🇱🇰 Sri Lanka's economic and humanitarian crisis and '100% organic farming experiment'

[value]

Sri Lanka's economic crisis caused by GMO ban?

As some may know I am not into politics or social injustice but I have been investigating corruption on behalf a philosophical examination of the fundamental theory behind GMO which I have been working on for decades through the concept 'eugenics'.

The following case seems to provide an example of corruption that enforces GMO.

- 100% biological farming enforced on all farmers in Sri Lanka
- the president emptied the state coffers and fled the country
- the import of raw materials from low price countries such as India was banned causing major shortages of raw materials required for farming
- during a pandemic crisis with increasing prices for goods
- GMO farming already in production in Sri Lanka for commercialization in 2023
- GMO food import worth $179 million in 2021

In 2021 Sri Lanka started a '100% organic farming' experiment and GMO ban. The Genetic Literacy Project (the primary channel of the pro-GMO science establishment) speaks of an 'anti-GMO-hysteria' and a reckless embrace of 'green politics' that resulted in an economic disaster that drove millions of children into starvation.

(2023) What can the US learn from Sri Lanka’s disastrous ‘green’ embrace of anti-GMO hysteria?
When ex-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa banned GMO in 2021, agricultural production quickly dropped by 40%. When he fled the country due to riots in July, 7 out of 10 families were cutting down on food, and 1.7 million Lankan children risked dying from malnutrition.
https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2023 ... -hysteria/

A US report confirmed that GMO food is already being produced in Sri Lanka and is awaiting legislation to be commercialized in 2023.

(2023) US report confirms GMO food production in Sri Lanka
The United States and Sri Lanka have a mutually beneficial agricultural trade relationship. The import of Genetic Engineered (GE) crops and animals was worth $179 million in 2021. However, Sri Lanka does not yet export GMO products to the United States. A draft legal framework for Biosecurity legislation for the enactment of the National Biosecurity Act is with the Legal Draftsman's Department and is awaiting the approval of the Attorney General and the Cabinet.
https://www.agricultureinformation.lk/gmo/

The GMO ban and 100% organic farming experiment are officially blamed for the economic disaster which causes resistance to GMO to be weakened.

A Sri Lankan source indicates that the reason for empty Government coffers was primarily caused by the sprinkling of generous subsidies for personal gain. Such unethical behaviour during a 100% organic farming experiment seems illogical.

(2023) Is the organic farming policy the cause of Sri Lanka's economic crisis? What is the truth?
For political gain they sprinkled subsidies to various departments. That has become a major cause of empty coffers. At present, the government has no money even to pay the salaries of the government employees.
https://www.vikatan.com/spiritual/astro ... hi-vikatan

Sri Lanka's economy is based on tourism and the organic farming experiment was started during the corona pandemic which caused the tourism industry to be badly affected.

Secondly, everything in Sri Lanka, from industries to agriculture is dependent on imports of raw materials while the Government banned the import of some raw materials and demanded that farmers produced them domestically, causing a major shortage.

Sri Lankan farmers were used to apply chemical fertilizers and all of the sudden those fertilizers were banned and the farmers were forced to shift to organic farming. This caused confusion with many farmers about what to do. Most of the farmers had no experience with organic farming.

When switching from chemical farming to organic farming there is a period of loss of yield that later recovers to conventional yield. The farmers were unable to overcome that period of low yield during a pandemic crisis period with high prices. The price of goods kept going up. Meanwhile, the Government banned the import of raw materials from low price countries such as India and demanded that the farmers produced all raw materials domestically, resulting in a shortage of raw materials.

The president fled the country after what he did and all of the sudden a US report shows that Sri Lanka is already cultivating GMO crops which are awaiting legislation to be exported to the US, turning Sri Lanka into a GMO country.

