India’s Farmers’ Suicides

Student Name
Professor Name
Course
Date
India’s Farmers’ Suicides
Bitter seeds documentary
The one bearing the most responsibility for this problem
The U.S. firm Monsanto bears the most responsibility for India's farmers' suicides because the company's workers in India pressure the illiterate agriculturalists to purchase their genetically modified seeds (GMS). According to the Bitter Seeds documentary, Monsanto vends these seeds to make a profit without caring how their product affects growers and their livelihoods. Brookes claims that "overall planting areas are largely influenced by the price received and profitability for the crops relative to alternative crops and farming activities" (141). Before the GMS, the farmers did not kill themselves, and they survived by working hard and planting seeds from the former year's crops. Furthermore, the agriculturalists used the manure that they made from cow dung.
What should be done to reduce the number of farmer suicides
The Indian government should ban genetically altered seeds. Demanding the firms to label the seeds might not be a solution because salespeople do not tell farmers the truth. For instance, the salespeople do not disclose that the firm designs GMO seeds for agriculturalists to use for one year only, hence the reason for forcing farmers to purchase them. In addition, the salespeople persistently use leaflets with false Indian farmers’ testimonials to lure the ignorant growers.
Therefore, the best action is for the Indian government to ban genetically altered seeds. Even without the farmers killing themselves, the GMS grow into genetically modified foods, harming their bodies. Manohar asserts that experts should help users “to be able to distinguish the GM seed from non-GM seed” (689). This identification would assist farmers in avoiding buying GM seeds from unscrupulous business people even after the government bans them. If individuals consume genetically modified foods, some ailments that resist antibiotics can infect them.
What each of the articles identify as the main cause behind the rise in farmer suicides
The guardian
According to the Guardian article, firms that sell genetically modified seeds bear the most responsibility for India’s farmers’ suicides. The Guardian posits that “corporate ambitions are coming face to face with those of some of the poorest people in the world” (1). These corporations sold to farmers seeds that were bad and required a lot of water to germinate and grow. Since the genetically modified crops are weaker than the traditional ones, a pest and disease outbreak infected them, and they died, causing losses to farmers. These plants’ death made many agriculturalists drink poison, instantly killing themselves.
Response from Monsanto
The Monsanto article disputes the claim that it is the genetically modified crops which cause farmers’ suicides. Monsanto states that “some studies identified the key reasons leading to farmer suicides as lack of irrigation facilities, unavailability of timely credit and fluctuating cotton prices over the years” (1). Therefore, even though many oppose genetically modified crops, GMO cotton might not be causing Indian farmers’ suicides.
Mother Jones
According to the Mother Jones article, the claim that genetically modified crops result in farmers’ suicides is false. Big farms that can afford to use irrigation water get high profits from genetically modified cotton, hence can buy the expens...