March 9, 2010

(L-R: Jean Yasol, SEARICE policy officer, and Filipino farmer Isidoro "Boy" Ancog, at the press conference for Ancog; photo by AFA)

Press Release: Asian Farmers' Association for Sustainable Development (AFA)

Quezon City, Philippines, March 9, 2010 - Multinational companies like Monsanto, Syngenta, Cargil, and Bayer, are expanding their markets for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in developing countries like the Philippines.

This was the warning raised by anti-GMO groups in a press conference in Quezon City on March 9. The press conference was organized for Isidoro "Boy" Ancog, the Filipino farmer who went on hunger strike at the FAO’s 10th international technical conference on Agricultural biotechnologies in developing countries (ABDC-10) in Guadalajara, Mexico last March 1-4, to protest what is perceived to be the planned massive promotion of the commercial use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) as a solution to poverty and hunger in developing countries.

A GMO is an organism which carries genetic material that has been made in the laboratory and transferred into it by genetic engineering.

Citing studies here and abroad, anti-GMO activists pointed to its risks to the environment and human health.

Raul Socrates Banzuela, National Coordinator of the Pambansang Kilusan ng mga Samahang Magsasaka (PAKISAMA), a national confederation of peasant organizations in the Philippines, said that it is important for the public to be aware of the dangers of GMOs flooding the country.

He said that the public cannot allow GMOs to be imposed on farmers because it is a false solution to the problem of hunger and poverty.

He said that the public cannot allow GMOs to be imposed on farmers because it is a false solution to the problem of hunger and poverty.

The first GMO to be approved for commercial release in the Philippines in December 2002 was the pest resistant Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) corn and is now cultivated all over the country.

“We call on the government to immediately sign and implement the Organic Agriculture Act, which bans GMO products in the country,” said Banzuela.

He also lamented that, during this time of electoral campaign, no candidate has spoken on the issue of GMOs.

Jean Yasol, Policy Officer of the Southeast Asia Regional Initiatives for Community Empowerment (SEARICE), said that we should not only look at the technical side of modern biotechnologies, but also at political issues, like intellectual property rights, corporate concentration of power, and problems with modern biotechnologies like GMOs, which multinational corporations want farmers to adopt.

“We should look beyond the promises of modern biotechnology and also be aware of the problems, especially for developing countries with limited funds and knowledge on its negative effects,” said Yasol.

See related stories, "Farmer explains protest against GM crops";

"FAO Conference Draws Ire From Civil Society; Industry Satisfied By Event";

"Smallholders important in biotechnologies".

View more photos of the press conference

(Above: Ancog, addressing the ABDC10 Conference)

by Teresa L. Debuque

Filipino farmer, Isidoro Boy Ancog, ended his hunger strike on March 4 after protesting for three days at a meeting of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Ancog, who is one of the few farmers that were able to participate in that meeting, went on a hunger strike last March 2 after intervening in a plenary session of the 10th FAO international technical conference on Agricultural Biotechnologies in Developing Countries (ABDC-10). Ancog objected to the fact that the Conference appeared to be promoting biotechnology, including the commercial use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), as the most viable solution to poverty and hunger in developing countries.

Ancog, an organic farmer from Bohol province, said, "I have observed that small scale men and women farmers and fishers, who form the majority of the poor in this world, are so underrepresented in this room. This is a manifestation of what is happening in our villages ---we are targeted, we are not involved in processes. Technologies are so top-down, imposed on us with very little knowledge given, especially on their limitations and effects. I am against GMOs; my province, Bohol, publicly rejects GMOs as a policy; the organizations I represent are fighting against GMOs. Why? Because we firmly believe it is not the solution to poverty and hunger, but rather a cause of more deprivation in the future.”

Ancog’s “intervention” was noted in the Conference Report, which came out today, but the drafters did not acknowledge Ancog’s statements as coming from “farmers’ organizations”—an indication that the Conference did not recognize the contribution of farmers’ groups to decision-making processes.

