GM Industry Fuels Rise in Suicides Among Indian Farmers

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Thursday, 21 September 2006

The New York Times features an article about the increase in suicide rates among Indian farmers. The article reports, ‘frustration is building in India with American multinational companies peddling costly, genetically modified seeds. They have made deep inroads in rural India — a vast and alluring market — bringing new opportunities but also new risks as Indian farmers pile up debt. […] Subsidies, once a linchpin of Indian economic policy, have dried up for virtually everyone except the producers of staple food grains. Indian farmers now must compete or go under. To compete, many have turned to high-cost seeds, fertilisers and pesticides, which now line the shelves of even the tiniest village shops.
Source: www.soilassociation.org