Farmers Urge CGIAR NGO Committee Members to Resign, Lead Walk Out in Annual General Meeting

Manila, Philippines - 30 October 2002

In a press statement today, the militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP-Peasant Movement of the Philippines) called on the members of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research's (CGIAR) NGO Committee to resign in protest for the sake of the world's agriculture and food security.

KMP National Chairperson Rafael V. Mariano stated, "The world is not enough for the profit-centered thrust of the CGIAR and its agencies who are heavily funded by industrialized countries like the US and Germany - homebase of leading and major agorchemical and seed companies."

"There are strong bases for our call for the members of the NGO Committee to resign: the protection of 1.4 billion farmers, the world's agriculture and the food security of billions of people of the world. These are continuously under threat from CGIAR's agricultural research agenda."

"There is no room for second thoughts, they should resign and lead a walk-out in solidarity of billions of farmers struggling against imperialist control and for a farmer-centered agricultural system." Mariano added.

The CGIAR is an informal association of public and private donors funding 16 research agencies all over the world. The researches are focused on different crops such as rice, maize, wheat, among others. The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Laguna is one of the agencies CGIAR is funding.

The KMP also repudiated CGIAR's claim in its press statements saying it has enough empirical data to show that its researches increased productivity and yield, therefore promoting "food security."

"The 2.8% average yield per hectare CGIAR and the G-7 countries are flaunting is deceiving. Their "empirical data" was taken from their experimental farms. Even a farmer without any scientific background can tell that there is great discrepancy between yields in experimental farms and yields in actual fields." Mariano said.

The KMP demanded for the dismantling of the CGIAR and the abolition of the International Rice Research Institute saying, "Filipino scientists and farmers are now more vigilant and determined in working for an independent, self-reliant research system that works for the people and the farmers." Mariano concluded.

More than 20 delegates from different countries will arrive in the Philippines for the international event and protest against the CGIAR's Annual General Meeting in Makati on October 30. ***