From: CIEPAC <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2001 22:46:16 -0500
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [Ciepac-i] English Chiapas al Dia 258 I
Bulletin �Chiapas Today� No. 258
CIEPAC; CHIAPAS, MEXICO
(September 5, 2001)
Transnational Corn Threatens the Food Sovereignty of Indigenous Communities
In 1996, the federal government began privatizing the state business
Conasupo (The National Company of Popular Subsistence), importing more and
more corn from the United States in the framework of NAFTA, eliminating
price controls of the tortilla, and reducing subsidies and technical
advisory. In the same year, they also told the campesinos (subsistence or
small farmers in the countryside) to stop growing corn, and to start growing
other products because the Conasupo would now buy corn cheaper from the
United States. It was then that corn growers from the Central Zone and
Frailesca Zone of Chiapas, the �tortilla basket� of Chiapas, blocked roads
and brought the economy of Chiapas to a standstill for many days. During
this conflict, the private company Maseca that is located in the region, in
the municipality Ocozocoautla, bought around 90,000 tons of corn from the
United States, according to the Union of Corn Producers (UPROMAIZ, A.C.)
located in the municipality Villaflores.
Pressure from the campesinos was so strong that the government and Maseca,
now privatized as �Aztec Mills of Chiapas S.A of C.V., Industrial group
Maseca S.A. of C.V. (GIMSA), agreed to continue buying corn from local
growers. But they were only setting a trap. The same transnational
corporations that sell corn to Maseca began to sell patented seeds and big
agrochemical packets to local producers. The new seeds in addition to
fertilizers yielded more tons of corn per hectare, so Maseca argued that the
Creole corn does not offer high yields, and threatened the campesinos that
they would not buy the local corn because it was contaminated with fungus.
However, according to this organization, in the present year, Maseca bough
57,000 tons of corn from the local growers and 187,000 tons of corn for feed
from the United States.
Producers from the countryside, facing the crisis and not willing to give up
their lands, began to celebrate the mirage of higher yields and profits.
Starting in 1999, the transnational corporations and the government echoed
these arguments. While the companies promised higher yields, the government
promised subsidies so that growers could buy the �technology packets� from
the corporations. Currently, UPROMAIZ sells producers five types of
patented seeds from the companies Pioneer, Asgrow, Cargill, Cristiani Burcal
and Novasem. With these seeds, producers yield between 8 and 10 tons of
corn per hectare, like in the United States, while paying lower production
prices. In this year, the producers were paid 1,510 pesos per ton, while in
1998 they were paid 1,350 pesos for the same amount. This is only a
160-peso increase in price, which is negligible considering the cost of
fertilizers, which continues to increase. Today, a ton of fertilizer costs
1,850 pesos per hectare and a half, or maximum two hectares.
In this new system, the producer chooses the private seed they want to buy,
goes to UPROMAIZ to get the form from the corresponding business, and
latergoes to the bank to deposit 220 pesos to the bank account of the
company. Next, they are directed to the offices of the transnational located
in the municipality of Villaflores to pick up their �technology packet� that
consists of the patented corn seed, fertilizers, and agrochemicals.
Finally, the company applies to the government to charge 320 pesos for the
rest of the cost of the �technology packet� turned over to the campesino,
given that the cost of the packet is between 550 and 684 pesos depending on
the brand. The government program �Alliance for the Countryside� covers
this cost, financed through external debt with multilateral banks like the
World Bank or Interamerican Developmend Bank (IDB). If the producer chooses
the most expensive �technology packet�, they use resources from Procampo
(Program of Direct Support to the Countryside) that not all producers have
(829 pesos per hectare), to access the credit, or as collateral for the
machinery that they can also rent, or they simply use the deed to their
ranch as collateral.
UPROMAIZ has a presence in at least 14 municipalitiesincluding Villaflores,
Angel Albino Corzo, Villa de Acala, Chiapilla, Jitotol, Comitan, Villa
Corzo, La Concordia, Venustiano Carranza, Socoltenango, Totolapa,
Ocozocoautla, San Lucas and Chicomuselo. Recently, the program consisted of
around 20,000 producers in Chiapas, a number that has grown because other
municipalities in the highlands have begun to incorporate themselves in this
system. In the highlands region as well as the northern zone and jungle we
see the billboards and advertisements of Monsanto, Novartis and other
companies.
