By: Ahmed
ELNAHAS – Montopoli, September 1st 2014.
Have you ever questioned the origin of the vegetables,
fruits, cereals and legumes we are eating? To give you an answer, I translated
here the article of Domenico Finiguerra published
on Il Fatto Quotidiano. If you decide
to read it; I invite you, once finished reading, to ask yourself:
1. For
how long we’ve been buying and eating products made from crossbreed seeds,
chemical fertilisers,
chemical
pesticides and uncontrolled waters?
2. What
was the impact on my health and that of my children?
3. Who
is responsible?
4. What
to do about that?
>>><<<
If you ask a metropolitan citizen how many vegetables
he knows, he would give you a list of maximum twenty items, and that would be a
perfect answer: “tomato, sweet pepper,
zucchini, egg-plant,
carrot, potato,
salad, onion…”. Very few with regard to the enormous variety which
slowly we have lost. Lost consciously, even intentionally.
In 1970(*),the European Union experts started
their valuations on which seeds to include and which to exclude from a
bureaucratic register; they ended up striking out and declaring “Illegal”
1500 varieties of vegetables and fruits!!! Cancelled from the list of the seeds
allowed for sale! Why? Simple.. Being deprived from a documented ownership (patent), those seeds are of no
benefit whatsoever to the monstrous ‘Agro-Industrial Multi-Nationals’. Thus, an
entire heritage of human farming civilization is being systematically
abandoned making a great favour to those who, even back then, were looking far
ahead.
The tomatoes present on our tables that we eat along
with our children, are crossbreeds; that a farmer cannot re-seed. So, each year
he is forced to rebuy the seeds from the Multi-Nationals that we all know (Monsanto on top).
A great damage. In fact, it is scientifically
demonstrated and proved, that the old (abandoned) varieties possess more vitamins, proteins, starches and complex
sugars as well as natural hormones.. They also have more intense and richer
taste. In short, they are much better. Moreover, the traditional plants are
more resistant and robust than others; as such they do not necessitate chemical
substances to mature. And for last, the traditional variations of vegetables
are (were?)
“Bio-diversities”:
precious resources selected throughout millenniums of human agriculture
experience. They are the historical and biological memory of agriculture.
It appears evident to any man with common sense that walling,
or even worse abolishing, those seeds is illogic and anti-historic. As much
evident it is the fact that only very few powerful individuals (owners and proprietors of registered seeds patents)
are keeping under strict control (and blackmail) all the farmers of our planet.
Fortunately, some resistance do exist. The “Seeds
Savers” though dispersed around the world, yet are structuring several
‘Seed Banks’.. Geminating an agriculture revolution.. Vandana Shiva is one of
those.
In Italy, they have “Civiltà Contadina” (literally ‘Country-side Civilisation’.. For more info consult www.civiltacontadina.it), a group of vigilant farmers dedicating all their
efforts to work silently as the custodians to save and share seeds of various
vegetables, cereals and legumes inherited from the traditional Italian
agriculture. Their efforts are building up and the association is acquiring
more consensus, support and volunteers every day; having a common goal “..so
that our heritage do not vanish and our traditions do not extinct, and that we
can pass on to future generations”.
It would be a good practice to participate all in such
a mission.. Our children will be grateful to us.
Pass On the
Word.
*The GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), formed in 1949 to establish the regulations for
international global trade, and to give birth to the ITO (Int’l Trade Organisation) later on becoming
the WTO (World Trade Organisation); among its rules are
those regulating the “Intellectual Property” under which came the obligations
for patents to the seed property.
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