Plant Breeders Bill suffers setback - FSG

Food Sovereignty of Ghana (FSG), has observed that the move by International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) - compliant Plant Breeders Bill (PBB), has suffered a major setback.

FSG, an advocacy movement dedicated towards the promotion of people’s right to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable says: “This is a significant victory given the level of push back our campaign received from the MPs (members of parliament) and the entire apparatus of state of the Mahama Administration.

This does not mean the end of the story. The real struggle for a sensible law now begins.”

A statement issued by Ali-Masmadi Jehu-Appiah, Chairman of FSG in Accra and copied to Ghana News Agency said: “We would like to see in any future bill, a clear statement of farmers’ rights and the absence of any form of criminalisation of farmers such as what we saw in Clause 58 of the rejected bill.

“In the Report of the Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs on the Plant Breeders' Bill, November, 2013, we (FSG) witness the conspicuous absence of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) among the documents referenced.

“This is an unconscionable omission. Ghana is a signatory to this treaty. It is the treaty that protects and supports farmers’ rights.

As a member of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources we expect Ghana to take steps to realize farmers’ rights to use, sell, save and exchange farm-saved seeds, to protect their traditional knowledge and to allow their participation in national decision-making.

The bill must preserve Ghana’s sovereign independence and must protect the DNA of Ghana’s traditional seeds from biopiracy.”

The statement said FSG is most grateful to local partners in the campaign: the Peasant Farmers' Association of Ghana, Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Development, General Agricultural Workers' Union, National Catholic Secretariat of Ghana Catholic Bishops' Conference, Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council and, Marshallan Relief and Development Services.

The rest are The Federation of Muslim Women of Ghana, Ghana Muslim Mission (GMM), Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission of Ghana, Religious Bodies Network for Climate Change, Ahlussuna Wal Jama'a, Office of the National Chief Imam, The Rastafarian Council, Vegetarian Association of Ghana, Socialist Forum of Ghana, Accra Freedom Centre, The Economic Justice Network, The Brong Ahafo House of Chiefs, the Small Scale Women and Men Farmers in Ghana, among others.

“We wish to mention in particular, the Convention People's Party (CPP), for the gallant support. We take notice of the fact that the CPP has been hailed as the only political party in Africa that has clearly identified with this cause against the imposition of GM foods and the monopolisation of seeds on the continent.

“We are equally grateful to our international partners for their solidarity.

We mention in particular, the World Development Movement of the UK for the enormous pressure they put on the UK Parliament to pull out of the G8NA, and to support our campaign.

Our gratitude also goes to the African Centre for Biosafety, ACB, Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa, AFSA, Bread for the World, Germany, for sponsoring a workshop on GMOs, Third World Network, TWN, Groundswell International, GRAIN, GMWatch, Pan-Africanist International, Dr Vandana Shiva and the Navdanya Trust and many many more, not forgetting the 51 international NGOs that signed a petition to the Parliament.

“There is no doubt, that despite the determination on the part of the powers that be, to push the UPOV-compliant Plant Breeders' Bill and GMOs down the throats of Ghanaians, they have been compelled by the mounting local and international pressure to beat a retreat! There is no doubt that victory is in sight! This is a time to intensify the campaign and to set the agenda.

We will take advantage of this opportunity to re-iterate our call for an indefinite moratorium on the production, importation, offer sale, exportation, transit, field trials of genetically modified foods in Ghana.

We also wish to call into question, issues of conflicts of interest within the National Biosafety Committee.

“Apart from Clause 23, which is designed to surrender Ghana's sovereignty to foreign multinational corporations, we want to see the disclosure of origin of all genetic materials in the applications for patents, in order to protect Ghana from biopiracy.

Biopiracy is a situation where indigenous knowledge of nature, originating with indigenous peoples, is used by others for profit, without permission from and with little or no compensation or recognition to the indigenous people themselves.

“The fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the use of genetic resources is one of the three objectives of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

The CBD recognises the sovereign right of states over their natural resources in areas within their jurisdiction: The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and Benefit-Sharing.pdf http://www.cbd.int/undb/media/factsheets/undb-factsheet-nagoya-en.pdf

The Bill is presented, first and foremost as being in fulfilment of the requirements of UPOV 91, which incidentally is also in conformity with the WTO rules. We can fulfil our WTO obligations without UPOV.

We do not need UPOV.

It is a very restrictive and dangerous trap into a permanent enslavement and loss of our sovereignty as a people.

This is what is staring at us in the face. Our destiny as a people depends on the decision our Members of Parliament make.”

The statement said Ghana is a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the rights and obligations concerning intellectual property are governed by the WTO Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement).

It said according to Article 27.3(b) of the TRIPS Agreement, Ghana has to provide protection of plant varieties by an “effective sui generis” system. Sui generis means “unique” system of protection.

“This provision allows Ghana maximum flexibility in the design of plant variety protection (PVP).

This means that Ghana has the option of using this flexibility to innovatively design a PVP system that reflects the conditions prevailing in Ghana.

This is what many advanced developing countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, India have done. The African Union Ministers have also recommended a unique Model Law for Plant Variety Protection.

“We have a lot of work ahead to get a bill that really meets the needs of Ghana and Ghanaians. And we call on every Ghanaian who eats food to join us in this struggle,” the statement said.