c1.2. private and public interests: farmers' rights and breeders' rights. indian...

Farmers Rights and breeders Rights, 29 October 2012, UruguayFarmers Rights and breeders Rights, 29 October 2012, Uruguay

Private and public interests: Farmers’ rights and Breeders’ rights -

Indian Experience

Private and public interests: Farmers’ rights and Breeders’ rights -

Indian ExperienceMalavika Dadlani, Joint Director (Research), IARI, New Delhi

P L Gautam, Chairperson, PPV&FR Authority, New Delhiwww.iari.res.in & www.plantauthority.gov.in

C 1: New Investment Sub Session C 1.2: Public Private Civil Mechanisms

Punta del Este, Uruguay29 October 2012


The Indian Patent Act, 1970 (and its subsequent amendments in 1999, 2002 and 2005) excluded plants and animals from patentability.

With this exclusion, and having ratified the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) of WTO, India was obliged to protect these under a sui generis system as per the mandate of Article 27.3(b) of the TRIPS Agreement.

The Government of India enacted the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights (PPV&FR) Act in 2001 (53 of 2001).


CBD 1992 Bio-safety Protocol, 2000 ABS supplementary Protocol, 2010

PPV & FR Act 2001

outcome of the Intensive and

Extensive National

Consultations and response to

international developments /

obligations

Genetic Use Restriction Technology, Sovereign Rights, ABS, Benefit Sharing

International Treaty on plant genetic resources

for food & agriculture, 2004

Farmers Right

UPOV 1961,72, 78, 91

Breeders Right

WTO / TRIPS 1994

Sui generis System

Biodiversity Act 2002, Seeds Act 1966,

Seed Control Order, 1983;National Seed Development

Policy, 1988;Patent Act,1970,

GI Act, 1999, National Farmer Policy, 2007 etc.

Benefit Sharing, Community Rights, Gene Fund


Breeders’ Rights • An exclusive right to produce, sell, market, distribute,

import or export the variety• A breeder may authorize any person to produce, sell,

market or otherwise deal with the variety registered• Breeder enjoys provisional protection of his variety

against any abusive act committed by any third party during filing of application for registration and decision taken by Authority

Researcher’s Rights • Researcher can use the variety for experiment or

research for developing other variety


Farmers’ Rights

to save use, exchange, share and sell seed of a protected variety except as branded seed

to register traditional varieties & protect new varieties to compensation in case of non performance benefit sharing from use of traditional varieties for protection against infringement Exemption on feesCommunity Rights and Benefits Recognition of communities in conserving genetic resources and

landraces and benefit sharing for role in evolution of varieties

Farmers are recognized as cultivators, conservers & breeders


Category Applications Received

Registration Certificates

IssuedNew Varieties 1113 40

Extant Varieties including varieties notified under Seeds Act and Varieties about which there is a common knowledge

1735 466

Farmers Varieties 1221 6

Essentially derived varieties 2 Nil

Total 4070 512


Characterisation, purification and documentation of Farmers’ varieties (FVs) : A number of agricultural research institutions and universities are generating data and assisting in filing of applications for FVsRice biodiversity conservation in Jharkhand and Meghalaya: Gene Campaign, an NGO, is involved in the in-situ and ex-situ conservation and characterisation of agro biodiversity in the predominantly tribal state of Jharkhand, one of the 22 agro-biodiversity hotspots. Conservation of landraces of colocasia from North Eastern Hills, Nagaland: A survey was conducted by ICAR NEH to collect local landraces of colocasia. Twenty two accessions were collected and characterised for different traits. Characterisation and registration of traditional rice varieties in Tamil Nadu: Focussing on characterization of traditional rice varieties from coastal belt and cauvery delta of Tamil Nadu, VAANGHAI, an NGO, collected 69 varieties and submitted application for registration of six varieties to the Authority.

