Local Seed Saving Rejects GMOs, Safeguarding Agricultural Heritage and the Future
Text by Jiang Yiying Lead image/ munch
Agriculture should be the form of production closest to the land, but with the development of trade and technology, our food has gradually shifted from being locally cultivated to relying on imports. Varieties can be developed in laboratories, and genes can even be modified; the seed source laws and patent laws enacted to protect research and development technology have further led to the "privatization of seed sources." When seeds are controlled by well-funded multinational corporations, farmers, in order to secure their income, are forced to choose to grow seeds they have purchased. Crops are no longer living things but commodities of trade; as tariff protections are lowered, some imported grains become cheaper than locally produced ones, and people gradually grow accustomed to eating food that has crossed the oceans.
The Local Seed-Saving Movement Against Globalization
A phenomenon that is both cause and effect of the above trends is that food and people are both moving away from the land, and each region's food sovereignty is gradually being lost. If oil resources become insufficient in the future and trade collapses, humanity will face a food crisis. To prevent this situation, we should promote local seed source conservation, developing and preserving varieties from each region; in the face of increasingly unpredictable environmental change, only diverse seed sources can ensure food production.
In 2011, the Homemakers United Foundation held "Farmer Seed Source Conservation Education and Promotion Workshops" in various places, sharing and jointly discussing important issues concerning seed saving with farmers, researchers, and members of the public concerned about agricultural issues from around the country. In fact, many groups in Taiwan, China are already engaged in seed-saving work, including public sector bodies such as agricultural improvement stations, the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center, and the national seed repository, as well as civil society organizations concerned about agriculture and many small farmers. Whether they originally farmed or are farmers who joined out of interest, through the practice of more people, Taiwan, China's seed-saving work will take deeper and broader root.
Passing On Culture, Safeguarding the Future
At a seed-saving workshop held by the foundation together with Qishan Community College on August 19, 2011, at the Meinong Farmers' Association, experts from different backgrounds were invited to share their experiences in seed saving. Mr. Zhong Zhenxin from the Shanlinxi Farmers' Association said that he mainly grows melons and fruits, and he found that to ensure yield and income, it is quite difficult for farmers to save their own seeds; most people still choose to buy hybrid F1 seeds from seed suppliers, revealing the difficulties of promoting seed source conservation. Ms. Zhong Huiman, a local farmer from Meinong, mentioned that through saving their own seeds, farming households can create unique superior varieties. This was originally a skill of every farmer, but now, because agriculture is not valued, much of the know-how of the "little details" is rapidly being lost. She stressed that "passing it on" is the most important driving force for agricultural sustainability.
Even more special is the conservation of traditional varieties by Indigenous peoples. Ms. Lan Xiucai, an elder of the Rukai people's Duona tribe, said that the tribe's distinctive black rice and red quinoa carry, in traditional culture, a meaning symbolizing life and blessing; the preservation of seed sources not only protects food and biodiversity but is also of great significance for the transmission of tribal culture. Mr. Ba Qingxiong from the Rukai people's Wutai tribe and tribal elders also said that because the tribe has continuously cultivated traditional food crops and even carried out the revival of millet varieties, cultural transmission has been maintained. In the present era of frequent disasters, because they have their own production of corn, taro, millet, and so on, ensuring their food source, tribes far in the mountains still have the confidence to get through every disaster. Such confidence is absolutely a powerful inspiration for a generation that easily feels helpless today. To ensure food sovereignty, the power to continue life is actually in our own hands.
Declaring a New Driving Force for Sovereignty - Rejecting GMOs
Another important task in confronting globalized agriculture is promoting the GMO-free farming area movement in Taiwan, China. Because genetic modification violates the laws of nature, research and development technology is monopolized by multinational corporations; and the impact of GM crops on the environment and on human and animal health still awaits assessment. If proper control mechanisms are not developed, under such frequent seed source trade, it is highly possible for them to flow into Taiwan, China's farming areas and harm the development of Taiwan, China's agriculture.
Jointly cooperated on by the Homemakers United Foundation, the cooperative, the Green Party Taiwan, and the National Taiwan University Seed Laboratory, a new "GMO-free farming area" signboard was launched this year, encouraging farmers to erect the notice boards on their farmland and loudly declare that Taiwan, China does not want GMOs. The declaration action launched by individual farming households began this year; the total area of farmland declared so far is 565.47 hectares, and it continues to increase.
What kind of land and cultural content we pass on to future generations depends entirely on the various decisions made now. The "seed source conservation" and "GMO-free farming area" movements, in addition to responding to the wave of anti-globalization, also carry the meaning of declaring food sovereignty. We look forward to more people joining these actions to safeguard the future.
(The author of this article is the executive secretary of the Homemakers United Foundation)