Floods help to pave the way for <b>GMO</b> rice seeds?

Floods help to pave the way for GMO rice seeds?

Problem-Reaction-Solution

Old yet sure formula by

Roman Emperor Diocletian

of how to control the masses

 

I couldn’t  help it, but decided  to come  out from  my  already too prolonged slumber. Because  as  I can see, there is  a  lack  of coverage  of this  issue  in the  Thai Mainstream  Media. Or even rather opposite:  consistent campaign to  support the efforts by government and  big local and transnational  corporations  to  take under total  control the  rice  production  in Thailand  through  pushing  forward GMO  seeds…

Has  anyone  been paying attention to  all the  recent  and still ongoing  current  floods  in Thailand ?  Whole thing hing  is doubtlessly  pre-arranged.  coz  main reason for these  floods of unprecedented proportion  is  opening  of the 2 dams  and flashing  all the  farmlands.  in fact,  CONTINUOUS flushing!  I mean,  “ajarns”  give opinions  on TV  that  these floods  will continue  for TWO  MONTHS !  how  anyone can possibly makes  such statements  with certainty – unless  it is  planned ?!

even  there  might be  a relation  to   the  using  this  flushing  to  “flush out”  the  increased  political  activities  of opposition.

read  some   statements  in  Thai  MSM  quoting  some big fellas  talking  about  floods  providing a  chance for   “unity”  and “reconciliation”     sh1t  !  what  freaking “unity”  !   while  people  are STARVING  in affected  areas -  Bangkokians  line  up in   Siam  Paragon  to  be  lucky to catch   those  oh so  heavenly delicious  doughnuts  !!!

and funny thing is -  the  “help”  provided  to  those  people  affected  by floods  is  ……..  FLOATING TOILETS!     LOL

but  WHAT   these poor  people will  fill up  those  toilet  with -  if  they  are  NOT  given  a FOOD  first of all ?!

or  these MORONS  who  came up  with  this  brilliant  idea  of toilets  don’t  have  any brains  left  and    forgot  that   to be  able to sh1t   one  has  to   fill up  the  stomach  first ?

Anyway, getting back  to  my main point though  about  GMO  food.

the thing is,  already   few times  on local Thai TV  were few programs, news reports, etc.  talking about :

1)    very likely food  shortage soon – because  a lot of crops  and harvest was  destroyed   (in fact most of farmlands  there are still under water)

2)   they  start  actively propagating GMO    paddy rice  for seeds,  which  they say  will not be  affected  by floods !

also lately  some   fellas  in Thai  forums  started  to  call  public  to join  sort of campaign  to  implement  GMO  food  in Thailand.

those who’re  shrewd enough  can easily  search   on internet  as  well as  youtube  for  a lot of info  about   what  is the actual  danger  and risk of GMO.  I’m not gonna  go into details  now.

however  the  thing is,  there is some something like a pattern  in past several months,  which  somehow  hints  on  sort of a  systematic  efforts   all around the world  for  pushing  forward  GMO:

-   “natural”  disasters  as  huge  floods  in Pakistan  and now in Thailand;  also   forest  fires  in  Russia, Europe  and  few other  related  things  which  in one way or another  affect  the  farming, crops  and  food supplies;

-  another  much less  covered  by MSM  issue  is   “mysterious”  destroying  of   or troubles with seed-banks  in different  places,  as fire  in Tapei  or potential destruction of world’s oldest  seed bank in Pavlovsk.

(previously were similar reports about  other seed-banks in danger)

Not  to mention  the fact  creation of Svalbard International Seed Vault in Norway since 2007

Svalbard Seed Bank

Norwegian ‘doomsday’ vault seeds begin to grow

The stores of seeds in a “doomsday” vault in the Norwegian Arctic are growing as researchers rush to preserve 100,000 crop varieties from potential extinction.

The seeds are going to be critical for protecting the global food supply against devastating crop losses as a result of climate change, said Cary Fowler, executive director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust.

“These resources stand between us and catastrophic starvation,” Fowler said. “You can’t imagine a solution to climate change without crop diversity.”