The ten largest transnational companies in the world that produce seeds
control 30% of the world commercial market of seeds valued at 24.4 million
dollars in the year 2000. DuPont (Pionner) is in first place, followed by
Monsanto, Novartis (Syngenta), Groupe Limagrain, Pulsar, Advanta and
Netherlands, Dow (Cargill), KWS AG, Delta and Pine Land and Aventis.
UPROMAIZ accepts that the Creole corn no longer exists in the region, and
nobody knows of or remembers this indigenous seed. Growers are very
familiar with, for example, the corn 30F94 and 3086 of the transnational
company Pionner (DuPont), or of their hybrids 3086 and 30F94. In this
manner, food sovereignty is being lost quickly, without the state government
taking notice or wanting to prevent the loss. In many regions, previously,
indigenous people and campesinos planted their corn, harvested it, ate part
of the harvests and sold the other part or kept it for the next harvest.
Now they buy the seed from a company, produce many tons at a low cost for
the company, consume millions of dollars of agrochemicals, and later sell
the product at a low cost and buy a packaged tortilla from the company.
The Central and Frilesca regions of Chiapas are the image of the
transnational empire. On all of the roads and store buildings are
advertisements for the brands of seeds and agrotoxics for corn from the
principal transnational corporations like Decistab of Aventis, Rival, Faena,
Faena Fu, Glyfos, Herbipol Glifosato, Harness and Rangel of Monsanto, Quron
of Dow AgroSciences, Gesaprim of Novartis, Forza, Brigadier, Coloso,
Nuvacron, Semevin, Esteron *47M, Tacsa Quat, Herbipol Amina, Herbipol Para
Quat, Karate, Chapoleo-E 400 CE, Chapoleo-A 480 SC, Secaszone 25 SC,
Gramocil, Finale SL 14, and others.
Last year, Novartis controlled 20% of the world market in agrochemical
sales. This transnational corporation sold a total of $6,100 million
dollars, putting it in first place.Monsandto was in second place with 14% of
world sales, Aventis in third place with 11%, BASF in fourth place with 11%,
Pionner (DuPont) obtained fifth place with 8%, Bayer was in sixth place with
7%, and Dow in seventh place with 7%. In other words, the ten largest
agrochemical corporations in the word control 85% of the sales and market.
The government continued serving as an agrochemical distributor for the
indigenous communities and campesinos. They distribute the products of
companies likeFaena, Rangel or Rival of Monsanto whose base is glyphosate,
active herbicide substance and biochemical agent. This pesticide was the
third highest cause of health problems among rural workers in California.
Glyphosate impedes plants ability to retain nitrogen, therefore eliminating
fungi that help plants to absorb water and nutrients. Monsanto, with its
�agent orange�, sprayed millions of hectares of forest in Vietnam, and
continues to do the same with Glyphosate in Southamerica under the �Colombia
Plan�, which they spray from airplanes, destroying biodiversity because the
chemical stays in the land for long periods of time. This has led to a
debate between the government of Colombia and its legislators who demand the
prohibition of glyphosate spraying because of harms to the health of
campesinos and indigenous people. �What has been missing is that they say
that you can eat glyphosate with Corn Flakes�, said Senator Rafael Orduz,
who also stated that, �the fumigations are a failure because during the ten
years that they have fumigated in Colombia, cultivation of illegal crops has
increased from 40,000 to 160,000 hectares, and announced that he would
present a law to indefinitely suspend the fumigations as Bolivia and Peru
have already done.�
According to the International Foundation for Rural Progress (RAFI), just
five powerful transnational corporations, the so-called genetic giants,
dominate the agro-biotechnology sector, among them Monsanto (Pharmacia),
DuPont, Syngenta (Novartis and Astra Zeneca), Aventis and Dow.Recently Bayer
and BASF have joined the list. Four industrial crops (soya been, corn,
cotton and colza) represent 100% of the area of commercial crops that were
planted in the year 2000 principally in the United States, Argentina and
Canada, where 98% of the area was planted with genetically engineered seeds.
However, only one company that manufactures genetically engineered seeds is
responsible for 94% of the area cultivated with commercial genetically
engineered crops in the whole world: Monsanto.
It is important to remember the denunciations that Greenpeace made about the
importations to Mexico from the United States, of genetically engineered
corn mixed in corn flour produced by Maseca. The imported corn is also
used for the production of high fructose syrup that is a substitute for
sugar cane, which has put sugar producers into crisis in the country.
