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Last week we reported on a story about how Burmese farmers are suffering from the imposition of hybrid rice by the military government and Chinese traders. Now The Irrrawaddy is reporting that the German biotech giant Bayer Cropsciences has contracted with Burma's Ministry of Agriculture to field test its hybrid rice varieties in the country. Harald Printz, country head for the Bayer group in Thailand, told The Irrawaddy that the trials were part of Bayer's long term strategy to secure a good position in the future agricultural market in Burma, which he predicted had fairly high potential. The Irrawaddy claims that Bayer-- responsible for the wolrd's worst GM rice contamination scandal-- is one of the few Western multinational corporations still working in Burma. The company runs an office in Rangoon with eight staff, including one technical manager who develops contracts with the Ministry of Agriculture.

Bayer's activities in Burma follows a spate of recent moves by the company to expand its hybrid rice seed operations in Asia.

Bayer: Shameless in Rangoon