That’s because the crops being used by farmers will not be able to evolve quickly enough on their own to adjust to predicted drought, rising temperatures and new pests and diseases, he said.

svalbard seed bank

seeds storage

Ordinary people  around the globe  has also  started  to   make their own  seed-banks:

http://www.survivalseedbank.com/

Now,  check this out :   Floods in Pakistan, drought in Russia and a global wake-up call

among other things  here it is  mentioned, sort of “by  the  way” :

“Perhaps genetic modification will do what the green revolution did between 1950 and 1990, but that has yet to be proved.”

Alright? 

Here  is  more  related  stuff meanwhile :

Asia to create emergency rice reserve

Rice futures exchange proposal draws mixed reviews

Aha,  so that’s what is actually all about !   creating  a  chance  to  SPECULATE  on rice supplies  as  commodity,   as  all such  commodities  are being speculated.  Food  shortages  then can easily be created  whenever neccesary ! 

Remember !  rice  is  considered  as  a World’s #1  main staple crop !  wheat  is  #2   and   in that  area  also  efforts  are  going on:  Scientists crack wheat’s genetic code

“The research will also assist the development of genetically modified wheat, which remains one of the few important crops to which biotechnology has yet to be applied.

Such genetic improvements could help to meet a global demand for wheat – a staple crop second in importance only to rice – that is forecast to reach 851 million tonnes (837 million tons) by 2030.“

Then  what ?

How greed leads to hunger

“The heatwave, forest fires and drought in Russia and central Asia may be unprecedented in recent times. But there is something familiar about the ensuing food crisis, as the price of wheat remains 50 per cent higher than just six weeks ago.

It is just two years since the last such crisis. A spike in the price of agricultural commodities in 2007-08 caused panic from Italy to Haiti, drawing sharp attention to a deeper malfunctioning in the world’s food markets…

But the rise in price has been accompanied by a rise in another phenomenon — speculation in commodity markets. Derivatives packaging products such as wheat and maize have created massive profits for speculators with no interest whatsoever in the underlying physical commodities. The number of derivative contracts in commodities increased by more than 500 per cent between 2002 and 2008, a process that accelerated at the end of the last decade, when the collapsing US mortgage market and global recession were followed by a huge spike in food prices. There is clearly a causative link between these two phenomena…

But others claim that the speculation itself has been a cause of volatility in the commodity market. The anti-poverty group World Development Movement, whose recent report singles out the investment bank Goldman Sachs as last year making more than $5 billion (Dh18.35 billion) in profits from commodity trading, describes the practice as “dangerous, immoral and indefensible”. “Silent mass murder” is the phrase used by the former UN special rapporteur on the right to food, Jean Ziegler. The European single market commissioner, Michel Barnier, speaking at the European parliament earlier this year, described the fact that a billion people worldwide were suffering from food insecurity while others profited by speculating on agricultural raw materials as “scandalous”…

Either way, small-scale developing-world producers lose. And when high food prices combine with crop failures, forcing poor farmers to buy staples for their own consumption at market prices, then the issues become concentrated around one stark reality. Hunger.“

See  the picture now ? It  might appear  surrealistic  and  apocalyptic  as  in some recent fiction  novel:

The Windup Girl

“The Windup Girl” by Paolo Bacigalupi

“Countries have fallen as sea levels have risen and entire economies have been obliterated; the calorie companies (American, of course) dominate food production; plagues of rust and other plant diseases (that have resulted from bioengineering plants in the first place) have wiped out whole crops; biotechnology is the dominant scientific and technological exercise because it is so desperately needed, both to create new crops resistant to disease and to check the diseases that already ravage the planet…

We follow the adventures and misadventures of a number of protagonists in Thailand, one of the few remaining Asian countries with anything resembling sovereignty still extant…. Anderson Lake, the surreptitious representative of one of the American calorie companies, on the trail of new fruits and vegetables resistant to the many forms of rust that obliterate who food groups, who becomes her unlikely protector. Lake’s real mission is to discover the location of the Thai seed bank, now that the Finnish seed bank has been blown up by terrorists. Jaidee, the “Tiger of Bangkok,” the leader of the militant “white shirts” of the Environmental Ministry, whose mission is to enforce the Kingdom’s aggressive environmental regulations…. Bangkok is only preserved from flooding, and spared the fate of other major cities of the world, by a series of dikes, it’s eminently believable. When we learn that there are carbon allocations, the enforcement of which is one of the environmental Ministry’s major tasks, we accept this as that way it is. When we learn that what this is all about is access to the Thai seed bank, that makes eminent sense… And this includes the mysterious Gibbons, whom Lake is attempting to find, who is the genetic genius working with the Thai government to keep its gene bank full—and whose motives ultimately are as questionable as those of Lake….

