Mexican Farmers Oppose Expansion of Transgenic Crops

[Judi Lynn]

Mexican Farmers Oppose Expansion of Transgenic Crops
By Emilio Godoy

MEXICO CITY, Jul 14 2014 (IPS) - Bean grower Manuel Alvarado is part of the majority of producers in Mexico who consider it unnecessary to introduce genetically modified varieties of beans, as the government is promoting.

“There is no study showing superior yields compared with hybrid or regional seeds. People are still unaware of what transgenic products are, nor the effects they have, but some of the things that are known about them are not good,” said Alvarado, the head of Enlaces al Campo, a bulk beans sales company in the city of Fresnillo, in the northern state of Zacatecas.

Genetically modified organisms (GMO) may cause a number of problems, among them the possibility that “transgenics will contaminate native and hybrid seeds, which have higher germination rates than transgenics,” Alvarado told IPS.

Bean farmers in Mexico face a context of overproduction, low prices and increasing imports, in a country where there are 300,000 bean producers, half of them small scale farmers.

More:
http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/07/mexican-farmers-oppose-expansion-of-transgenic-crops/

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

1. One quibble with one of Alvarado's quotes...

The higher germination rates are not necessarily reflective of transgenic or non-transgenic origin, but may simply reflect the tendency of transnational GM seed sellers to dump older seed (with lower germination rates) onto secondary markets if they can't sell it in larger markets.

[truedelphi]

2. Thank you for the post.

Most people who have looked into the issue know that it is food distribution (or lack thereof) that causes so many in third world nation's to go hungry.

Also, the public was told: Transgenic foods supposedly would not need as much pesticide - then the farmers found out that they need to use more. Additionally with glyphosate, POEA, and whatever aldehyde they put in RoundUp destroying the health of the soil, farmers must go back to working fertilizers into the soil.

The expense is also great, as they cannot save up seed from year to year.

And on top of all that, if a farmer decides to go "organic" but his crop is contaminated with a neighbor's Gm stuff, the farmer will lose his land to ether Monsanto or his attorneys!