PepsiCo India Holdings (PIH) had sued 11 farmers for “illegally growing and selling” a potato variety registered in its' name, and later withdrew the case. Click here to know more
This is a wake-up call to the policymakers on securing sustainable rural societies, protecting soil health and promoting seed sovereignty.
What is the central problem?
So many small farmers are, like the ones targeted by PepsiCo, reliant, directly or indirectly, on proprietary seeds.
Typically these seeds are grown in high input (fertilizer-pesticide-irrigation) environments that, over time, erode local biodiversity.
There is large expense in buying these seeds and inputs.
On the other hand, there is loss of the skills and social relationships which rely on saving and exchange of seeds of indigenous varieties.
In effect, small-scale farming continues to decline and face the persistent problems of lower income, status and dignity.
What do the law provide for?
In India, the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights (PPV&FR) Act, 2001 deals with intellectual property rights in seeds.
The law permits farmers to save and resow (multiply) seeds.
Importantly, it also allows them to sell seeds to other farmers, irrespective of the seeds' original source.
This broad permission (called farmers’ privilege) is considered indispensable for 'seed sovereignty'.
It also includes proprietary vegetative propagation materials such as what are used for the cultivation of potatoes.
Clearly, there is a shift away from seed replacement to the right to save seeds.
Why are proprietary seeds still dominating?
The farmers cannot be blamed for thinking that proprietary seeds are better.
Since the days of the Green Revolution, agricultural extension officers have taught farmers to buy these higher-yielding seeds.
So despite the legal protection offered to farmers' seeds, the emphasis remains on proprietary seeds.
What are the risks involved?
Proprietary seeds have narrow, uniform and non-variable genetic builds.
Farmers could be using genetically distinctive seeds adapted to local conditions and farming traditions.
But instead, they are adapting local conditions and traditions in order to use genetically standardised seeds, to ruinous effect.
Alongside, there exists a science-and-industry-know-best stance when it comes to seed quality.
Resultantly, efforts have been ongoing to pass a new seed law in India permitting the sale of certified seeds only.
What do regulatory efforts in Europe teach?
The EU Regulation on Organic Production and Labelling of Organic Products was adopted in 2018.
For the first time, it permits and encourages, among other things, the use and marketing of organic agriculture.
This refers to “plant reproductive material of organic heterogenous material.”
It allows this without most of the arduous registration and certification requirements under various EU laws.
Heterogenous materials, unlike current proprietary seeds, need not be uniform or stable.
The regulation acknowledges the benefits of using such diverse material, including-
reducing the spread of diseases
improving resilience
increasing biodiversity
Accordingly, the regulation makes way for expansive use of indigenous varieties.
It would support the creation of markets and marketplaces facilitating trade of heterogenous seeds, including by small farmers.
There are also multimillion-Euro research and innovation projects being invited and funded by the EU, to make this diversity an integral part of farming in Europe.
What is the need now in India?
A biodiversity-rich nation like India must shift its agriculture from a high-yield ideal to a high-value one.
Here, ‘values’ include striving to minimise environmental harm while maximising nutritional gains and farmer welfare.
Heterogenous seeds - Agriculture that conserves and improves traditional/desi (heterogenous) seeds in situ should be promoted.
Small farmers must be educated and encouraged with proper incentive structures in this line.
Currently, in the garb of protecting this diversity against biopiracy, India is preventing its effective use.
Record - A permanent record-keeping system, perhaps blockchain, is needed.
It helps farmers keep track of where and how the seeds/propagation materials and the genetic resources are being transferred and traded.
Payments - Smart-contract facilitated micropayments could ensure that monetary returns come in from users and buyers of these seeds, from around the globe.
The monetary returns would effectively incentivise continuous cultivation and improvement of indigenous seeds.
It will also ensure sustainable growth of agriculture and of rural communities.
Traditionalknowledge - India’s invaluable traditional ecological knowledge systems need to be revived.
It should be made a part of mainstream agricultural research, education and extension services.
E.g. the know-how contained in ancient Indian treatises like the Vrikshayurveda and the Krishi Parashar
These fall within the scope of what international conventions such as the Convention on Biological Diversity refer to as ‘indigenous and traditional technologies’.
The revival of these technologies is central to promoting sustainable ‘high value’ agriculture.