And it’s all too believable that a small number of bioengineering companies would dominate global food production, and that Thailand has only survived by keeping them out…. “

Yeah,  seems  like  a real  fiction.  In reality  though  a lot of things   are  already  actually going on, and  some others  are  being  propagated and  coming soon !

Here  are  few articles  in Thai  newspapers  which  somehow or other  sort of “prepare”  general  public  for  ideas about GMO  food :

GMO energy crops possible

“Businesses are enthusiastic about the prospects of Thailand producing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) for alternative energy.  The question is how committed the Thai government is to pursuing the controversial crops.”

EU authorises GMO potatoes

GM maize trials ignite fears in Mexico

Thai rice gene patent ‘sends wrong signal’

“He suspected the move was influenced by the EU and US, which demand Thailand endorse the registration of living organisms and genetic resources in free-trade deals….

If Thai scientists patent rice genes, foreigners could apply for patents of other genes and living organisms too, Mr Somchai said.”

Alarm raised over GM crop samples

“Banned production is increasing, group says. Genetically-modified chilli and soybean have been found growing in farms in the North and Central Plains, fuelling concerns over the possible spread of the banned crops.

Farmer advocacy group Biothai and the Academic Network on Bio-Resources Protection yesterday released the lab results of 768 crop samples, including maize, rice, papaya, soybean, chilli, pineapple, cotton, tomato and sunflower, which show 17 of the samples are GM crops.

The samples were collected in 40 provinces countrywide from November 2008 to July 2009 and sent to Chulalongkorn University’s laboratory for testing….

Biothai director Withoon Lianchamroon called on agencies to urgently set up a joint committee to deal with the spread of GM crops to local farms.

He gave the agencies two months to stop the contamination of GMOs otherwise the farmer network would come up with means to pressure the government on the matter.

Mr Withoon also demanded that agencies strengthen regulations to prevent GM crops from entering the country, revise the biosafety law to increase the punishment for anyone causing GMO leaks and provide compensation for damaged parties.

The commercial planting of GM crops is banned in Thailand. The government only allows field trials of the crops under the close supervision of the Department of Agriculture.“

So, all these talks about pro and contra regarding GMO might seem theoretical.  However here is in practice:

Economic impact of widespread flooding on Thailand’s crops

“The Thai Rice Mills Association has forecast that rice production might fall by 15-20% to fewer than 20 million tonnes…

Output from the previous main crop totalled 23.3 million tonnes, about 10.5 million tonnes of which were white rice paddy, 6 million tonnes for glutinous rice and 6.5 million for Hom Mali fragrant rice…

Rice production would definitely be hard hit if the floodwaters remain unabated for two or three weeks…

Other crops such as maize, cassava and sugarcane were also put under water, covering about 280,000 rai, and fruit orchards on 32,000 rai. Estimated losses are not available.

Agriculture Minister Theera Wongsamut said heavy rains during August and September had inundated 53 provinces damaging about 2.7 million rai of farmland, 2.4 million of which were rice fields.

This month’s heavy floods, he added, had inundated 24 provinces, with about 1.6 million rai damaged, 1.3 million of which were for rice. Losses have yet to be estimated. ..”

Floods spur rice demand

“Importers rushing to place rice orders… numerous cargo ships in Thai ports busy loading rice this month…

The price of 100% B grade white rice also rose to $520 a tonne yesterday, from $505 last week…

The oil crisis and concerns about food crops being diverted for fuel pushed up commodity prices around the globe and Thai fragrant rice reached a record $1,222 a tonne in May that year.“

Opportunity lost. Drowned hopes

“Farmers here had high hopes for their second crop this year. Their expectations plummeted as the water kept on rising after floods hit the area and healthy rice plants were submerged for several weeks….

