{"id":4950,"date":"2022-10-13T13:41:13","date_gmt":"2022-10-13T05:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/panap.net\/?p=4950"},"modified":"2022-10-13T13:41:13","modified_gmt":"2022-10-13T05:41:13","slug":"imperialist-food-chains-the-need-to-resist-agrochemical-tncs","status":"publish","type":"panap_updates","link":"https:\/\/panap.net\/beta\/updates\/imperialist-food-chains-the-need-to-resist-agrochemical-tncs\/","title":{"rendered":"Imperialist food chains: The need to resist agrochemical TNCs"},"content":{"rendered":"

One year ago, peoples from around the world gathered in unity for the Global People\u2019s Summit on Food Systems. It was a pivotal point in the momentous struggle for just, equitable, healthy and sustainable food systems\u2014the people\u2019s act of resistance against imperialism\u2019s drive to derive superprofits from agri-food systems through increasingly sophisticated ways.<\/p>\n

Agri-food systems encompass many interrelated aspects that are most vital to humanity\u2019s survival: Food. Culture. Livelihoods. Ecosystems. Climate. The health, well-being and sustainability of all life on the planet.<\/p>\n

Corporations, rich nations, international finance institutions, and other neoliberal actors\u00a0who had gathered last year for the UN Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) also wax eloquent about agri-food systems, claiming to \u201ctransform\u201d it to meet Sustainable Development Goals, primarily the goals of combatting hunger, poverty, and climate change. But we exposed the UNFSS as a farce. For how can world leaders talk about ending hunger and poverty without heeding the demands of small food producers who are the hungriest, poorest, and the most affected by climate change? How can there be radical change in food systems when control over land and natural resources, policy, trade, finance, and technology, remains firmly and exclusively in the hands of the global elite? How can polluting and extractive agrochemical TNCs lead the charge in climate-resilient or sustainable farming, when they have yet to be held accountable for the catastrophic harms they have caused to human health and the environment?<\/p>\n

The quest for power and superprofits by the two main imperialist powers is reflected in the latest composition of the world\u2019s agrochemical and seed giants<\/a>, also known as the Big Four. The Syngenta Group\u2014which became supersized due to the acquisition by China\u2019s ChemChina & SinoChem\u2014now accounts for one-fourth of the global pesticide market. This is followed by Germany\u2019s Bayer (which merged with the US company Monsanto), BASF, and Corteva (a merger of two US companies, Dow and DuPont). The Big Four controls 62 percent of the pesticide market. Because of how pesticides are designed to be used with hybrid and genetically modified seeds, these same corporations also dominate the seed industry. Only six companies, including the Big Four, control 58% of the global seed market. It is clear that capitalist dictates have shaped how our food is grown\u2014that is, in ways that bind farmers to expensive chemical inputs that poisons and buries them in debt.<\/p>\n

In Asia, many farmers are caught in a debt trap because of the rising costs of inputs, forcing them to sell their lands. More than half of India\u2019s agricultural households are in debt<\/a>, with the average debt jumping by nearly 58 per cent in the five years period between 2013 and 2018. Furthermore, it is estimated that 385 million farmers and farmworkers, or almost half of the farming population, suffer from acute pesticide poisoning each year. This figure does not yet include the long-term or chronic health effects of pesticides, as well as farmer suicides. It is clear that in order for farmers to unchain themselves from imperialist domination in food and agriculture, it is also necessary to break free from agrochemical TNCs and assert agroecology as part of the movement for people\u2019s food sovereignty.<\/p>\n

Following the UNFSS, agrochemical TNCs have been especially aggressive in selling \u201ctechno-fixes,\u201d harping on the need to increase productivity amid the global food crisis. This is despite the fact that the skyrocketing prices of food are disconnected from the actual volume of food being produced; and the fact that techno-fixes such as genetically-modified crops are actually associated with declining productivity. Healthy and nutritious food and climate-friendly and resilient farming had always come from farmers\u2019 agroecological practices and knowledge. But corporations are trying to redefine food nutrition and climate change solutions with proprietary technology, such as GM \u201cclimate-smart\u201d and biofortified crops. Unfortunately, governments, international financial institutions, and even UN agencies lead the way in ensuring increased market access for these companies.<\/p>\n

Here are some examples:<\/p>\n