Global Awareness MIGS 101 Bitter Seeds Assignment.

Bitter Seeds Assignment
Student’s Name
Institution
Bitter Seeds Assignment
Responsibility
I think the Indian government bears the responsibility for the problem of suicides among farmers. Although the farmers are being pressured by Monsanto to purchase its products including seeds and pesticides, it appears the Indian government is not doing anything to protect its farmers. I believe one of the key roles of any government is protecting its citizens, farmers included. From the documentary, however, it is evident that the Indian government has failed to protect its farmers from the destructive practices of Monsanto. The Indian government has failed the farmers in several ways. First, it allowed international companies to infiltrate its agricultural processes with products that require expensive inputs from farmers. As shown in the documentary, the seeds are not only costly, but they also require expensive fertilizers and pesticides. Furthermore, they require irrigation whereas the farmers rely on rainfall. Second, the Indian government is responsible for the illiteracy among farmers, which has made them vulnerable to unscrupulous salespeople that falsely promise high yields from the seeds. The government owes its people protection and as far as the documentary is concerned, it has failed at that. The Indian government, therefore, bears responsibility for the high suicide rates among Indian farmers.
Main Cause of Suicides
The three articles try to identify the causes of the high suicide rate among Indian farmers. The Monsanto response denies that the company’s GMO seeds are responsible for suicide among farmers. Instead, the article points out that ‘multiple societal issues’ are responsible for the high rates of suicides among farmers. The article substantiates its claims with links to studies and other articles that have linked the suicide rates to social issues among farmers. The factors that have been linked to the suicide rates according to the article include pesticide resistance, changes in government policies, and unavailability of timely credit (Mosanto, 2017). In the article by Philpott (2015) published in Mother Jones Magazine, a shift to industrial farming is cited as the cause of the suicide rates. Despite the article linking industrial farming to the suicide rates, it notes that high costs of seeds and reliance on pesticides drive farmers to bankruptcy and eventually suicide. As the country shifted to industrial farming in the 1960s, farmers were left reliant on loans to buy expensive hybrid seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and eventually GM seeds. This made them become vulnerable to bankruptcy and suicide. The article in the Guardian (1999) notes that debts are the cause of the suicides. When the seeds fail, the farmers are unable to pay their debts, driving them to commit suicides.
Most Convincing Explanation
I think the article in Mother Jones magazine offers the most convincing explanation for the high suicide rates among farmers. Given that Bt seeds entered the market in 2002, it is imperative to examine suicide rates before and after the entry to find out whether they are the cause of the high suicide rates. The Mother Jones article is based on a study that examined suici...