‘I don’t know whether the Irrigation Department will discharge water to us [later this year],’’ she said.

“

So, the old sure formula of those who controls and manipulates the populations is simple:

“Problem –> Reaction —-> Solution” – right ?

Problems are plentiful : so called “natural” disasters, ranging from global warming to floods, fires, droughts. Reaction is evident: crops loss, increasing market speculations of commodities, rise of food prices, pretty possible food shortages soon…

Then what is the obvious next step ? That’s right ! “SOLUTION” !

and that would be :

Flood-resistant rice and   Flood-resistant rice developed

Below is a  blatant PROPAGANDA article by UN University which indicates that efforts to propagate GMO rice as an answer to “climate change” and other disasters as floods, droughts etc has been made well in advance, several months before the current ongoing floods in Thailand:

Thailand’s rice farmers adapt to climate change

May 24, 2010

http://ourworld.unu.edu/en/climate-change-adaptation-for-thailands-rice-farmers/

“Rice has long been Thailand’s traditional food crop and the country’s main export product. Though declining in relative importance, it still occupies about 55% of the total arable land . Over 80% of the Thai population eats rice as their main meal, with annual per capita consumption totalling 100.8 kg.

The world too, depends on the country’s rice. Despite recent uncertainties, Thailand remains the world’s largest rice exporter according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s Rice Market Monitor. The country’s rice exports in 2010 are forecast to exceed 9 million tonnes…

Adaptation a must

Traditionally, farmers grew rice for household consumption by using seeds and seedlings from the previous crop, which were mostly resistant to pests and disease.

As part of the plan, the Thai government has been promoting new genetically modified (GM) varieties of deep water rice (not re-usable), which usually remain in flood waters of over 50 cm for one month. New drought-resistant rice varieties — RD12 for glutinous and RD33 for non-glutinous rice — are also being produced with the application of DNA technology and distributed to drought affected areas.

However, since the government cannot provide enough of its own to distribute to all farmers, many private companies are also producing these new varieties. As a result, the farmers that can afford to buy them have shown an interest in new varieties of rice that will provide higher yields than traditional varieties.

For those that cannot afford the new seeds, the most commonly used adaptation techniques have been to change cropping patterns and the cropping calendar, and improve farm management. The government has also constructed embankments to protect rice farms from flood damage…

It is clear that the government should place an emphasis on production processes that not only increase yields, but are environmentally friendly and raise awareness about climate change in the Thai population….”

Here are more recent news which shows the evidence of further pushing of GMO rice seeds :

Global rice demand, production high in Vietnam meetings

November 8, 2010

http://www.ft.lk/2010/11/08/global-rice-demand-production-high-in-vietnam-meetings/

“With erratic weather threatening to cut world rice output every year, traders said some producing nations as well as importing countries would pay more attention to the GMO technique in a bid to raise output to offset falls brought by adverse weather.

“China is one of an example of this case. It finally accepts GMO technology to get higher output for its population and after China I think there could be other countries to invest in GMO as we all have realised that we can’t fight against force of nature,” a Bangkok-based trader said.”

Who that Bangkok-based trader might be, huh ? not CP by chance ?

related:

Monsanto

Study Proves Three Monsanto Corn Varieties’ Noxiousness to the Organism

Monsanto’s Harvest of Fear

Monsanto Terminator Technology — Worldwide Famine & Starvation

and especially this :

Monsanto to Offer Free Rice Tech

08.05.2000

“The company also said it has launched a new website, www.rice-research.org, where researchers can mine a database of the rice genome, which Monsanto decoded in April.”

Monsanto Pushes ‘Golden Rice’

August 4, 2000

Monsanto moves in on rice through the back-door

12 March 2007

“Monsanto is notorious for its aggressive moves to force open markets for its GM crops. But when it comes to rice, the multinational corporation is strangely low-profile. This is not to say that Monsanto’s leaving rice to its competitors. The potential market is just too big to pass up. It’s just chosen to take another track with rice, gradually building its position through collaboration with smaller companies.

