Vandana Shiva: “As a human being, it concerns me deeply that 284,694 small farmers of India, the most resilient and courageous people I have known, have in recent times been driven to the desperation of taking their lives because of a debt trap created by a corporate driven economy of greed that profits from selling them costly chemicals and non-renewable seeds” and “Monsanto collects Rs 700 as royalty for a 450 gm packet of seed costing Rs 1600. The shift to Bt cotton meant a jump of 8000% in the cost of seed.”
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In the years that led up to the release of GMO cotton in India, Monsanto played their cards right and consolidated the seed supply. Famers adopted Bt cotton not because it gave higher yields or gave them higher incomes, but because all alternatives have been destroyed. The shift to GMO Bt cotton in India meant a jump of 8000% in the cost of seed. This is the root of the cotton farmers’ distress in India. The latest figure, updated up to 2012, is 284,694 farmer suicides. Any human being anywhere should be outraged at this tragedy. -Dr. Vandana Shiva

READ: http://www.navdanya.org/blog/?p=744

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