Projects launched by PPV&FR Authority for promoting registration of Farmers’ Varieties Projects launched by PPV&FR Authority for promoting registration of Farmers’ Varieties


Benefit sharing amount depositedBenefit sharing amount deposited

Contributions from National & International Organizations

Contributions from National & International Organizations Reimbursement of

compensation Reimbursement of compensation

Supporting conservationSupporting conservation

Establishment of National Gene Fund

Reimbursement of Benefit shares Reimbursement of Benefit shares

Section 45 of the PPV&FR Act, 2001Section 45 of the PPV&FR Act, 2001

In Flow Out Flow

Annual FeeAnnual Fee

National Gene FundConstituted by the

Government of India

National Gene FundConstituted by the

Government of India

Compensation amount depositedCompensation amount deposited


Plant Genome Savior Community Award and Recognition

22 Agro-biodiversity hotspots distributed over 07 agro-geographical zones of India

•Plant Genome Savior Community Awards 2009-10 onwards: 6 communities awarded

•Plant Genome Savior Community Recognitions since 2007: 16 communities / individual farmers recognised

•Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights (Recognition and Reward from the Gene Fund) Rules, 2012


Empowering farmers / farming communities Farmer Dadaji Khobragade of Chandrapur district, Maharashtra developed rice varieties HMT in 2008 and DRK in 2009, which are registered with the PPV&FR Authority. The Government of Maharastra has allotted land to enable him to continue his research on improved varieties.

Sanjeevini Rural Development Society, Distt. Vishakapatnam, State. Andhra Pradesh: The society promotes cultivation of more than 150 traditional crop varieties available in 60 villages. More than 1200 ha are being cultivated with the conserved varieties of paddy and ragi and about 800 ha with varieties of pulses, corn and bottle gourd. The communities are maintaining 33 grain banks. The State Biodiversity Board has recognized the services of this society.

National Innovation Foundation (NIF), promotes grass root innovations, assisting in filing of applications for Patent, Trademark, Design and Plant Variety Registration. Technology Acquisition Fund Awards were conferred to 24 farmers, for variety development.

Indian Council of Agricultural Research launched a national project to document indigenous knowledge and also recognises innovative farmers by as Farmer Fellows.

State of Haryana established State Agriculture Innovation Fund for evolution and diffusion of grassroot indigenous knowledge and innovations in agriculture.


Exemptions provided under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 (BDA): The Act provides for certain exemptions to / local people and communities including traditional practioners and healers for normally traded commodities from the purview of the Act, subject to overall policy guidelines.

Both BD Act, 2002 and PPV & FR Act, 2001 have provisions for benefit sharing, exemption has also been provided in Section 6(3) of the BD Act for applicants seeking protection under the PVP Act in India. PPV&FR Act, 2001 and Biological Diversity Act have close similarities, particularly, in policies framed for protection of the rights of indigenous communities in conserving and developing genetic resources.

State level and (SBB) / local ( BMC) committees play an important role in helping farmers in filing and forwarding applications of farmers’ varieties for registration.


• Public-Private sector partnership: value addition and promotion of the useful farmers’ varieties in the respective areas of adaptation.

• Partnership in enabling farmers for protection of traditional varieties and also in commercialisation

• Partnership in research, participatory plant breeding and sharing of benefits

• Institutional mechanism for protecting farmers’ and breeders rights

Suggested elements for the road map


• Ensuring the protection of traditional knowledge, the participation in equitable benefit sharing and farmers' participation in decision making with regard to genetic resources

• Creating awareness on the importance of Farmers' and Breeder’s Rights

• Also generate awareness among farmers about Breeders rights and its ultimate benefits

………. suggested elements


•Improving farmer- public-private cooperation in agricultural research for development•To create an enabling environment of mutual trust among various stakeholdrs•To create awareness about public-private-civil partnerships in agricultural research•To generate public awareness and capacity building of all stakeholders•Promoting conservation and sustainable utilisation

Challenges


• Support research in evaluation and improvement of farmers’ varieties

• Evolve an effective model / platform for promoting use of farmers’ varieties for crop improvement and commercialisation

• Create databases of farmers’ varieties and associated traditional knowledge

• Provide incentives to the industry/civil societies for supporting conservation and sustainable use of farmers’ varieties

For greater impact


• Responsive R&D efforts and sensitation of researchers• Ensuring quality seed and planting material through

public- private partnership with farmers • Equitable flow of benefits to different stakeholders• Conservation of farmers varieties, land races, wild

relatives etc. by involving local bodies• Bringing different stakeholders together to work in

synergy supported by enabling policies for PPP• Undertake an evaluation of the benefits of providing

rights to the farmers

Way forward


• Trust amongst partners• Enabling policies • Adequate funding support• Dynamic R&D• Effective value chain

This will lead to a win-win situation for farmers’, breeder’s, communities and industries

Successful partnership entails

c1.2. private and public interests: farmers' rights and breeders' rights. indian...

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