Bengaluru: Activists, agriculture and environment scientists, experts and farmers have raised concerns against the Indian Council for Agricultural Research's (ICAR) move to sign memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with big companies like Amazon and Bayer, noting that the decisions taken without wider public consultation will compromise farmers' rights.
In a letter addressed to Himanshu Pathak, Director General of ICAR and Secretary Department of Agriculture Research and Education of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, the activists sought suspension of the MoUs and disclosure of all the details pertaining to such decisions.
The letter cited press releases and news reports on the ICAR signing MoUs with Amazon, German pharma major Bayer, Syngenta, Coromandel International and Dhanuka Agritech. It said a reading of "all the scare information put out in the public domain" led to several questions.
"The ICAR is tying up with private corporations, including ones with a notorious history of peddling toxic products, for developing 'solutions', including crop varieties. That is the primary mandate of the ICAR itself.. Is this (MoUs) then a statement on ICAR failing in its stated mandate?" it asked.
Written by Kavitha Kuruganti and Sridhar Radhakrishnan of Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture, Kapil Shah of Jatan-A Mission for Sanjiv Kheti, Chennai-based activist Ananthoo and Rythu Swarajya Vedika convener Kiran Vissa, the letter was endorsed by 451 persons, including academicians, environmentalists, experts and others.
The activists questioned the need for collaborations with private entities and sought to know the process under which the companies were selected. "More specifically, what is the Intellectual Property Right (IPR) arrangement in each such instance," they said, in view of the serious allegations against big companies over IPR theft.
It also questioned the lack of consultation and public debate on the decision to sign MoUs and the unavailability of MoUs themselves for public scrutiny. "How is the ICAR ensuring that the farmers actually get advisories on the best available options and not biased advisories that further the business motives of the corporations," it asked.
The letter urged the ICAR chief to stop signing any more MoUs and initiate consultations with farmers' organisations on the way forward about the objectives of economic profitability, environmental sustainability and social equity in Indian agriculture.