STATEMENT OF THE ASIAN PEASANTS MOVEMENTS

The International Year of Rice

Rice is life to us, people of Asia . Rice is our staple food and millions of farmers are involved in its production. These farmers, the women, their families and the communities depend on rice as food and as means of income. It is livelihood. Rice is part and parcel of our culture, our celebrations and our links with our communities.

But with globalization and with the implementation of the conditions of WTO through the AoA, rice production is threatened. The control over rice production is more and more moving into the hands of transnational corporations and the countries of the developed world, such as the US and Europe.

With the arrogant trade liberalization policies, opening of our markets to import of rice and the removal of tariffs, rice producers are being eliminated. Through the removal of subsidies, and burdened with debts due to high costs of production, including the continuous purchase of seeds, small farmers are selling off lands or lands are confiscated. Unable to compete in the open market, farmers with land are moving to cash crop cultivation for profit. The land for rice is now becoming land for flowers, cassava, animal feed and produce for export; the removal of quota on the import of rice in the Philippines will now further displace farmers and their families. The contract farming in China with corporations has now turned rice fields to horticulture.

Through the patenting rights enforced by the TRIPS agreement, rice seed varieties are now moving from the hands of women farmers and agricultural communities to the control of seed companies and privatized agencies. The IRRI, an institution developed to increase the capacities of farmers in Asia to produce food to feed the people, has lost its direction. It is today collaborating with the industry, providing information to companies and giving seed varieties to those companies. It is facilitating the control of seeds by transnational corporations and destroying farmers’ control over seeds.

The struggle of thousands of farmers of Thailand over the patenting of jasmine rice by the US is a clear manifestation of control over production and marketing of jasmine rice.

This trend in rice production and the increasing dependency of our countries to the import of rice as food is about a grave threat to food security access to food, and denies millions in Asia the right to food. In short, the only interest in rice today is to make it a commodity to be traded in the international market. Through this agenda the corporations and the developed world will be able to control our food, our lands and our means of production. It therefore strengthens imperialist globalization of dominance and power in Asia .

This agenda has even been further developed and pushed through the International Year of Rice (IYR). The IYR’s focus and emphasis, both by the FAO and IRRI, has been higher productivity in terms of quantity per hectare with hybrid rice. The FAO further emphasises that increased production should also come through the use of biotechnology and thus, the need for GE rice. In short, the IYR is a year to move production to corporations and eliminate our farming communities. It has in fact failed in its objectives as the number of hungry people has increased and more farmers have lost their livelihood, their right to land and resources. The IYR has failed to address the fundamental and root causes of hunger, of production and access to land and resources, and distribution of food.

The decoding of the rice genome, and development of so-called ‘golden rice’ will not in any way solve problems of hunger and malnourishment. It will only bring about further control over rice, its production, distribution and control.

But farmers in Asia are resisting this control, the loss of land and livelihoods. While the peasant movements gain momentum and strength, governments are increasing their repression through increased militarization, criminalization of actions and displacement of farming communities. We pay tribute to the South Korean farmer Lee, who immolated himself in Cancun to send a message that globalization only means death to a rice farmer in Asia . The meaning of his death can only be seen in a resurrection and consolidation of our struggles against imperialist globalization.

Thus, in order to ensure continued rice production for our families, our communities and our nations, we must reject WTO, its conditionalities and control over food and agriculture. To ensure food for our millions, rice production must return to our farmers and our communities. Towards this end, we must promote food sovereignty, control over our rice varieties, eliminate pesticides, chemicals and reject GE rice.

It is in rice that we can reclaim our right to livelihood, freedom from hunger, our culture and our future for the next generation.