Ten Questions to the Board of Bayer AG

on the occasion of the General Assembly of Shareholders, April 25, 2008
by Susanne Gura on behalf of German NGO Forum Environment and Development

According to the Annual Report 2007, p 5, Bayer CropScience’s business was stimulated by the rising prices for agricultural products and the increased production of agrofuels, apart from improved market frame conditions in Latin America.

Around the globe there is unrest in many countries due to increased food prices. Especially in those countries where more than 80 percent of income is spent on food – in comparison, the average German spends 12% of their income on food. Agrofuels are competing with food for land and water.

The Bayer AG is currently investing in a plant named Jatropha, a shrub with inedible fruits that so far mainly grows in arid and semi-arid regions. The seed contain more than 30 percent oils, as Bayer’s Board President Professor Berschauer has said during the annual press conference on 6 September 2007. He explain “Jatropha can be grown in marginal areas in tropical and subtropical regions, that means in areas which are unsuited to food production”.

Professor Berschauer is wrong. In India, a government programme aims at replacing some 11 million hectares of communal land with biodiesel plantations. The technology is being provided by BayerCropScience jointly with DaimlerChrysler. The land that is being converted is so-called “wasteland”. Wasteland is not an ecological category, but a revenue category introduced under British Rule. It concerns communal lands that are not cultivated with field crops like rice or wheat. However, a large diversity of plants like fruits, nuts, medicinal plants and fodder plants are usually growing on such lands. The Food and Agriculture Organisation FAO since several decades is pointing to the fact that such lands are a very important resource for food and health of the poor segments of the population. Especially those poor segments have hardly any opportunity to benefit from the privatisation of communal land and from growing Jatropha. Jatropha plantations would expel the people from their communally used lands; resulting in more hunger and more poverty.

1. How does Bayer AG ensure that only such lands are cultivated with Jatropha, that are not traditionally used by local communities to feed their livestock and to collect fruit and other items that are crucial for their health and nutrition?

In the Indian State of Chhattisgarh, the most advanced with regard to Jatropha, 200,000 hectares of land were promised to companies, and appropriations are ongoing. Already in 2006, 30 farmers had lost their lives in the land fights. The Right Livelihood Awardee Vandana Shiva reported in December 2007, that smallholders had to convert their paddy land to Jatropha; they were threatened with jail. From Patnagar, sales of fertile lands to companies for Jatropha cultivation were reported.

2. How does Bayer AG plan to impede any further expulsion of local communities from their communal lands?

3. How does Bayer AG plan to impede that fertile land is diverted from food production to Jatropha production?

Competition with water would be increased by Jatropha cultivation, because when watered, the crops deliver much higher yields than without water.

4. How does Bayer AG plan to prevent that Jatropha is cultivated on irrigated land?

5. 5. Does BayerCropScience expect that by breeding Jatropha for higher yield, its requirement for water, as well as for fertilizer and pesticides will increase?

Already, now, Jatropha cultivation is done under contract, so that the companies secure the supply. The farmers are not allowed to chose the buyer and benefit from increasing prices.

6. How does Bayer AG plan to prevent that by contract the farmers are not allowed to chose the buyer of the produce and benefit from increasing prices?
Already, the banks in India provide credits to the processors of agrofuels so that farmers receive credits in connection with the contract. Such arrangements have caused indebtedness of smallholders during the Green Revolution as well as during the Livestock Revolution.

7. How does Bayer AG plan to ensure that large numbers of Jatropha farmers are able to repay the credit after each harvest and don’t fall into the debt trap?
Beginning 2008, BayerAG has declared in the media to develop pesticides for Jatropha even if this plant is known to be hardy and not susceptible to pests. Even genetic modification for resistance to Bayer’s herbicides is foreseen, to promote use of these herbicides that kill all plants except the GMO herbicide resistant Jatropha.

8. Does BayerCropScience expect that with breeding for higher yields, Jatropha will lose its natural resistance for pests?
The business goal of BayerAG to develop herbicide resistant JAtropha does not correspond to the findings of leading agricultural scientists and development policymakers. In April 2008, the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development has demanded a radical reform of agriculture. The soils are damaged and even degraded by agro-chemicals all over the world, and this is a main reason for a constant decrease of yields of major crops since many years. The recommendations made by the 400 scientists are pushing to apply organic farming methods. They could ensure the world’s food supply in a sustainable way, especially if consumption of livestock products based on concentrate feed is set to a reasonable level. Health, climate, animal protection, and the environment would benefit in a large way. BayerCropScience is participating in a decisive way with its pesticides in the unsustainable production of soybean for concentrate feed.

9. How will the Bayer AG reorient its future business to comply with these recommendations and to respond to the expected regulatory risk, and develop organic methods instead of the unsustainable petrochemical-based methods?
The Annual Report is announcing on p 93, that BayerCropScience will further develop its engagement in the seed and plant biotechnology business to increase turnover to a billion € within the coming ten years. This objective, again, foreshadows new regulatory risks, because it is not in harmony with the mentioned recommendations. These demands were received around the world with much discussion as well as relief. The 400 scientists spells out what has been known since long: Biotechnology and patenting of seeds can impede rural development in poor countries, because farmers become dependent of corporations. The recommendations were endorsed by 54 governments.

10. How does BayerAG plan to revise its business goals in view of the changed situation and expected regulatory risks?