Last month, Monsanto raised its involvement in rice up a notch by signing a “technology exchange agreement” with the Belgian/Singapore-based biotechnology company Devgen that gives the start-up a bundle of cash and access to Monsanto’s rice breeding and GM technologies.”

coincidentally or not so, Rice stock exchange is also being planned in Singapore:

November 09, 2010

“SINGAPORE should become the global hub of rice futures and spot trading to defend Asia’s billions from price swings, food riots and shortages…

Others have warned, however, that it could attract the sort of speculative money that can, without proper regulation, allow bubbles to inflate and exacerbate crashes… “

Information and analysisfor the resistance to hybrid rice

Taking a slice of the GM rice pie

04 November 2010

“Brazil is no small market for Bayer’s LL62, and neither is Asia, its other target…

Meanwhile, seemingly oblivious of this or the Bt rice contamination scandal in China, the Philippines and Bangladesh are gearing up to commercialise golden rice in farmers’ fields. The Philippines plans to start field testing Vit A rice in December this year, racing to be the first Asian country to commercialise GM rice in the world…

Over in Bangladesh, the Director General of Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), Mohammad Abdul Mannan, early last month has also expressed the intention to introduce genetically engineered rice in the country…

A more recent development that would put all this in perspective is the approval of India’s Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) to allow a confined field trial of DuPont’s transgenic rice hybrids in Hyderabad… DuPont’s move is a very smart one. The Union Government of India has recently unveiled its big plan to launch a second Green Revolution in the eastern states, with heavy emphasis on Chinese-style, massive scale, hybrid rice production…

We’ve always believed that this is where corporate rice breeding is heading: a combination of hybrid and GM rice – put into motion by private seed companies that will ensure them profits, without having to depend on terminator technologies or IPR regimes. If the seed industry gets its way, transgenic hybrid rice could be the norm 3-4 years from now. To ensure its place within this future scenario, IRRI set-up the hybrid rice consortium in 2007 as a platform for germplasm exchange among itself and an elite club of private seed companies like DuPont, Bayer, Monsanto and Syngenta.

Government agencies like Philrice in the Philippines and BRRI in Bangladesh, who have token membership in the consortium, are therefore racing to get their varieties tested and commercialised. Obviously they do not want to get bypassed by these developments, they want to be important players as well so they can keep their legitimacy in the fast becoming corporate domain that is rice research. Thus under the pretext of solving Vit A deficiency, these government agencies pretend to be itching to get golden rice on the ground. In reality, it has nothing to do with that objective but just a move to secure their place in the GM race for this important staple crop. It’s a big pie they too want a good slice of. “

Obviously, there  are  LARGE, GIGANTIC  Transnational Corporations  which are  major  players  in this  affair of pushing forward  GMO !  Why?  Yeah,  business -  ensuring  the  control  over HUGE  market  of  rice,  which is  the main staple food crop  in the whole world, or  in other words  the  main if not the ONLY  food for billions of people!  Merely India  and China  comprise  2.5+ bln people, that is almost  half  of the world’s population.  And if you count  whole  Asia, Africa  and  all  all others  who  consume rice grains in their daily diet -  the  number will be  well over  50%   of the world !

So, how to  control  rice  trade? Come to think of it,  it would be difficult, if not impossible. Because  in most  of countries,  ordinary  farmers  grow  their own rice for  consumption,  on family  level,  and  also similar on National  level. In other words, both on grassroot level of individual farmers  and on National  level of countries,  more or less  they are self-sufficient :  they  do not  import  rice from elsewhere.

Therefore  the only possible way to  take over this  HUGE  market  would be – to  do something which would ensure  that  farmers  in ALL those rice producing countries  can no longer  grow  rice  from their own seeds !  And that is  precisely what  is going on  on GLOBAL SCALE ! All those  TNCs  companies  compete  hard  and  are being helped in all possible ways  by IRRI  by hook or crook  to  push out  local species  of  rice seeds,  and  slowly but surely replace  them with  THEIR OWN  either hybrid  or  blatantly GMO  seeds,  that’s what “Terminator Technology” is all about :  Farmers  become  forever  dependent  on BUYING SEEDS  FROM THOSE  CORPORATIONS or their agents and dealers! Even for their own  daily  consumption.

