Monsanto of Agent Orange notoriety donated 130 tons of GMO and pesticide coated seeds to the victims of the HAiti earthquake.
Missouri-based agribusiness multinational Monsanto’s latest attempt to cultivate good press is being met with widespread reproach in earthquake-ravaged Haiti, where the GMO giant is donating 130 tons of pesticide-coated hybrid and conventional vegetable seeds to farmers’ associations via the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) WINNER program. More toxic seed will follow throughout the summer. Of its problematic hybrid seed, Monsanto’s Beyond the Rows blog says:
Given the choice, farmers generally select hybrid seeds because they generate more food and grain per acre or hectare. Monsanto personnel consulted with the Ministry of Agriculture in Haiti and heard very clearly the ministry sees the opportunity for increased yields that hybrid seed creates for Haitian farmers.
Chavannes Jean-Baptiste, Executive Director of Haiti’s Peasant Movement of Papay (MPP) called Monsanto’s gift a “new earthquake” and “a very strong attack on small agriculture, on farmers, on biodiversity, on Creole seeds and on what is left our environment in Haiti.”
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