The following is an excerpt.
A wave of suicides has swept through the Indian farming community in recent years as, driven into heavy debt by deadly competition, many small farmers don’t see another way out.
With the invasion of the multinational corporate man came his agricultural weapon of choice, GM modified cottonseed. The Monsanto ‘Bt’ seed has flooded the Indian market, to the extent that in some Indian states it is now impossible to buy non-Bt seed, despite the unconvincing evidence supporting its efficacy. With no choice and convinced by blanket advertising and misleading demonstrations made in ideal conditions, 95% of farmers take loans and invest in GM Bt seeds that, the New York Times reports, “can cost three to eight times the cost of conventional seeds”.
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Read the full article here: Indian farmers trapped and desperate
