Abstract:
The paper argues that the diffusion of global knowledge systems such as biotechnology is neither neutral nor banal. It traces the route of seed agents and the social construction of genetically modified (GM) crops. In Warangal district, approximately one thousand agricultural input merchants and their social networks cover almost all of the 1,015 Gram panchayats (village councils). The unintended consequences of the adoption of new seed are cruel – narrowing of foodstuffs produced, loss of local knowledge, the further social devaluing of women, and the reinforcement of patriarchy and the market.
