Bitter Seeds: A Reading Response

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Bitter Seeds: Reading Response
1 First, based solely on your viewing of the documentary, answer this question - Who do you think bears most responsibility for this problem, and what do you think should be done to reduce the number of farmer suicides?
The documentary showed that many factors contribute to the increase in suicide rates of many Indian farmers. These include the lack of support or subsidy from the government, worsening the poor situation of the marginalized communities, and allowing foreign investors to exploit the land of the Indian farmers, where the foreign companies “invest” in their lands while making the farmers’ rights to these as collaterals. In the documentary entitled Bitter Seeds, the Monsanto Company was the primary foreign investor that exploits the land, and the Indian farmers attribute the increased suicide rates to it. Initially, they are given financial support by these companies at a high-interest rate. One section of the documentary revealed that the interest rate goes up to seven percent or even more in some cases, which places the farmers in a position where they can no longer redeem their land secondary to the obligation that they had to pay using their land for the interest rate (Peled).
From a personal point of view, the primary source of this agony is the Indian Government. Firstly, the leaders govern the country and decide which countries or companies can invest in their land. Secondly, the government can promulgate policies to protect its people and prevent foreign investors from exploiting the citizens’ land and rights. Furthermore, the government can provide subsidies to Indian farmers to prevent them from borrowing from companies like Monsanto. Among these three, the most important is the last factor because adequate government support will prevent the food chain from collapsing and improve the livelihood of the Indian farmers. If their revenues are sufficient to support their family, they did not need to seek help from other agencies. Also, the lack of protection of the rights of the Indian farmers from their government allowed these instances to happen.
2 What does each of the articles identify as the leading cause behind the rise in farmer suicides?
According to Vidal, the primary reason for the increase in farmer suicides is the loss of opportunity to grow the crops secondary to the biotechnology promoted by the Monsanto Company, with its main headquarters in Bombay. Their technology promotes an increase in the production of crops. However, the modifications made by this United States company prevented the seeds from becoming usable. Meaning, the seeds from the crops that were genetically modified do not grow to full-blown crops. Due to this, the seeds cannot be replanted, and since Monsanto infiltrated its agricultural fields, the price for the seeds will go up, and the best option is for the Indian farmers to avail their seeds (4-6).
Monsanto has a different explanation for the increased suicide rates in India. According to the company, the cause is multifactorial, and the ultimate result is suicide. It cited the absence of reliable credit, flawed irrigation system, inadequate government support, insufficient technologies that can help in the cropping patterns, and varying prices of the cotton per year (1-2).
Philpott contradicted Monsanto’s statements, saying that Indian farmers do not depend on irrigation to grow their crops. Instead, they depend on rain. He signified that even small Indian farmers could use proper irrigation without being indebted to these foreign companies. Furthermore, the article stated that the Bt seeds, which infiltrated the Indian agricultural market in the early 2000s, are unnecessary because the farmers can ripen their crops before the bollworms can infest these. Despite these counterarguments, his discussion determined that the cause of increasing suicide rates is the industrialization of the farming industry, which is one of the reasons stated by Monsanto (1-4).
3 Which of these explanations do you find most convincing? Why?
The most convincing explanation of Philpott’s analysis is directed at the industrialization of the farming industry in India. Generally, this shift leads to significant changes in the farming industry, forcing the Indian farmers to rely on loans that have extremely high-interest rates, to the point that the farmers cannot pay them and the only option left to pay them is to collateral their land (1-4).
Because of this, the farmers will lose not only their land but also their livelihood. The lack of income pushes the farmers to the brink of agony, making them commit suicide because they cannot feed their families. Accordingly, the root cause leads to a domino effect, negatively impacting the farmers.
Moreover, industrialization encouraged the farmers to avail highly-priced fertilizers, pesticides, and genetically modified seeds to improve the production rate. The article revealed that using these materials is reasonable when the farming industry in the area relies on large irrigations. However, India only has small-time farmers who only rely on rain and not the overall irrigation system. They only have sufficient revenues from their crops, and they cannot afford to avail of a system and its accompanying materials. Therefore, when the foreign companies infiltrated their market, presenting genetically modified seeds that will need an irrigation system, they did not choose but to avail the materials that they cannot afford, leading to the financial bu...