Some references indicate that economic enforcement of GMO is a factor to look out for:

(2012) US to Start ‘Trade Wars’ with Nations Opposed to GMO
The United States is threatening nations who oppose GMO with military-style trade wars, according to information obtained and released by the organization WikiLeaks. Nations which have moved to ban GMO, were requested to be ‘sanctioned’.
https://naturalsociety.com/us-start-tra ... gmo-crops/

Hungary was punished economically for banning GMO. The country had to throw out the International Monetary Fund (IMF) along with GMO to get rid of it!

(2012) Hungary Throws Out GMO AND the IMF
Hungary's PM Victor Orbán had thrown GMO giant Monsanto out of the country, going as far as to plow under 1000 acres of land. It's remarkably hard to find sources on this, ironically. It’s even harder, even more ironically, to find anything that mentions the Wikileaks report on the connections between the US government and the GMO industry and the sanctions imposed on Hungary through the IMF.
https://www.theautomaticearth.com/2012/ ... d-the-imf/

There are more examples.

What do you think about the case?

[value]

The IMF provides a $2.9 billion bailout to Sri Lanka.

'Only option to emerge from crisis is to seek the support of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)' Sri Lanka President said on economic collapse.
https://www.livemint.com/news/world/onl ... 88646.html

The IMF as saviour?
The irony of ironies. An institution which across the globe has been acknowledged as anti-people, elitist and responsible for increasing poverty, misery and destitution across dozens of countries, is now being seen as the only saviour.[/]
https://www.independent.org/news/article.asp?id=14396

Anti-GMO Groups Deflect Blame for Sri Lanka's Economic Disaster
Sri Lanka ran an evil experiment on its citizens last year. Under the sway of organic-food and anti-GMO activists, the government banned imports of synthetic pesticides and enforced a transition of the country to all-organic agriculture, leaving the vast majority of farmers without access to the vital tools they use to grow the crops their country depends on.
https://www.acsh.org/news/2022/07/13/an ... ster-16428 (primary channel of science establishment in US: The American Council on Science)

[Vinnie McAdenyo]

While the topic of discussion is one that would trigger different reactions, I would wish to address the following in response to it: GMO ban and the state of Sri Lanka's economy.
If I got it clearly, there is a conflict crisis between two parties, the government of Sri Lanka and her citizens. And what is the subject of the conflict? Clearly it's whether or not the ban on GMO by the president and his government has amounted to the drastic economic fall of the state of Sri Lanka.

Having known the two conflicting parties and the subject over which they are fighting, I would wish to answer the following questions even as I give my opinion on the whole matter. As a government which of course is monarchial, there must have been two sides; one supporting the government's decision on GMO and those on the opposing side. Assuming the Sri Lanka's government isn't and has never been dictatorial, every government based on the democrstic frameworks involves seven major stages; announcement and vetting of competing candidates, a period of massive campaigns by the opposing candidates, conduction of free, incredible, verifiable and fair elections, tallying of the casted votes, announcement of the president elect and finally inauguration of the winning candidate and taking of an oath of office by the president. All the other aforementioned stages will not happen if the second stage which is the mass elections are conducted. Elections typically done by the citizens, is always the determinant of the outcomes of the rest of the stages. What does this clearly mean? One, if any case the ban of GMO by the controversial president has impacted negatively on the growth of the economy, then the blame shouldn't be put on the government but on the citizens. If there is anything wrong with the decisions their government takes, then the opposing citizens must been the biggest stakeholders of the same. Blaming the government simply means blaming themselves for having accepted to elect a bad leader in large numbers. While they may not be prophets to predict the actions of the president they elected, they are also the same people with powers to get rid of him.
Considering the above assertions, I believe it's the role of the citizens to retain GMO in their country or discredit it. If the government has got a good plan of reinventing organic farming whose positive impact on the growth of their economy would outsmart the ban GMO, then it's high time they embraced it.

[value]

...

Thank you for sharing your perspective!

Can you please explain the origin of your perspective? Do you live in Sri Lanka?

What do you think of the fact that in 2021 - the year of the supposed GMO ban - GMO food worth $179 million USD was imported from the US and that GMO food was already cultivated in test fields awaiting legislation to be commercialized for GMO food production for the purpose of export to the US?

