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. ***