Green Revolution - The Capitalist Propaganda

The World Wide Agriculture Movement called the Green Revolution which took off in a big way in 1960's was the result of the research that began in 1944, when the Rockefeller Foundation and the Mexican government established a plant-breeding station north-western Mexico.

The success in Mexico led to the establishment of another plant-breeding center in the Philippines which is known today as the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).

That trend reduced the diversity of grain crops especially Rice and Wheat. IRRI took control of the traditional varieties of rice from the Asian countries, as a result, the local farming communities lost control of the seeds which are now kept in a giant genetic seed bank. The rice seeds released by IRRI, despite being labeled as the high yielding varieties are susceptible to pest and diseases and requires heavy use of pesticides and fertilizers. Also these seeds cannot be kept for replanting as they will not produce well, thus the farmers are required to purchase new seeds every time.

This is how the capitalist world have introduced the globalized food system through reducing the diversity of seeds and traditional varieties which are tolerant to climate change and pest and diseases, so they make huge profits from hybrids, high yielding varieties and genetically modified seeds and the agro-chemicals. The seed companies such as Mosanto are big players in the globalized food system.

All over Asia, the peasants are rising and mobilizing to deglobalize the food system to harness the diversification of seeds which are in the hands of the farmers and NOT IRRI or Mosanto.

The Green Revolution is a Capitalist Propaganda for a Globalized Food System control by the minority. 2010 April 4 will be IRRI's 50 years of capitalist globalized seed bank. The farmers in the Asia-Pacific region are raising one voice - SHUT DOWN IRRI, Deglobalised the food system, Hand back the seeds to the farmers. It is a crime to take seeds away from the people and make profits out of their poverty.