CONTROL THE SEEDS – AND YOU WILL CONTROL THE  WHOLE WORLD – literally !

because in such a way you control  all the stages  of Food production, trade, distribution, consumption.

and  what  humans  can do without  food ? 

Now, what is IRRI and its role in the whole GM affair ?

“The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) … Its main goal is to find sustainable ways to improve the well being of present and future generations of poor rice farmers and consumers while at the same time protecting the natural environment.

IRRI was established in 1959 with support from the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations and the Philippine government. It is Asia’s largest non-profit agricultural research center.”

you get the drift ?     Rockefeller Foundation – why I’m not surprised ?

and what a nice touchy words, huh? “taking care of poor farmers” – WOW !

Here is how farmers express their “deep gratitude”  to IRRI :

IRRI under siege

15 April 2010

“On 12 April 2010, close to 1000 farmers from different parts of the Philippines, joined with representatives of farmers organisations from other Asian countries such as Cambodia, India, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan and Vietnam, to gather at the main gate of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Los Banos, Laguna (Philippines). Inside, IRRI celebrated its 50th anniversary, while outside these farmers were calling, once and for all, for IRRI’s abolition… IRRI’s 50th year should be its last…

As expected, none from IRRI’s top management came out. Here was an Institute that claims to feed half of the world’s population, yet it couldn’t face these poor farmers who spoke about the three million people who have already died of hunger since the start of this year, while 1.23 billion suffer from malnutrition. Here was an Institute that proclaims to be the home of the Green Revolution in Asia, yet it couldn’t afford to hear the real accounting of how its programmes have wreaked havoc on farmers’ fields across the region. Here was an Institute that vows to improve the health of rice farmers and ensure that rice production is environmentally sustainable, yet it refuses to acknowledge the casualties of its chemically-laden rice research operations. Several former field workers of IRRI died over the years from their exposure to hazardous chemicals while others, who were in the protest, continue to suffer from pesticide-related symptoms. Had anyone from IRRI’s management or trustees come out, they would have heard from several organisations in Asia that pesticide poisoning remains rampant among rice farmers who plant IRRI-developed varieties…

“IRRI is like a broker for large TNCs (transnational corporations)…

“We do not believe that IRRI’s rice research is for a better world. What IRRI is doing is rice science for a bitter world, for a corporate world, for TNCs world,”

“IRRI is the enemy of the Asia’s peasants. We want it out of the Philippines or anywhere in Asia. We want IRRI out now because it has done nothing for the people. IRRI is useless,” “

NICE ! Celebrated IRRI given due credits by those very farmers it supposedly self-proclaimedly strives to help, huh ? Or rather actually helps only those big TNCs, as farmers already figured out.

It is not the first time farmers call for IRRI’s closure: Groups call for IRRI’s closure

Another corporate client for IRRI

02 April 2010

“This week IRRI and the Belgian seed and biotech company Devgen announced a 4-year collaboration to develop drought-tolerant hybrid rice varieties…

This is the third agreement that IRRI has made with a multinational seed company under its Scientific Know-how Exchange Program (SKEP). The first was with DuPont in March 2009, also focussing on the development and commercialisation of hybrid rice varieties, and the second was last December, with Bayer… “

Bayer and other companies to oversee IRRI’s hybrid rice consortium

23 September 2008

Survey says farmers feel GMOs are unsafe

On 23 July 2005

“…nearly half the farmers agreed that Thai farmers were not yet ready to embrace GM farming. The study said they were not sure about the risks associated with it. They wanted the state to educate them before encouraging them to adopt the technology…”

And last, but not the least, the final clue for who’s the major player in Thailand:

CP and hybrid rice in Thailand

26 December 2003

“Charoen Pokphand Trading Group says it will introduce hybrid rice variety in Thailand in 2005 and plans to introduce hybrid jasmine variety in 2008 “

Thailand: Biothai crashes CP’s party

05 September 2008

“With the power struggle between political parties grabbing the headlines these days in Thailand, another power play is happening behind the scenes. Charoen Pokphand (CP), a Thai-based multinational conglomerate controlled by the family of Danin Chearavanont, involved in everything from poultry and seeds to telecommunications and real estate, is now making a big move for control over the country’s enormous rice economy– and hybrid rice is at the centre of its plan…

But Biothai, a Thai NGO that supports people’s control over biodiversity, was well-prepared to take on the Thai corporate giant. The day before CP’s highly publicised commercial release of its new hybrid rice seed varieties this past June, Biothai released a devastating report, detailing how CP’s varieties were not at all what the company was claiming.