The link in the OP of the Sri Lankan source that mentions that the president empitied the state coffers was invalid. The following is the correct link:

(2023) Did 100% organic farming cause Sri Lanka's economic collapse? What is the truth?
https://www.vikatan.com/social-affairs/ ... ts-economy
PDF: https://gmodebate.org/pdf/vitakan-srila ... arming.pdf

It doesn't seem logical that a president who embraces an unprecedented organic farming experiment would behave unethically during the first year of that experiment. It was such profound that the state coffers were completely empty and Government employees could not be paid anymore. Shouldn't that have been foreseen if that happens in just 1 year time?

Besides this it seems suspicious that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would function as 'only saviour' with a $2.9 billion USD bailout considering that they have played a role in enforcing GMO in countries that banned GMO by sanctioning (hurting) those countries.

A source wrote the following about the IMF:

The irony of ironies. An institution which across the globe has been acknowledged as anti-people, elitist and responsible for increasing poverty, misery and destitution across dozens of countries, is now being seen as the only saviour.

It seems that the IMF is likely to have had an other motive than playing 'saviour' for the people in Sri Lanka. Considering that GMO is evidently an applicable subject, it might be relevant to consider the enforcing of GMO to be a potential motive.

[Sy Borg]

Governments are most effective when they take scientific advice seriously. Sri Lanka's organic farming decision reminds me of Mao's edict to kill all sparrows, which had been impinging on food crops. So Chinese people dutifully killed the sparrows, as instructed, causing an immense wave of insect infestation that decimated crops and caused widespread starvation and death.

This is the kind of thing that happens when ideology is valued over pragmatism.

[value]

Governments are most effective when they take scientific advice seriously. Sri Lanka's organic farming decision reminds me of Mao's edict to kill all sparrows, which had been impinging on food crops. So Chinese people dutifully killed the sparrows, as instructed, causing an immense wave of insect infestation that decimated crops and caused widespread starvation and death.

This is the kind of thing that happens when ideology is valued over pragmatism.

What would be the basis for the claim that an ideology was pursued over science? Would you agree that the anti-science label is applicable?

What do you think of the following facts:

• GLP (channel of science est.) speaks of an 'anti-GMO-hysteria' but in 2021 the year of the supposed GMO ban $179 million USD worth of GMO food was imported from the US and GMO food for export was already produced in Sri Lanka awaiting official - planned - legislation in 2023.
• the '100% organic farming' experiment was started during the corona pandemic with rising prices for goods.
• most of the small farmers had no experience with organic farming and all of the sudden they were forced to change their ways.
• the import of raw materials required for farming was banned and farmers were demanded to produce then domestically, causing a major shortage of raw materials.
• the president emptied the state coffers with generous subsidies for personal gain in just 1 year time (Government employees could not be paid any more).
• the president claims that the IMF is the only solution for the crisis (a $2.9 billion USD bailout) while the IMF has been involved in enforcing GMO in other countries through economic sanctions.

With regard organic farming to be an ideology. The cited Sri Lankan source mentioned that organic farming would have been possible but that when switching from chemical farming to organic farming there is a period of loss that the farmers were unable to overcome in a pandemic crisis period with increasing prices for goods with on top of that scarcity of raw materials through a ban on the import of some essential raw materials.

https://www.vikatan.com/social-affairs/ ... ts-economy

[Sy Borg]

Fertilisers are used for a reason. Take it away and yields will reduce. In that sense it's not a complex issue.

[value]

I am no expert but there are some simple factors at play that would contradict the notion.

For example, how humans farm is not natural and causes major erosion. In nature plants do not stand isolated in a monoculture in large fields. The soil is actually damaged by the practice causing severe problems on the longer term.

Similar to the potential catastrophic threat of Super Bugs - bacteria that became stronger than humanity's strongest antibiotic - i.e. bacteria that outcompete humanity's artificial wall behind which it has been hiding for a period of 'easy time' in life - plants would remain behind weak while the actual threats to plants become stronger over time and potentially cause a fatal disaster.

