After reading your article and the comments from the readers…I was thinking can we do something beyond just getting worried about it. There are definitely pros and cons to this deal – cannot deny that. It all depends on which side of the coin you are standing.

The smallest effort from each one of us can be big enough to not to loose our dearest variety of mango to US. Like, for example we own a piece of agriculture land in which we currently grow banginpally. But recently my father had been insisting on growing US demanded mangoes. I am strictly against it and now he understands that $$ cannot give the flavor and satisfaction of those our own banginpally that we have been relishing for years. I took an oath the other day: I will do anything that I can to own & support growing trees/fruits/flowers….and will not let them get extinct. My own home will have atleast a neem tree, hibiscus flower and a mango tree.

I also worry that when this importing-mangoes stuff starts, farmers in India will use more chemical pesticides and fertilizers to increase the yield and newer high yielding varieties will be found. This wrecks the taste of the mangoes and also the quality of the soil in India. Just like the non-tasty carrots and apples, etc we get in conventional stores (conventional = not organic) like walmart supercentres and safeways, the taste of Indian mangoes will go down too.

After living in US for a year, I went back to India for a short visit. My kiddo brother asked me if we didnt get any apples in the US. It was only then that I realised that ever since I entered home, I’d been hogging apples and more apples. Dad had silently noticed this and had bought some more for me. The gorgeous looking apples in US were so tasteless that I didnt bother with them much, but the apples in India were not glamorous but was so tasty and juicy that I was on a mission to eat them all before I could return. Maybe I should be glad they arent importing apples from India.

Maybe I’ll just go back and buy a small farmland and cultivate mango trees in organic ways so that my grand children and their children can enjoy the real taste of mangoes!

1)Purchasing Power/Sophisticated set of consumers: We need to think about the purchasing power that the Indians are getting to enjoy these days. It is pretty high among the middle and working class in the urban areas. I am sure there are more families today in India (wouldn’t be surprised if that percentage is more than the number in developed countries) that are enjoying so many luxury products and services on par or even greater than some of us here.

2) Sophisticated network of interest groups, grassroots democracy and institutions that strive to work for rural population, including some media organizations: Indian democratic system is far more sophisticated and better than many other democracies, and today with the growth in technology and media access, as seen with the Coca-Cola article that L.G provided a link to, we should feel optimistic that companies will also be cautious while dealing with countries like India.

3) US economy and its role in the global arena: Honestly, I really think we are overestimating US’ role in the global economic scene. With the economy in the shape it is right now, and US itself realizing that its position in the world is starting to get a little shaky with China and India emerging powerful, I am sure countries will choose other global players to do trade with if the benefits outweigh the costs. It is already seen with the Mango trade, whereby Indian Mangoes are already in the Chinese markets.. One thing we need to realize is we keep criticizing the US for all the bully power, but, if tomorrow China offers more trade opportunities for India, do you think it is going to be a different approach than what US has been adopting with its trading partners. I don’t think so.. SOmeone rightly pointed “Big Fish eats small fish” - I think that will hold true irrespective of which country is in quesiton.. It is important for the govts and thinktanks to carefully evaluate the pros and cons or costs and benefits before getting into new economic policy in international trade, and have clear guidelines and regulations in place so that none of the stakeholders and the environment too is affected adversely - srive to find an optimal and efficent solution so that no individual is worse off in the long-term.

I am of the opinion, If some mango farmers gets more money, can send their kids to school, then it is okay….I can take the sacrifice and will grow a mango tree in my yard to eat my favourite mango. But that’s not what actually will happen. Initially it will all look rosy, then after a couple of years it will hit us really bad.
Forget Mangoes, some people had to fight for plain water!
Don’t know whether you know about Coco-Cola controversy in Kerala. Some villages in Kerala were marked as one of the few spots with purest water. So the coke companies set up a plant, promising 500 jobs. Initially the farmers were very happy, since once the companies started drilling for water, the farmers could do two seasons of crops (Otherwise the fields will be flooded). After 3 or 4 years, the underground water supply began to deplete and once a fertile land became completely barren. It was shocking! People started protesting in large number, stood up against the huge corporations and the corrupt politicians. Even Green Peace started supporting the fight of poor farmers.
Finally, we won!

http://www.ndtvprofit.com/homepage/storybusinessnew.asp?template=&whichstory=n&id=30121

An excellent write up Indira. I admire you expressing your opinion in your blog! Great! Also,I loved the way you wrote ‘Gandhiji” instead of plain ‘Gandhi’.

Global agricultural trade is such a complex issue. And while, yes, it might be nice to get tasty Indian mangoes here in the US, I would hate to think that it is at the expense of the people who grow them and eat them in India.

It is a shame that basmati rice shipped to the US is cheaper than what is paid for it where it is grown. That is sinful, really–the people of India deserve to be able to eat their own produce at decent prices! I would gladly pay more for my basmati rice (I just started buying fair trade jasmine rice from Thailand–which is way more expensive than the usual stuff–and I would do the same with fair trade basmati if I could get it) just so the people of India could eat it at a decent price, too!

And how much profit, really, will the farmers in India make? That worries me. I know how the US treats its own farmers and farm workers–I cannot imagine that they give a better deal to farmers overseas.

I stand for the little guy, always–and in this case, the little guy are the farmers in India and the people of India–not the US government and their trade agreements.

Thank you, Indira, for posting on this issue–and please, tell us more! I want to know!

Apt and wisely put together in few words, no verbal diarrhoea. I liked reading your piece. Keep it up, my friend!