BAUTISTA, Pangasinan – Farmers in Northern Luzon are
up in arms against a Chinese controlled biotechnology company after it breached
not to pay the P80, 000 to P120,000 a hectare of corn variety it contracted
with the farmers here.
Syngenta AG is a global company that
produces agrochemicals and seeds and is based in Basel, Switzerland, according to Wikipedia. As of 2014 it is the world’s largest crop chemical producer
that conduct genomic research It is owned by ChemChina,
a Chinese state-owned enterprises.
Farmer leader Dean “Iyong” Roque feared that the
victims did not only come from this poor town but those kernel yielding
planters in Ilocos and Tarlac provinces.
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AGGRIEVED – Farmer-leader Dean “Iyong” Roque exhorts
farmers at Barangay Poponto in Bautista, Pangasinan to unite for a strong
leverage to demand payment to Chinese controlled biotechnology corporation’s
Syngenta that defaulted to pay each of them on the agreed price for each of the
hectare that was planted by the innovative corn the corporation tasked them.
Roque feared that corn farmers in the provinces of Ilocos, Pangasinan, and
Tarlac were “duped” by Syngenta. PHOTO BY MORTZ .C ORTIGOZA
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They accused Syngenta of defaulting of their promise
to pay them P80,000 to P120,000 per hectare of corn they harvested.
They planted the cereal from November 2018 to
February 2019 with a condition that within 15 days after harvest they will be
paid by the Chinese controlled corporation.
But after almost five months they are still waiting
for their remuneration.
There were 26 farmers here who planted various
hectares of the corn variety that Syngenta sell expensively as hybrid seeds to
customers all over the country.
“If we computed P17.40 per kilo that we sell to them. Syngenta sells our
harvest all over the country for P500 to P600 a kilo,” this village administrator Emmanuel Gaoat said.
Their contemporaries in the nearby Bayambang town
headed by Roque complained too how they were allegedly duped on the mode of
payment after the harvest.
‘Since nag start sila magpatanim nakita ko ang ginagawa nilang kalokuhan
(Since they commissioned the farmers to plant I saw the bad intention of
Syngenta’s workers),” Roque cited.
He said that the multinational company bankrolled
the use of tractor and the inputs the farmers need like the seeds, pesticides,
and others for the more than three months or 105 days of planting, cultivation,
growing, and harvesting. But the expectation of a bumper harvest disappointed
Syngenta because the unproductive seeds produced an anemic harvest.
Other factor they blamed for the lethargic harvest
of the kernels were pollen flown by strong wind, and other Acts of God.
Gaoat said
the representatives of the corporation acknowledged their fault by citing the culprits
of the mediocre harvest were the seeds they gave to the farmers.
“Boto’ nila sir. Lahat kami boto’ nila. Aminado sila (It was their seeds
sir. All of us who were affected blamed their seeds. Syngenta acknowledged
that it was their fault)".
Roque said the farmers religiously follow the
representatives of the corporation who guide them how to cultivate the field
and grow the plants.
He appealed to Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Pinol
to help them on their plight.
“Secretary Pinol please act on our grievance we are suffering to what Syngenta-Philippines
had done to us”.
Syngenta’s employees according to Roque had been
frantic lately to settle some of the farmers by dangling a compensation between
P20,000 to P30,000 for each of their hectares after Roque reported to media
woman Janice Hidalgo their dilemma.
The reporter eventually contacted the corporate –
officer of Syngenta at its main headquarter in Switzerland before she made a
television documentary of the quandary of the peasants.
The brass there told her by phone that Syngenta
should be the one helping the farmers.
“The high
official there was surprised that his corporation is the one giving problem to
the farmers,” Hidalgo told this writer.
At its website the company crows its mission
statement, one of the excerpts:
“We are a business that helps humanity face its toughest challenge: how
to feed a rising population, sustainably. Our world class science and
innovative crop solutions transform how crops are grown to enable millions of
growers to make better use of available resources”.
Administrator Gaoat exhorted the farmers not to deal
alone with the beleaguered company but they should bind as one strong voice to
demand P120,000 payments per hectare as previously agreed.
Marcelina Sarmiento, 55, said three men from Syngenta
insisted that she accept P30,000 per hectare of her three hectares or P90,000 but she declined it.
“Ang sabi nila hindi sila aalis, talagang binabayaran kasi para makuha
kaagad iyong P30,000 per hectare. Sa akin po sir kung papayag iyong karamihan
sa gusto ninyo okay lang kami. Pero kung hindi sila pumayag hindi rin kami papayag.
(If majority of the aggrieved agree for the offer It is fine with me. But if
they disagree I will go with them too)”, the sun burnt skinned
farmer cited during the recent meeting held at Barangay (village) Poponto here.
Roque feared that these amounts incase
Sarmiento accepted will be deducted to the up to the P55,000 per hectare the
company sent to the latter in the bank.
“We have to get the side of Syngenta
on this matter. They should make an offer that satisfy us,” Roque told the crowd.
He feared that if the farmers acquiesce to the
P30,000 per hectare offered by the personnel of the corporation they will
deduct it to the money they sent to their automatic teller machine (ATM)
accounts at the Bank of Philippines Island here and they still have a debt to
worry.
“We were earning a net income of P50,000 per hectare if we planted commercial corn before we have this contract with Syngenta,” village administrator Gaoat said.
Their anguish started when they spent their personal
monies for the cultivation of the farms as they waited for the monies sent to
them by Syngenta in installments at their ATM accounts.
“Land preparation iyong nauna doon sariling pera namin. Iyong ginamit doon
dahil hindi sila nag advance. Iyong mga walang pera hindi naka pag move on na
kausapin iyong tractors (operators) na utangin muna. Sa after tanim nila saka
lang nilla ibibigay iyon (We shelled out our own money for the tilling of the
field because Syngenta did not give us the advance cash. Those who have no
money forgo the project because they did not talk with the owners of the
tractors to hire their services. After the farmers planted the seeds the
corporation will pay them)” Gaoat explained to the
media men who covered their meeting here.
Moreover, the farmers’ other predicament Gaoat said: They could not plant
palay in this rainy season because they do not have funds.
“Nobody will lend us because we already borrowed from the lenders to plant the product of Syngenta,” a farmer there declared.
“Nobody will lend us because we already borrowed from the lenders to plant the product of Syngenta,” a farmer there declared.
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