Super Bacteria are considered a factor that could pose a extinction level threat to humanity in the next decade. A few years ago - just before the corona pandemic - doctors officially warned that bacteria had already broken the last barrier and it was waiting for a disaster.

Antibiotic resistant superbugs pose a global threat after breaking through last line of defence, doctors warn
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/scie ... 40166.html

Bacteria can also become friends with humans. The human body contains 10x more microbes than organic cells. Is antibiotica/antibacterial - hiding behind an artificial wall for 'some easy time' - the right strategy? The fight to overcome problems makes a life form stronger... Humans seem to stay behind weak.

The natural world isn't as simple as 'plants grow, humans take fruit, repeat...'. It isn't a technical matter.

Plants are intelligent creatures that can adapt to overcome problems in their environment.

As recently as 2019 it was discovered by a cooperation by several Universities in Israel that plants can talk to insects using ultrasound. Other studies had already shown that plants 'scream' in ultrasound in the face of stress or threats and some plants intelligently 'call in' the enemy of their enemy when they are under attack by a bug.

Plants Attract Enemy's Enemies To Survive
https://www.scientificamerican.com/arti ... nemys-ene/

Recent scientific discoveries show that the root system of plants contains many neurotransmitters that are also present in the human brain, including dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin and histamine. The discoveries further indicate that the root system of plants can grow many billions of cells at the tips of the roots that function similarly to brain neurons. For some plants, it would result in a number of neurons that rival those of the human brain.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2884105/
https://theworld.org/stories/2014-01-09 ... out-plants

Instead of pesticides it could be a strategy to 'cooperate' with plants and for example make sure that the plants enemy's enemy are in the vicinity so that the plant can take care of itself using a natural symbiotic relation.

In my opinion the goal should be to achieve strength and resilience in the face of Infinity instead of 'hiding behind a wall' for some easy time for no purpose other than harvest for human food.

With regard plants to remain behind weak and the potential disaster that that causes. It can already be seen with GMO Bt. Cotton and Corn/Mais.

The attacking insects become stronger - even more aggressive and careless towards the plants - causing a major disaster on the longer term because the plant did not naturally become stronger and was merely having a period of 'easy time' and stayed behind weak.

GMO is not a smart strategy on the longer term. It seems that merely the idea that plants are fundamentally a 'meaningless technical process' combined with the idea that human ingenuity can "do plants better" that form the motivation for the practice.

GMO is an immoral practice and that would not be said to 'be kind and cute to plants' but from the perspective of intelligence. A higher yield is not what life is about from the perspective of the plant or animal involved. Plants do not just exist for no reason other than harvest for human consumption.

[Sy Borg]

This is ideology, and we can see where that got Sri Lanka.

It's like climate change. Theoretically we should shut down all coal, gas and oil production immediately but ...

Same situation with food. Ideally, everything should be grown naturally, utilising local conditions, companion planting and allowing local animal populations to take some yield to enrich the system. However, societal systems have been built around fossil fuels and intensive monoculture farming and one cannot just turn off the tap. There needs to be a planned and strategic transition to avoid a hard landing.

Sri Lanka's leaders opted for the hardest of landings, operating like a chess playing that cannot see even a single move ahead. That is the issue.

[value]

What about the fact that the state coffers were empty after the first year of the 100% organic farming experiment due to 'sprinkling of generous subsidies for personal gain'? The problem was such severe that Government employees could not be paid any more. Shouldn't that have been foreseen?

The cited Sri Lankan source mentions that the subsidies were the primary reason for empty coffers.

[Sy Borg]

That the situation is messy is no surprise. After all, the leader was run out of office due to anger over misappropriation of taxpayer monies.

[value]

How would the two correlate?

Would a leader who chooses to pursue an unprecedented 100% organic farming experiment - one that will attract global media attention and allows for blaming an economic collapse - be capable of behaving such unethically with subsidies for personal gain that within the first year of the experiment Government employees could not be paid any more?

