Page 342 - DECO503_INTERNATIONAL_TRADE_AND_FINANCE_ENGLISH

International Trade and Finance

Notes of the Plant Breeders were giant MNCs who work with the sole intention of profit maximization.
They would be reluctant to grant approvals to farmers, who would otherwise be forced to purchase
seeds from MNCs. Under UPOV (1991), all plant genes and species would be provided protection for
a period ranging from 20 to 25 years.
Moreover, UPOV (1991) stipulates that sui generis system to be created should be “effective” so that
it provides real protection to PBR-holders. But who will judge the effectivity of the law framed by
India for the purpose. The answer is : The Council of TRIPs under article IV.5 of the agreement
establishing Multi-lateral Trade Organisation (MTO).
The Government of India has been under constant attack that the sui generis (Plant Breeder Rights)
system is against the interests of the farmers and would act as an impediment to the development of
new plant varieties. Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, former Minister of Commerce, stated in this connection:
“While reasonable protection should be provided to plant breeders who develop new varieties under
the Agreement, the right of farmers and researchers will also be fully protected. In the sui generis
legislation which is being drafted for the purpose, the interests of the farmers will be safeguarded.”
There is a lot of divergence between what the Government says and what it is doing in this regard.
This is evident from the draft Plant Varieties Act, 1993 circulated by the Government in February
1994.

The sui generis system under which PBR-holders are granted rights is just a change in
nomenclature in place of the patent system.

Patent (Amendments) Bill and Seeds Act (2004)
The Government introduced the Patent (Third Amendment) and Seeds Act (2004). In the name of
quality of seeds, the Government has stipulated that seed growers should get their seeds patented. In
case, this is not done, the farmers will not be allowed to exchange their seeds with other farmers.
Compulsory registration of seed combined with the power to seed inspectors to enter and search
premises (which implies in the case of Indian farmers farmers’ fields and huts) is the hallmark of this
legislation.
It would be worth while to examine the implications of this policy for Indian farmers.
Firstly, for hundreds of years, farmers have sown seeds, harvested crops and exchange seeds with
farmers in the neighbouring areas. These indigenous varieties are the basis of our ecological and
food security. For instance, coastal farmers evolved salt resistant varieties. Bihar and Bengal farmers
have evolved food resistant varieties. Drought resistant varieties were developed by farmers of
Rajasthan. Similarly, farmers in the Himalayas have developed frost resistance varieties. Indian
farmers, being not highly educated do not understand the complications involved in getting their
seeds registered. The Multinational agents can buy these seeds and get them registered prior to our
farmers. They will then be in a position to file cases against these farmers for bartering these seeds
with their neighbours.
International experience also strengthens this fear. Dr. Vandana Shiva has examined this question in
depth. She quotes a case filed by the British Society for Plant Breeders in 1995 which decided to
proceed with a high profile court case against a farmer to make selling of potato seeds by farmers to
other farmers as illegal in Scotland. The farmer was forced to pay a fine of £ 30,000 as compensation
to cover royalties lost to the seed industry by direct farmer-to-farmer exchange. Existing United
Kingdom and European Union laws thus prohibit farmer from exchanging uncertified seeds.
The same experience is repeated in U.S. to prevent farmer-to-farmer exchange as illegal. As grow, a
commercial company filed a suit against winterboers on the ground that their intellectual property
rights (IPRs) were violated by the Winterboer farmers who in their 500-acre farm in Iowa were growing
seeds. The Winterboers pleaded that under the Plant Variety Act of US, farmers had the right to sell

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