Monsanto and other agribusiness multinationals seek patents and get intellectual property rights for genetically modified seeds which they develop. Farmers are not allowed to save them from their harvests and reuse them for the next season.
What this means for the farming industry in the United States, Australia and other developed economies I will not comment on. Obviously, patent protection of some kinds would be needed. But the effect on developing countries and the poor smallholders that struggle with basic survival, often in or at the edge of the informal sector, is a real issue.
Today, 80 per cent of world cotton production uses GMO seeds. It becomes increasingly difficult to find alternatives, and public seed banks and other activities fade into the background. The only thing left is to buy new seeds every year, from these global agribusiness giants.
As the agribusiness multinationals have pushed for this increase in GMO farming, they should also take the responsibility and accept that farmers in developing regions can continue with their traditional way of saving seeds and using them again.
When I wrote my report on cotton production and Fairtrade to the German government, I could see how small farmers in developing countries were forced into a ‘modern’ economy through this increase in GMO production and frequently got into situations that they could not control.
Yes, yields increased at least in the beginning as GMO cotton was more bug resistant, but in the longer perspective this advantage seems to shrink considerably. What is left is the dependence on the multinational seed producers and their agents, and the need to come up with seed money every year, even after a failed growing season. Dependence on loan sharks, loss of land and family tragedies could be results of this, in a situation where formal financing services are limited and safety networks rare.
I started to look into this again when I read reports about farmers rising against attempts to force through this intellectual property legislation in Ghana. I did notice that already in 2009, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food Olivier de Schutter – whom I served with on the GSCP Advisory Board in the very beginning – submitted a very critical report on the subject. Time to pick it up again.
One can ask why seeds cannot be treated as medicine, allowing developing countries to produce generic versions also based on patented brands. At least, the farmers should have the right to harvest, save and use their seeds for the next planting season.
Another thing is then how we look at genetic modification in farming as such. I will surely touch on these subjects soon again.