Corporate Control of Rice
Corporate agriculture model of rice cultivation comprises monocropping, corporate developed and owned seeds, chemical pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. Through what was called the “Green Revolution”, “high yielding varieties (HYV)” or “high input varieties” were introduced. HYV seeds were and are still part of a corporate package of synthetic fertilizers and harmful chemical pesticides which have pushed up input costs and further impoverished small rice farmers, driving them into debt. HYV seeds can only be multiplied by farmers for their use only for a very limited time.

The new varieties are not stable. After few generations, they start to deteriorate. Therefore, the farmer has to buy regularly new seeds. Traditional varieties do not create this dependence, though farmers can and do improve them through constant selection. Traditional local varieties are also better adjusted to local environments. Yields of HYVs in fact stagnated and dropped. Later, hybrid rice varieties were developed – these are also dependent on external inputs. Hybrid rice seeds perform very poorly if saved and grown so farmers have to buy new seeds every cropping season.

Corporate agriculture has poisoned people and rice fields with pesticides and synthetic fertilizers; degraded rice lands; destroyed rice ecosystems, ecological rice practices and rice culture; eliminated traditional native rice varieties; and severely undermined the safety of the cereal as food. Through intellectual property rights, rice seed varieties are moving from the hands of farmers, particularly women, and indigenous communities to those of seed companies and privatized agencies. The control of seeds and agriculture rightfully belongs to the farmers of the land.