Context: Consolidation in the food chain is what the Indian farmers are worried about.
Key Drivers of Global Food Chain Consolidation:
Convergence of technology, trading and big retail: to exert a greater influence in drawing appropriate policies at the national and international level.
United States policy of ‘get big or get out’: has set a global trend of consolidation across the entire food chain, i.e. land, seed or livestock.
Land consolidation: According to the 2020 Land Report, Bill and Melinda Gates are now America’s top farmland owners with 242,000 acres.
Consolidations in the seed industry: through merger and acquisition is strengthened through
Under the Trade-related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) agreement, many countries now bringing in policies to restrict the use of traditional seeds.
Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) policies are encouraging the privatization of genetic resources.
Genetic uniformity has led to concerns over destruction from monocultures.
In Pesticides: Three agrochemical companies (Bayer/Monsanto, ChemChina/Syngenta and DowDupont) have a 64% share of the global pesticides market.
The use of pesticides has grown after the introduction of GM seed varieties.
Issues with consolidation on the food chain:
Restricts choices and competition: The concentration of ownership leads to concentration of wealth and power (creates an illusion of widening of choices!).
In the food value chain, this unwieldy concentration of power decides what to produce and what to eat. (leading to a spurt in obesity and lifestyle diseases)
E.g. The exponential growth in junk foods, leading to a spurt in obesity and lifestyle diseases.
Income risk for the farmers: The true cost of cheap food is not only health and environmental destruction, but also in the resulting sufferings of farmers who are denied their rightful income.