AGRICULTURE: Seed Patent Regime Detrimental to Poor Farmers

By Gustavo Capdevila Reprint | | Print |

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Oct 21 2002 (IPS) - A group of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) demands that the government of India halt its efforts to join an international system for patenting plants, a regime, say activists, that harms the farmers in this country and in other developing nations.

The mobilisation of NGOs reflects the opposition of several social sectors in industrialised and developing countries alike to systems for appropriation and commercial exploitation of patents on seeds and plants by a handful of transnational companies.

"We are concerned by the extension of the intellectual property rights to food and agriculture in particular," stated Ruchi Tripathi, spokesman for ActionAid, one of the groups active in attempting to dissuade India from patenting seeds and plants.

The Indian authorities have presented a petition for membership to the Union for the Protection of New Plant Varieties (UPOV), the inter-governmental institution that controls the international system for protecting intellectual property rights over new varieties of plants.

The petition from New Delhi is being considered this week at the UPOV council meeting at its Geneva headquarters.

Along with ActionAid, two other NGOs, Gene Campaign India and Consumers International, have called upon India’s officials to assume leadership among developing countries by taking the decision to resist pressure to join UPOV. The three organisations believe the reason that UPOV is "bending over backwards" to accommodate India’s petition is that it cannot afford for the populous nation to remain outside the plant variety protection system because it could become the focus for an alternative approach.

UPOV’s membership totals 51 countries, including industrialised nations, former members of the European socialist bloc and some Latin American and Caribbean countries.

Of the rest of the developing world, only Kenya and South Africa have joined the UPOV, an institution closely linked to the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

UPOV was created in the 1960s in Europe and intended to serve a particular agricultural system: agro-industry, in which the development of seeds and plant varieties has a commercial end, Tripathi said.

However, in developing countries, "we still have a large farming population who are also breeders," who develop their own seeds under a free system, stressed the activist.

Already patented are numerous varieties of rice, wheat, maize, soy and sorghum, five of the leading food crops. Approximately 70 percent of these patents belong to just six transnational corporations: Aventis, Dow, DuPont, Mitsui, Monsanto and Syngenta.

Under the UPOV regime, which protects these plant-breeding giants, the peasant farmers who utilise patented seeds would have to sign a contract that commits them to paying royalties to the patent holder.

Tripathi noted that this system restricts the rights of farmers to conserve, use, exchange or sell their seeds. Even worse, it threatens the very subsistence of the peasant farmers, he added.

Suman Sahai, representative of Gene Campaign India, warned that once the country joins UPOV, it would have to abandon its intellectual property rights legislation that recognises farmers’ rights, "and instead impose ‘one-size-fits-all’ international legislation."

"In a country where nearly 70 percent of people depend on agriculture to make a living, India’s membership in UPOV would have a huge impact," with potentially grave consequences for its population of more than one billion, said Sahai.

The NGOs underscored that under India’s current legislation, the rights of farmers and of plant breeders receive equal recognition.

The intellectual property regime established by the agreements of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is more flexible and allows member countries the advantage of choosing the protection system most favourable to their own interests, pointed out Rajeswari Kanniah, of Consumers International.

"If India gives up, other developing countries – also under pressure to join UPOV – will be in a weaker position" to reject the stricter regimen, commented Kanniah.

UPOV legislation protects plant breeding companies and their intellectual property rights over the crops on the one hand, while on the other it could threaten food security and the ability of poor farmers to make a living, she added.

This system also reduces the variety of plants available for cultivation and restricts access to seeds and to other genetic resources, said the Consumers International activist.

Sahai, of Gene Campaign India, noted that the government of her country defends its position with the argument that "Indian plant breeders’ rights for varieties that are developed in India would be protected in other countries."

Plant breeders in India, mainly public research organisations, have achieved improved varieties of sugar cane, spices and wheat.

But Sahai refuted the Indian government’s argument by citing the example of the African countries, a potential market for India’s seed varieties, nations that do not belong to the UPOV system.

"The plant breeders’ rights can only be protected in a country that is a signatory of UPOV," she explained.

Gene Campaign India has filed a legal complaint, challenging the country’s attempt to become a UPOV member and seeking an injunction on the endeavour, in a bid to ensure that India’s farmers will not have to give up the rights they currently enjoy.

According to Sahai, if India decides to join UPOV before a legal ruling is issued on the matter, it could be contempt of court.

The UPOV member states include: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Britain, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Chile, China, Colombia and the Czech Republic.

The roster continues with Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway and Panama.

Completing the list are Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Moldova, Rumania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, Ukraine, United States, Uruguay.