OPEN-SOURCE
SEED MOVEMENT - AGRICULTURE
News: Explained | What is the open-source seeds
movement?
What's in the news?
● The
Open-Source Seed Movement is spreading to ensure that plant varieties remain free from patents.
● Open-source
software like Linux is well-known and widely used. The origin of this concept
can be traced to the ‘Free Software Movement’, which emphasized users’ right to
the source code, to share, to modify, and to distribute modifications.
Key takeaways:
● Richard
Stallman, the U.S. programmer who pioneered this idea, also developed the
General Public License (GPL), the first of the ‘Free and Open-Source Software’
licences.
● It
used copyright law to protect user's rights and prevent misappropriation. If a
piece of code is licensed GPL, then modifications to it should be GPL as well -
this requirement also furthered the use of the licence.
Farmers and IPR Rights:
● Software
and seeds seem as different as chalk and cheese – but as programmers have done
for decades, farmers have innovated and
shared seeds without any intellectual property rights (IPR) claims for
centuries.
● Farmers
also haven’t sought exclusive rights over seeds and germplasm to prevent others
from innovating on the seeds.
|
Forms of IPR Protection
in Agriculture
● There
are now two forms of IPR protection
in agriculture such as ○ Plant-breeder's
rights ○ Patents.
● They restrict farmer's
rights and the freedom to develop new varieties using germplasm from
IP-protected varieties. ● They
have thus further consolidated the seed sector and increased the number of
plant varieties covered by IPRs. Issues
● The
high prices of genetically
modified seeds and IP claims triggered many problems, including the State’s
intervention on BT-cotton seeds in India. ● As
public sector breeding declined and the private sector began to dominate the
seed sector, the need for alternatives became keenly felt.
|
Rights of Plant Breeders:
The
advent of hybrid seeds, the growth of
the commercial seed industry, scientific plant-breeding, and some other
factors conferred plant breeders and developers of new varieties called plant
breeder's rights (PBR) such as
● Plant
breeder's rights (PBR) granted exclusive
rights to breeders and developers of new varieties. They also demand
royalty on seeds and legally enforce PBRs.
○ Farmer's
rights were limited under this regime.
● The
TRIPS agreement established a global
IPR regime over plant varieties.
● The
consolidation of the seed sector raised concerns about the freedom to innovate.
● PBR
regulations allow rights-holders to
restrict the unauthorized use of seeds to develop new varieties.
Open-Source Seeds:
● In
1999, a Canadian plant breeder named T.E. Michaels suggested an approach to
seeds based on the principles of open-source software.
● In
2002, Boru Douthwaite and I (independently) proposed an open-source model for
seeds and plant varieties. I called it the “BioLinux model”, and scholars and
civil-society members a like discussed and built on it.
● In
2012, Jack Kloppenburg launched the Open-Source
Seeds Initiative (OSSI) in Wisconsin.
○ The
OSSI simply asks for a pledge, that an individual won’t “restrict others’ use
of these seeds or their derivatives by patents or other means, and to include
this pledge with any transfer of these seeds or their derivatives”.
● A
few years later, German NGO Agrecol launched another initiative in Europe, and
similar programs have come up worldwide.
○ Agrecol’s
model to meet legal requirements in Europe is based on a contracts approach in
which the user agrees inter alia to not patent seeds bought under the
open-source licence.
Initiatives in India:
● In
India, the Hyderabad-based Centre for
Sustainable Agriculture (CSA), part of the Apna Beej Network, developed a
model incorporated into an agreement between CSA and the recipient of the
seed/germplasm.
● CSA’s
Open-Source Seeds Initiative uses a contracts approach similar to Agrecol’s
strategy.
● Worldwide,
the number of seed firms using open-source models and the crop varieties and
seeds made available thereunder is small but growing.
● India
is yet to test and adopt it widely.
Applications of Open-Source Seeds:
● Open-source
principles can help promote farmer-led
participatory plant-breeding exercises.
● Traditional
varieties often lack uniformity and aren’t of excellent quality, but
open-source principles can facilitate testing, improvisation, and adoption.
● Open-source
principles can be used in farmer-led seed conservation and distribution
systems.
● The
government and other stakeholders can consider adopting this approach to more
widely adopt traditional varieties.
Why is the Open-Source Approach unique?
● Under
the Plant Variety Protection and
Farmers’ Rights Act (PPVFRA) 2001, farmers can register varieties as
‘farmer varieties’ if they meet certain conditions, and have the right to
reuse, replant, and exchange seeds. However, they can’t breed and trade in
varieties protected under the Act for commercial purposes.
● Using
the open-source approach here will enable farmers to gain more rights over
germplasm and seeds and facilitate innovation.