Our memorandum to Tamil Nadu Agriculture University

South Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers’ Movements

(SICCFM)

636, Ideal Homes Township,

Raja Rajeswari Nagar, Bangalore -5600098. Karnataka.

Telephone +91 94444089543

Email: siccfm@gmail.com

To:

                                                                                                            October 29, 2010

The Vice Chancellor,

Tamil Nadu Agriculture University,

Coimbatore.

Dear Sir,

Sub: Cancelling all collaborative research projects with corporations like Mahyco, Monsanto & others – stopping appropriation of farmers’ resources

This is with regard to the various collaborative research projects that your University has with corporations like Mahyco, Monsanto and others, especially with regard to transgenic seed development (Bt Brinjal, for instance) and testing (Monsanto’s GM Maize, for instance).

We, farmers and consumers representing more than 15 states of the country, have come into your University as part of Kisan Swaraj Yatra today, to highlight the agrarian distress that Indian farmers are steeped in and the lack of accountability displayed by agricultural universities/NARS to stem the distress by way of promoting sustainable technologies and stopping toxic, ‘treadmill’ technologies that are making farming unviable, eroding natural resources and providing toxic food to consumers.

The Kisan Swaraj Yatra is a nation-wide mobilization drawing fresh attention to the continuing agricultural crisis in India, and calling for a comprehensive new path for Indian agriculture – that will provide livelihood and food security for small farmers, keep our soils alive, and our food and water poison-free. It set off on Gandhi Jayanti at Sabarmati Ashram and will end on December 11^th 2010 at Rajghat, Delhi, after covering 20 states in all. Thousands of farmers and consumers are joining this Yatra around the country to highlight the role of anti-farmer policies adopted by the government in deepening the distress and in particular, to highlight the contribution of faulty agricultural technologies promoted by the agri-research establishment.

We are concerned in particular about the role that TNAU has played in allowing corporations like Mahyco to appropriate farmers’ varieties in the guise of collaborative research. Your University, as a sub-licensee to Mahyco, provided the company with brinjal varieties that were essentially derived from farmers’ varieties and after backcrossing for the Bt gene, these varieties were returned as Bt Brinjal varieties to you. However, Mahyco has proprietary rights over the EE1 event and we would like to know from the University who the Bt Brinjal varieties now belong to – who owns them?

Further, we would like to find out from the University why Bt Brinjal is needed when ecological pest management options exist for controlling pests and diseases in crops like Brinjal. TNAU has itself evolved several such NPM (Non pesticidal management) options for brinjal pest management along with groups like NRI, UK, as we are aware. Why can’t the technology transfer gap be bridged for technologies like NPM rather than going in for hazardous, unproven-to-be-safe technologies?

We would like to know from the University whether there has been any analysis taken up by the University on the current agrarian crisis in the country and the role of agricultural technologies in increasing indebtedness, eroding/contaminating resources and making farming unviable.

We would also like to know what independent tests has the University taken up to assess the biosafety of Bt Brinjal apart from falling back on a corporation’s word for it, of which you are a sub-licensee? As a public sector body being run by taxpayers’ funds, why was not any independent study taken up by your University on conclusive evidence related to biosafety, including long term implications?

We are concerned about disproportionate investments going into transgenic research compared to sustainable, ecological options and would like to know from the University whether this has been assessed and analysed in the University and which technologies have been assessed to be more sustainable, for the benefit of farmers and consumers.

WE would like the University to assure the farmers of Tamil Nadu that it would stop facilitating appropriation of farmers’ varieties by corporations, that it would immediately stop all transgenic trials that it is taking up, that it would recast its agriculture research mandate to keep sustainability as a key parameter for all projects and that it would promote existing environment-friendly, affordable & safe technologies as the way forward for the extension system to pick up too. It is also important for the University to document and disseminate farmers’ practices that are sustainable, viable, safe and affordable.

We request you to address all these issues of concern and we hope to hear from you at the earliest on these issues.

Sincerely,

Signed by farmers leaders and kisan Swaraj Yatra participants.