Chiapas has two sugar refineries: Pujiltic and Huixtla.
Erika Pinzon Navarro, investigator of Agricultural Sciences at the
Autonomous University of Chiapas, confirms that Chiapas is one of the states
with the highest level of cancer caused by use of high-risk agrochemicals
that have been banned in other countries. In a meeting held this August
about environmental and health evaluation, the Secretary of Health of
Chiapas, Angel Rene Estrada spoke of the necessity of lowering the risks
that impact health. What he does not know is that the same government that
he works for is distributing through government programs the same risks, the
same agrochemicals.
In the region of Soconusco the use of pesticides like �Malation� are causing
grave harms to human health. In the municipality Mazatan, eleven minors
were injured due to consuming water contaminated with pesticides. In the
mentioned meeting, the fact was mentioned that 96% of growers apply
high-risk pesticides, and 95% of those growers do not use personal
protection devices. In addition, there is traffic of pesticides from
Guatemala, as well as deficient application of regulations, according to
data from the National Institute of Geographic and Informative Statistics
(INEGI). (Cuarto Poder, August 6, 2001)
In the month of July, drought in Central America threatened to unleash a
humanitarian catastrophe worse than the one caused by Hurricane Mitch five
years ago. People were starving in the coffee growing zones of Nicaragua in
the months of July and August, and children and adults died of hunger in the
communities of Las Calabaceras, La Quemazon and El Aguacate. The Nicaraguans
began to migrate towards Costa Rica in search of work, but they only found
more immigration controls that impeded their entry to this country. (El
Diario de Hoy, July 21 and 22)
Honduras declared a State of Emergency due to the starvation of 150,000
campesinos who depend on subsistence crops, in half of the provinces of the
country. Around 1.5 million �quintales� (1 quintal equals 100 kilograms) of
corn and beans cultivated on about 65,000 hectares of land were lost. In
July, the World Food Program sent the first 450 quintales of corn and 300 of
beans to families in some regions, as part of a shipment of 227 tons of food
that was meant to support the population.
In Guatemala, the government reported that the lack of rainfall has caused
the loss of almost 20 million dollars in harvests and the situation was
worsened by the increase in taxes as part of the Fiscal Reform imposed on
them by the International Monetary Fund, which has led to a wave of protests
and systematic repressions.
In El Salvador, 2.4 million quintales of corn were lost due to the drought.
In some regions between 75 and 100% of the harvests were lost. Facing this
crisis, the government launched the �Sowers Plan� through which once again
the transnational corporations strengthened their market and the dependence
of poor countries. Between August and July, the government of El Salvador
began to distribute 5,200 quintales of patented or hybrid corns seeds
(variety HQ61) and 500 quintales of been seeds (variety Centa 2000) to the
campesinos. The government assured people that it was safe to consume the
agrochemicals that these seeds require. Later, the program would bring
credits, the seed would not be given for free, and the cycle of dependency
will start again.
�Africanization� and famine are coming to Central American and Chiapas.
Migration is growing and in this context the government of Mexico announced
the creation of the �Southern Plan� to strengthen the sealing of the border
with more soldiers and police bodies in an attempt to contain poverty in the
south. Recently, President Vicente Fox opened an office of the National
Human Rights Commission (CNDH) in the border region of Chiapas to counteract
the constantly increasing violations of human rights of migrants from
Central America.
This August, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (where personnel from the
company Monsanto work) announced the imminent commercialization of the
�Terminator� technology. Under this plan, license is given to their private
associate Delta Pine Land (DPL), one of the international giants in seed
production. This technology will produce sterile or �suicide� seeds of
soya, rice, wheat, corn, and other crops, which will stop campesinos from
keeping seeds from the harvest for use in the next growth cycle. According
to RAFI, in Mexico, 3 million producers of basic grains will be affected,
and world-wide almost 400 million people, nearly all poor campesinos who
depend on keeping the seeds for the next harvest. Even though other
transnational companies that are leaders in biotechnology like Monsanto,
Aventis, Novartis and DuPont that do business in Chiapas, have patents on
Terminator technology, only the DPL has openly reported their intention to
commercialize these seeds.
