African country to escape poverty and hunger

[sawfly1]

the other revelation in the article.

that aid would be withheld , if they did not change the the laws to protect the
seed co.s property.

so now we have a situation where taxpayers and donors from other nations, are the
ones paying to bribe to the country to change their laws in favor of the seed co.s

how wild is that.

what happened to the good old days when corporations paid bribes to local officials
with their own money.

How has it come to the point , that , syngenta / Bayer can not only dictate to 3 rd world
countries
,but dictate , the world aid policies of the G8 .

and use our tax dollars to do it.

[hobbyfrmr]

I was being somewhat sarcastic. Agreed, the article is twisted. I have similar thoughts as Sawdly It sure looks like agribusiness is going to impose their patented seeds on African farmers under the guise of eliminating hunger. If you follow the money, it will play out as Sawfly describes, I think it would be a perfect environment for Input Capital Corp to thrive.
Tweety has a point, if the farmers don't want to play by the rules, they can continue using older, non patented seeds.

[jensend]

If you do a little looking around you will find that after the Americans imposed a government on Iraq a plant breeders' rights law was among the very early legislation passed. That's the lobby farmers around the world have to contend with.

[sawfly1]

yes jensend
the blood has not even coagulated yet in iraq
and the seed co.s are telling a puppet govt.
to write laws for them. sick isn't it .

countries and governments , are becoming kinda meaningless.
think about who would , have the will or the power to stop the
bayer monsanto merger.

and when you think about it, what is to stop another merger or 2 ,of seed co.s
potentially you end up with one world seed corporation.

( we talk about too big to fail.
maybe we should be more worried about too big to stop.)

not that they are not already colluding on prices and products
you certainly do not see canola seed at 1/2 the price. do you

with all their laws, in place to prevent anyone ever actually owning a seed variety
that is not 50 years old. if you can find some.

at that point there is no need to research anymore .
you could sell the same seed forever and still extract all the market will bear .



the simple truth is that, for there to be incentive for innovation.
patents have to expire, and use agreements have to be outlawed.

in theory , the seed co.s will have to leave some money on the table for farmers.
or they will not use the product at all

consumers on the other hand are the ones that will ultimately foot the bill for

the seed co.s extortion ,

[seabass]

Scary. Control the seed. Control production(too some degree). Control the population.

[sumdumguy]

Realize the importance of controlling the food supply. Talk about stranglehold.

[farmaholic]

Scary. Control the seed. Control production(too some degree). Control the population.

I doubt it would ever come to this..."Collectively" people have way more power than they realize. Written laws will be defied when the unwritten law of the people's right to revolt supersede the written....

Unjust suppression and hunger are terrific motivators.

[blackpowder]

From what I've read, I doubt many westerners could fathom Africa.
We must be careful what we assume from above the microscope.
Jeffersonian agriculture will, with todays technology, feed a finite population.
Industrial urban employment allowed industrialized agriculture here. As well as a declining birth rate.
License to them the seeds that combat their environment. Remember that Golden Rice was donated by the researchers.
Forget "modernizing" by gifting tons of free arrogance. Or fertilizer etc.
I dont believe that progress can be given.
Perhaps first it must be defined by enough resident population to become a force of desire.
Assisting that force wisely could be the enigma of this century. Its greatest accomplishment?
Whatever it looks like it must be their vision.
Hell, Europe is still struggling with tribalism.