In fact, the Conference was dominated by pro-GMO delegates, such as from the U.S., Brasil, Argentina, and Mexico, among others. Mexico could not have made the Conference agenda clearer than its announcement at the start of the meeting that it was holding 24 GMO field trials.

Following Ancog’s announcement that he was ending his hunger strike, he addressed the Conference, saying, “Beyond these walls, poverty and hunger still exist. Beyond these walls, peasant farmers, fisherfolk, rural women and indigenous peoples continue to be neglected and ignored in decision-making processes and technology development processes. I am calling on delegates and FAO to address this gap. I propose that FAO convenes an international meeting of peasant farmers, fisherfolk, rural women and indigenous peoples to discuss the results of this conference, but primarily to examine the appropriateness and implications of biotechnology, particularly GMOs, on our lives and allow us to decide for ourselves the courses of action to take.”

The Southeast Asia Regional Initiatives for Community Empowerment (SEARICE), a regional NGO that is working to conserve and develop agricultural biodiversity in Asia, congratulated Ancog for courageously standing up for all farmers who were unable to participate in the Conference.

See related story, "FAO Conference Draws Ire From Civil Society; Industry Satisfied By Event"

by Teresa L. Debuque

The Southeast Asia Regional Initiatives for Community Empowerment (SEARICE) has declared its support for Filipino farmer, Isidoro “Boy” Ancog, who started a hunger strike on March 2, 2010 in protest against what appears to be unanimous endorsement of the commercialization of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) at the 10^th FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation) international technical conference on Agricultural Biotechnologies in Developing Countries (ABDC-10) being held in Guadalajara, Mexico.

During a plenary session during which investments on agriculture research and agricultural biotechnologies were being discussed, Ancog took the floor and declared that he was going on a hunger strike because "I am against GMOs; my province, Bohol, publicly rejects GMOs as a policy; the organizations I represent, PAKISAMA – AFA, are fighting against GMOs. Why? Because we firmly believe it is not the solution to poverty and hunger, but rather a cause of more deprivation in the future.”

"GMOs are not the answer. Genetic engineering promoted by corporations will only make farmers dependent on proprietary seeds and technologies.. It takes away farmers’ basic right to save, sell, exchange and use seeds that have been the basis of agricultural for generations.

"Through centuries, farmers have been developing and adapting their own seeds through conservation, breeding and selection techniques building from their local knowledge and skills. These efforts have not only proven to meet the food needs of local farmers but have also helped enhance biodiversity and environmental protection in small scale farming communities.

"Farmers from across the world are re-claiming and asserting their rights to seeds in the face of technological and proprietary impositions. Communities and local governments have declared themselves GMO-free zones, farmers are conserving and improving seeds and varieties adapted to local conditions and needs, communities are exchanging seeds and knowledge to help improve their farming systems and farmers are turning to organic and sustainable agriculture to produce safe food and to protect the agricultural ecology.

"The FAO must recognize and support these efforts by farmers and farming communities to adapt to and to survive in changing environmental, economic and social conditions while feeding the rest of the world. The FAO should not promote genetic engineering as the answer to global food insecurity hunger. Indeed, the future of food and farming is much too valuable to leave in the hands of corporations."

Meanwhile, the Bohol province based NGO, BISAD, also expressed their support for Ancog's hunger strike. Their statement reads: “Like Boy, we do not believe that GMOs will solve the problems of low agricultural productivity, low rural incomes and widespread hunger across the world, especially in developing countries. Instead, we believe that GMOs exacerbate these problems by, among others, increasing agro-chemical use among farmers, aggravating insect pest immunity, upsetting the natural flow and evolution of biodiversity and undermining and threatening farmers' use of seeds (through application of intellectual property rights by corporations on GM crops),”

Eulalie Albuladora, BISAD president added, “In his hunger strike, Boy Ancog is making the voices of unheard farmers reverberate all the way to the FAO. He is making unseen farmers seen at the highest levels of policy discussions. Boy Ancog is helping farmers make that journey towards a greener and sustainable future for all free from GMOs.”

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.