US Council on Science said that Sri Lanka 'ran an evil experiment on its citizens last year. Under the sway of organic-food and anti-GMO activists, the government banned imports of synthetic pesticides and enforced a transition of the country to all-organic agriculture.'

Anti-GMO Groups Deflect Blame for Sri Lanka's Organic-Only Disaster
https://www.acsh.org/news/2022/07/13/an ... ster-16428

US Council on Science is more specifically blaming famous Indian philosopher and ecofeminist Dr. Vandana Shiva. They cite her as saying to the president "You should go all organic!" to which the president supposedly is to have replied "OK!". Then farms and the economy collapsed and Dr. Vandana Shiva is hiding in silence...

Her websites:
https://navdanya.org/
https://navdanyainternational.org/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vandana_Shiva

US Council on Science writes the following conclusion:

"Farmers didn't ask for an agrochemical ban, neither did the public — philosopher Vandana Shiva did. She and her allies owe Sri Lankans an apology, and perhaps several massive donations to help them rebuild their economy.

Organic farming doesn't work. The research has been done, the evidence is in. This was all known long before the events in Sri Lanka unfolded. Agricultural scientists in the country knew it, and they were ignored.

Parenthetically, nobody told Sri Lanka beforehand that their all-organic experiment would end in disaster. It was anti-GMO "rock star" philosopher Vandana Shiva who encouraged the country to take the dramatic steps it took."

Is it right to seek blame with the philosopher?

If it is correct that farmers and the public did not ask for a GMO ban, why would the Genetic Literacy Project (GLP) - closely tied to US Council on Science - speak of an 'anti-GMO-hysteria'?

(2023) Sri Lanka’s disastrous ‘green’ embrace of anti-GMO hysteria?
https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2023 ... -hysteria/

[value]

Additional details about "anti-GMO rockstar" Dr. Vandana Shiva:

Philosophy papers: https://philpapers.org/s/Vandana%20Shiva

2023 film: https://vandanashivamovie.com/

Vandana Shiva studied physics at Punjab University in Chandigarh, graduating as a Bachelor of Science in 1972. After a brief stint at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, she moved to Canada to pursue a master's degree in the philosophy of science at the University of Guelph in 1977 where she wrote a thesis entitled "Changes in the concept of periodicity of light". In 1978, she completed and received her PhD in philosophy at the University of Western Ontario, focusing on philosophy of physics. She later went on to pursue interdisciplinary research in science, technology, and environmental policy at the Indian Institute of Science and the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore.

[Sy Borg]

The situation is less black and white than you claim. Organics are fine, but transitions need to be handled carefully, but these changes were imposed suddenly, without giving people and industries a chance to adapt. Plus, the cronyism and massive waste of public monies is on the record.

[value]

Can you please specify what would be black and white in my posts?

My claim is specifically that it is questionable that a president that pursues a 100% organic farming experiment - one that attracts global media attention - would then, as you claim, 'massively waste public monies' so that after one year Government employees could not be paid any more.

The Sri Lankan source that I cited mentioned that the 'financial waste' was spent for personal gain. Do you disagree with this detail?

I asked the following question about the fact that Government employees could not be paid any more:

Shouldn't that have been foreseen?

The president claims that the IMF is 'the only saviour' with a $2.9 billion USD bailout.

Again I would ask the question:

Shouldn't that have been foreseen?

The IMF has been involved in enforcing GMO in other countries through economic sanctions so their 'bailout' seems at least a big suspicious in my opinion.

A source mentions the following about the IMF so it is unlikely that the IMF has had as motive to play 'saviour' for the people in Sri Lanka.

The irony of ironies. An institution which across the globe has been acknowledged as anti-people, elitist and responsible for increasing poverty, misery and destitution across dozens of countries, is now being seen as the only saviour.

Is it truly an option that the president went on a reckless spending spree for personal gain by which after just one year Government employees could not be paid any more - and because of which he had to flee the country - without sight on a solution such as the IMF? The president specifically mentioned that the IMF is 'the only option'.