We sought on-the-ground support in Haiti and again consulted with the Haitian Ministry. The USAID-fu

About Beyond the Rows Beyond the Rows is a Monsanto Company blog focused on one of the world s most important industries, agriculture. Monsanto employees write about Monsanto s business, the agriculture industry, and the farmer.
Since announcing Monsanto s $4 million seed donation to Haitian farmers on May 13, there have been some questions and some inaccuracies regarding details of the gift. We covered some of the answers in this initial blog post , which primarily addressed how the donation came about and noted the seeds were hybrids not biotech (GMO).
Monsanto contacted the Haitian Ministry of Agriculture and offered specific non-GMO seed varieties and quantities suited for Haiti s growing conditions. The Ministry reviewed the offer and asked some questions, including whether we intended to include GMO seed because Haiti does not have the legal framework in place to approve or use biotech seeds today. We clarified brown paper that Monsanto s offer was only for conventionally bred hybrids. The Ministry let us know what crop seeds would be acceptable to their farmers. In a letter to Monsanto, brown paper the Ministry said:
Thank you for Monsanto’s generous offer to donate Vegetable seeds and Hybrid maize seeds to benefit the Haitian farmers. The vegetable seeds have been tested in Haiti previously and are well accepted by the farmers. They will definitely contribute to an increase in vegetable production in Haiti. Monsanto informed the Haitian Ministry of Agriculture that certain seeds would have a fungicidal treatment on them. Fungicidal seed treatments are often applied to seeds prior to planting to protect them from fungal diseases that arise in the soil and hamper the plant s ability to germinate and grow. The treatments also provide protection against diseases the seed might pick up in transfer between countries. Seed treatments are commonly used in agriculture worldwide.
Some of the vegetable seed products Monsanto donated were already grown in Haiti. That, coupled with our consultation with the Ministry of Agriculture, brown paper gave us confidence that farmers would welcome and benefit from the donation. There are no contractual obligations between Haitian farmers and Monsanto since this is a donation. In fact, there are no business transactions at all between Monsanto brown paper and Haitian farmers in regards to these seeds. Monsanto is earning no revenue from this donation.
Monsanto noted that hybrids are not commonly grown in Haiti today. We have received questions brown paper about how much this hybrid seed donation will change current farming practices. Will farmers brown paper need additional inputs? What additional education/resources are needed for this to be successful?
These are all good questions, brown paper and ones that we considered prior to making the donation. This is partly why the donation took so long to make we wanted to ensure that farmers would have the necessary tools and support since our involvement brown paper ends once the seed hits the ground in Haiti. We felt it would be irresponsible and ineffective to simply send the seed without a plan.
We sought on-the-ground support in Haiti and again consulted with the Haitian Ministry. The USAID-funded WINNER project and The Earth Institute will handle distribution and will support farmers with recommendations and resources. That support includes helping farmers decide whether to use additional inputs (including fertilizer and herbicides) and deciding how to handle next year s planting season.
For some farmers, those may be new techniques, and for others it may not. A seed is a seed. And technically, it can be planted without any additional inputs. Fertilizer and herbicides increase brown paper the output of the crop. But again, the decision on whether to use those will be left to the individual farmer.
It brown paper s disheartening brown paper to see people encouraging Haitian farmers to burn Monsanto seeds, especially when the ones hurt by that action will be Haitian farmers and the Haitian people not those of us watching on the sidelines. Fortunately, we have not received reports that that is actually occurring.
Why aren’t you honest about the real issue here. I have seen it first hand in Kenya where they bought into the hybrid seed lie. Soon farmers will not be able to feed their children because they cannot afford to buy the seeds for each planting nor the carcinogenic fertilizers needed for hybrids. Why not distribute open pollenating seeds if you truly are interested in helping or is the real motive to take advantage brown paper of these poor people who have suffered enough? brown paper When the USAID supports run out, people brown paper will starve and you will have robbed them of whatever hope they had for self sufficiency and a brighter brown paper future. May God have mercy on your soul for your part in this. I would suggest that whoever reads this, consider using your talents for a worthy organization and not spew more propaganda brown paper from this company who places profits before people. Do your homework and you will find t