Bitter Seeds Essay

I watched the movie called Bitter Seeds in my environmental class. The movie talked about the problems in India about farming. The movie also talked about the suicide rate, how high it is compared to our country. It said that every 30 minutes, a farmer commits suicide. In India, the economy is not that great so they went with the seeds that were more expensive. The culture is completely different from ours, they celebrate Pola, which is the bull festival, they do rituals when something bad is happening. Most of the seeds were rotting and they were not getting enough water, which resulted in the seeds not germinating, eventually the plants died out and the farmers killed themselves. The people who were selling the seeds wanted more money than what it really should have cost. Banks rarely loan people any money, they had to go to a Loan shark. Loan sharks were basically thugs because they would charge the people 7% to 10% interest per month to grow seven acres. I think Indian farmers should be able to get loans from the bank at a higher percentage rate so they won't have to go to loan sharks and get ripped off.

The Economy is really bad in parts of India, people are usually not using technology, the way they cook is unsanitary, and houses are not modern. Indian farmers used to use seeds that required only cow poop for fertilizer. The Jai BT seeds that Monsanto created requires two different fertilizers, Jai BT seeds are more expensive than the old seeds, so farmers have to pay extra for the fertilizer and seeds. The Jai BT seeds did not germinate in the soil and rotted, causing the farmer much stress. The farmers pay a high amount of money for the land. If their farm does not grow, the farmer doesn't get any money and will eventuall...

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...earch Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology sued Monsanto in the Supreme Court of India and Monsanto could not start the commercial sales of its Bt cotton seeds until 2002. And, after the damning report of India’s parliamentary committee on Bt crops in August 2012, the panel of technical experts appointed by the Supreme Court recommended a 10-year moratorium on field trials of all GM food and termination of all ongoing trials of transgenic crops. But it had changed Indian agriculture already. Monsanto’s seed, the destruction of alternatives, the collection of super profits in the form of royalties, and the increasing vulnerability of cultures has created a context for debt, suicides and distress which is driving the farmers’ suicide epidemic in India. This systemic control has been intensified with Bt cotton. That is why most suicides are in the cotton belt.