When seed becomes capital: Commercialization of Bt cotton in Pakistan

Abstract

AbstractThe multinational Monsanto effectively used a (non‐existent) patent in Pakistan to block approval of locally developed genetically modified (GM) cotton seeds during 2002–2010, despite their immense popularity with farmers. Monsanto also (unsuccessfully) tried to negotiate an arrangement with the Pakistani government that would create the conditions under which Monsanto could operate without subjecting itself to market vicissitudes. The Pakistani government denied biosafety approval to local GM seeds, but biosafety concerns were just a mask to cover government's reluctance to infringe Monsanto's patent. Thus, farmers could now purchase new seeds only from the informal market where quality assurance was lacking. They were dispossessed of their right to legally buy, use, and save new seeds. Farmers' dispossession was a prerequisite to their purchase of Monsanto's seed. The seed had to become capital, so that its use was possible only within capitalist relations of production. This paper provides empirical evidence of a continuing process of dispossession through a combination of state power and market institutions.