COIMBATORE: Poor public relations (PR) mechanism was responsible for the November 2006 farmers’ revolt against Genetically Modified (GM) rice crop, which was being tested in Coimbatore, former US Consul General in Chennai David Hopper had said in an unclassified cable, released by Wikileaks.On November 12, 2006, farmers belonging to the Tamil Agriculture Protection Group and the Tamil Nadu Farmers’ Association had invaded a paddy field in Ramanathapuram locality in the city and uprooted GM crops.The crops, the seeds for which were provided by controversial international firm Monsanto’s Indian affiliate Mahyco, were being raised by the Tamil Nadu Agriculture University (TNAU) for field trials.Farmers were apprehensive that the trial did not meet Indian bio-safety standards and that it would end up contaminating local seed varieties.According to Hopper’s cable sent in coordination with the US Embassy in New Delhi a few days after the farmers’ revolt, Monsanto’s Indian representatives had blamed “misrepresentation and poor handling of public relations by Mahyco” for the fiasco.Elaborating on this, the US diplomat said that although the TNAU had, in a press release, endorsed the trials and gave a clean chit to Mahyco on bio-safety, this was published only by a local English Daily. “Stories that mostly reported activist fears got more column space, drowning out Mahyco’s public relations effort,” he observed.Quoting a Monsanto administrative officer, Hopper said that “he (Monsantorepresentative) believes Mahyco had not done enough to explain to the local community what the trials were all about.Consequently, charges of secrecy in the conduct of trials were made against the company. Monsanto India has treated the issue as a problem for its Indian affiliate and not directly related to Monsanto itself. Activist groups have tried in vain to get public attention to the close relationship between Monsanto and Mahyco.”Hopper felt that the then Tamil Nadu Government was non-committal about the introduction of GM rice in the State.The then Agriculture Secretary had told Hopper that the government was aware of the stagnation in productivity of rice. “The State recognises that GM seeds could be an answer to their problem, but officials point out that the genetic traits that are sought to be introduced must be in line with farmer requirements,” he said.Hopper pointed out that the Chennai-based M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) was successful in developing GM rice seeds through closer interaction with farmers, indicating that Monsanto’s Indian affiliate must replicate this model.
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