaalagaan,” Baldapan explained. (“When this happens, it will not be long before the local varieties that we have developed and nurtured are contaminated.”)

The farmer leaders appealed to Rudinas to stop the rice importation, stressing that LL62 is not the answer to the country’s food supply problems.--by Teresa L. Debuque

Golda Hilario/Paul Borja

SEARICE policy officers

Tel: (+632) 433-7182/433-2067

Telefax: (+632) 922-6710

Mobile: 091751245496; +639175119498

email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it