IRRI acting as sales rep for hybrid rice, threats land grabbing in many countries

The Asia-wide peasant group Asian Peasant Coalition (APC) said that on March 7, 2009, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) led by its Director-General Dr. Robert Zeigler has met with high-ranking government officials of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia regarding efforts to secure rice production overseas. IRRI’s Zeigler targeted Ethiopia , Sudan , Egypt , Tanzania , Mozambique , Mali and Southern Brazil , claiming they are “not highly populated and have good resources and climate for rice production.” IRRI met with KSA’s General Manager of National Office for Industrial Strategies Dr. Ahmed M. Al-Sadhan, and representatives of Foras International Investment Company (Foras), a subsidiary of Islamic Chamber of Commerce, funded by the Islamic Development Bank.

“IRRI is now concretizing itself as a sales rep for hybrid rice, at the same time, threatens the displacement of countless farmers from different countries as their project targets large-scale mechanized farming, to be exported to Gulf countries,” said Danilo Ramos, Secretary-General of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP, Peasant Movement of the Philippines) and APC.

“IRRI is really commercializing rice to rich countries at the cost of displacing rice farmers. The Foras project intends to produce 7 million tons of rice in 7 years or 7x7. IRRI has reported that the project already acquired 200,000 hectares in Mali , 500,000 hectares in Senegal and 10,000 acres in Sudan ,” added Ramos.

The group said that it would be an added mischief to African farmers if they would be displaced of their farms, or be subjected to cultivation of hybrid rice which is a big threat to the health of farmers globally. Hybrid rice is publicly known to be dependent on inputs developed by agro-chemical TNCs collaborating with IRRI.

“What hybrid rice and IRRI rice varieties caused the countries that cultivated it would happen in Africa and other countries. These IRRI varieties destroyed the bio-diversity of the environment as it required loads of agro-chemicals, caused diseases to rice farmers and put them in debt and poverty,” said Ramos.

“IRRI is pushing with the semi-colonial orientation, where poor countries are forced to supply cheap agricultural produce to rich countries, imperialist agro-TNCs extracting profits while putting millions of rice farmers in danger,” added Ramos.

APC said that people from different countries should learn from the experiences of other countries. In the Philippines , the so-called home of IRRI, food security in rice was never realized as high-yielding and hybrid varieties always required costly agricultural inputs to secure the profits of agro-TNCs. Philippines , an agricultural country and a rice-exporting country in the previous decades have been transformed into the world’s top importer of rice.

“We are calling on the farmers from different countries, especially on the African countries targeted by IRRI, to be ready and oppose this massive project. This signals your expulsion from your farms or the endangerment of your health as hybrid rice requires deadly agro-chemicals marketed by IRRI. We should all unite to oppose hybrid rice and abolish IRRI,” Ramos called. #