CP advertised that its hybrid rice would yield between 20-50 per cent more than the other conventional varieties on the market, with a yield potential of over 9 tonnes per hectare. It also said that farmers would get higher incomes and would use less chemical inputs…

The farmers surveyed by Biothai also said that the quality of the CP rice was low, and not suitable to the local food markets. According to Biothai, CP buys the hybrid rice from farmers, processes it into parboiled rice and ships it to Africa. CP manages its hybrid rice seed business and its rice trading activities through its subsidiary CP Intertrade…

So far, Thailand’s Rice Department has said that it will not support hybrid rice, mainly because of its poor quality and the complex production process that it requires. But CP is a highly-connected, politically powerful company in Thailand and the company’s president, Danin Chearavanont, has put forward a plan to reorganise the country’s rice production. Danin is calling on the government to convert a large part of the rice area to growing rubber and palm oil (organised by CP of course), and to switch the remaining rice area to hybrid rice, which he says can both yield more and be grown three times a year as opposed to two.

Already, Biothai says CP’s hybrid rice push is advancing at the local level. The local agricultural officers are acting like promotional agents for CP and the rural banks are telling farmers that they won’t loan them money unless they use hybrid rice seeds.“

For information:

according to Forbes 2010 List of Thai Top 40 richest men, Dhanin Chearavanont is on the very top of this list as #1 , with $7 billion Net worth. Family Businesses among others :

* CP Seven Eleven (Thailand)

* Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF Thailand).

* True Corporation Thailand.

* Concordian International School (Thailand).

* Magnolias Development (Thailand).

Among other Controversies, there is another curious thing indicating to CP’s involvement with GMO :

“A new species of fish called Pla-Tub-Tim is sold by the Charoen Pokphand Group. They are sold in the young period but they have been sterilized by genetic engineering. However, the law in Thailand does not prohibit the production or consumption of genetically modified food.”

Related articles :

Angry Thai farmers call for ban on GM rice

http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/twr122g.htm

“The Monsanto representative finally spoke up and said that the company is only trying to improve the quality of life for people in the Third World, and villagers can choose not to use GM crops. China and Singapore, she said, are promoting and embracing the technology enthusiastically just so they won’t be dominated by foreign countries….

According to Devlin, a Chinese contact told him that they experienced the same problems with Monsanto’s GM cotton as in the US, with cotton balls dropping off when the crop was sprayed with Roundup. But the farmers were under contract to Monsanto to say nothing!

Monsanto was rebutted by a professor from Prince of Songkla University who dwelt on the importance of protecting Thailand as a centre of rice biodiversity, and who said that it would be very dangerous to release rice GMOs…  Another forceful speaker from the floor said, ‘Monsanto, don’t try to push us! Academics and government officials ought to try to reach a clear understanding on how to protect the natural world. Instead Thailand is being dominated by a group of corporate scientists reaping benefits from the developing to the developed world. Small farmers are being forced into contractual arrangements, or bribery, and have no choice. The Philippines is taking an aggressive stand before the GM crops come in.’”

Rice production hit by Thailand floods

27. Oct, 2010

http://climatesignals.org/2010/10/rice-production-hit-by-thailand-floods/

Thai flood damages large area of rice paddy fields

October 21, 2010

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/7173654.html

Thai Flood-Resistant Jasmine Rice To Be Available Next Year

May 10,2007

http://www.oryza.com/Asia-Pacific/Thailand-Market/flood-resistant-rice.html

“Apichart Vanavichit, director of the state-run Rice Gene Discovery Unit, said the research team first examined the weakness of regular jasmine rice eight years ago. It is popular with farmers in the north and northeast, but can’t tolerate flooding at critical times of the year…

“Researchers and local farmers should learn together in developing new varieties. That would pave the way for more sustainable preservation efforts,” said Apichart. “The government will further develop the strain and promote the new variety in a big way, which will be readily available next year,” he said. “