Seed Treaty Changes Threaten Farmer Rights

New Delhi, Nov 27 (PTI) The India Seed Sovereignty Alliance has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reject proposed amendments to an international seed treaty, ITPGRFA, warning that it would undermine the country's seed rights.

The Alliance's primary concern centres on amendments to ITPGRFA, that would expand the multi-lateral system of free global access beyond the 64 crops to encompass all plant genetic resources and their Digital Sequence Information (DSI).

India has been a party to the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) since 2002. Negotiations on the amendments are currently underway in Lima, Peru.

"Why should nations of the Global South hand over our rich genetic treasures and genomic information to seed companies of the Global North that assert their own intellectual property rights, prioritising profits over people, while neglecting ecological health and sustainability?" the Alliance asked in its open letter.

The Alliance urged the Global South to refuse the proposed Annex 1 amendment, collaborate on a global farmers' rights regime, enforce mandatory conditions on DSI, regulate DSI generation and sharing, and prevent patent abuse on traditional genetic resources.

Further, the Alliance asked the Global South to improve tracking mechanisms, ensure compliance with benefit-sharing obligations, establish National Heritage Registries, conduct participatory hearings with farmers, appoint experienced negotiators for treaty proceedings, and adopt agro-ecological pathways using traditional seeds.

"We trust that you will do your utmost to fully safeguard vital national and farmers' interests, including seed sovereignty and self-reliance, without which food and health security are greatly endangered," the Alliance said.

Multinationals already control over 54 per cent of the global seed trade, profiting billions from farmers worldwide.


The Alliance argued that DSI extracted from seeds without prior and informed consent ends up in the intellectual property portfolios of institutions and corporations.

India has provided over 400,000 samples under the treaty, with unclear benefits for the country and the farmers who initially provided the seeds, according to the Alliance.

The current system lacks clear tracking mechanisms for providers to ascertain who accesses their seed varieties and for what purpose.

The proposed amendments to the Standard Material Transfer Agreement would legitimise confidentiality rather than strengthening transparency, the Alliance warned.

The Alliance highlighted serious failings in the implementation of India's Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, including the wrongful registration of heritage plant varieties to private individuals, granting them exclusive IPRs and violating farmers' traditional rights.

The PPVFR Authority has yet to register any 'Varieties of Common Knowledge' despite this category being included in the Act, the Alliance said, adding that the proposed amendments to PPVFRA, apparently undertaken in view of ITPGRFA changes, could compound these problems.

India's newly proposed Seed Bill and recent deregulation of genetically engineered seeds add further concerns.

The Alliance cited the IAASTD World Agriculture Report -- prepared by over 400 agricultural experts and representatives from 58 nations -- which states that GM/GE crops are not the answer to hunger, poverty, or climate change, and instead recommends agro-ecological methods and traditional knowledge.