With the use of this Terminator technology, 30 types of corn in Mexico will
be put at risk along with hundreds of varieties. Campesinos and Indigenous
people would lose total control of their food, nourishment, sovereignty and
varieties. Because of them, we need a brave Governor who is capable of
banning the patents and genetically engineered seeds before the campesinos,
like in Brazil, become obligated to burn the factories and the thousands of
hectares with genetically engineered foods. In this case, Pulsar located in
the state of Chiapas, is running this risk. But also, it is necessary for
the indigenous and campesina organizations to learn about the problem and
organize to defend their corn that is their identity, food, autonomy, and
spirit that inspires the soul of indigenous resistence.
Therefore, to further the goal of education, it is important for indigenous
and campesino communities to realize that:
1) In several years, they will be unable to plant any other products
on their land. Agrotoxics will impact not only their lands, but also
biodiversity and the poisoned water supply.
2) The Croele corn has disappeared from the region and from their
hands, which means they have already lost the possibility of
self-sufficiency, of controlling their age-old seeds, of manufacturing their
own foods when the companies decide to leave. They have also lost the
autonomous producing of their own food with dignity.
3) The transnational corporations leave earning more money, selling
their private corn seeds, they control prices and control the market, and
they sell more agrotoxics then required for growing corn.
4) The campesinos turn in more tons of corn at relatively lower
prices.
5) The federal and state governments support this policy, subsidize
the transnational corporations with external debt, and expect that the
campesinos and indigenous people will survive in misery under the mirage of
great wealth.
6) The subsidies are not for the producers, but for the
transnational corporations. The 220 pesos that the companies charge is more
expensive when the federal government has to return the loans they solicit
by raising taxes for the population to pay, opening the border more to
so-called �free trade� that benefits the big businesses, and selling them
more state run businesses.
7) In a few years the producers will only have two options: to immigrate to
the cities or to the United States, or to change to cultivating products for
agro-exports that the transnational corporations impose by whim, increasing
poverty as well as increasing business profits. This is already occurring
in the border regions of Chiapas, most of all in the districts of the
municipality Frontera Comalapa and Chicomuselo, where growers have already
planted cantaloupe, watermelon, or the cempasuchil flower proposed to them
by the companies. This new production causes more migration, loss of corn,
and indebtedness that they try to pay by giving the campesinos advance money
from the Procampo resources of the coming years. Even worse is the
pretension to pay credits with the turning over of their lands, by demanding
property title before giving credit, which was promoted by Procede, the
Program of Certification of Common Land Rights. In this context campesina
and indigenous women suffer the worst consequences because the properties
remain in the hands of men.
8) That if the invasion of patented corn enters the highlands,
northern and jungle region, where the indigenous campesinos due to land
conditions produce less tons per hectare, it will provoke more hunger and
misery in the Chiapas countryside.
The Mexican government continues declaring war on the Mexican countryside
and its producers, and with the Indigenous people this is aggravated by not
complying with the San Andres Accords with the approval of the Cocopa Law on
Indigenous Rights and Culture. Mexico urgently needs a governmental policy
for the countryside that benefits poor people, campesinos and indigenous
people, guaranteeing food self-sufficiency without turning over our
sovereignty to U.S. transnational corporations. The indigenous people have
had corn in their hands for millennia; they have cared for it and
diversified the seeds. Hundreds of species of corn were born and have been
enjoyed by humanity. Now we are losing this biodiversity and it is being
patented and privatized by companies that are pirating the seed, wrenching
it out of indigenous hands and returning it to them with brands,
prohibitions, controls and more agrotoxics. Indigenous resistance is not
only political, but also deals with food. Whoever controls food and seeds
controls the lives and the resistance of the people. Maintaining Creole
corn is defending our identity, food, culture and future. The resistance of
the Creole corn is the resistance and responsibility of everyone.
Gustavo Castro Soto.
Center for Economic and Political Investigations of Community Action, A.C.
CIEPAC, member of the "Convergence of Civil Organizations for Democracy"
National Network (CONVERGENCIA)
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Translated by Jodie Zisow for CIEPAC, A. C.
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Eje Vial Uno Numero 11
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C I E P A C
Centro de Investigaciones Econ�micas y Pol�ticas de Acci�n Comunitaria, A.C.
Eje Vial Uno No. 11
Colonia Jardines de Vista Hermosa
29297 San Crist�bal de Las Casas, Chiapas, M�xico
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CIEPAC, es miembro del Movimiento por la Democracia y la vida (MVD) de
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