Seed Patent in Agriculture
Patents are used by plant breeders and agribusinesses to give them ownership of seeds they have created. These owners can then control the sale and use of their patented seeds. However, there has long been recognition that ownership of seed could threaten food security and biodiversity – as it restricts access to the patented seed and plant life.
Man has learnt how to select from this broad biodiversity in order to breed plants with specific characteristics. Perhaps creating the biggest fruit, or the brightest flower. In farming crops, this selective breeding can create a plant best suited to the conditions in which it grows – drought or blight tolerant, for example.
Laws exist which control this process of selection and breeding.
The Nagoya protocol, for instance, ensures a fair and equitable sharing of the benefits which arise from the use of genetic resources such as plants. This means that if, for example, you use a wild Chilean strawberry plant to cross breed from, and you make money on the new breed, Chile is owed recompense for providing the original strawberry plant.
These laws also protect the intellectual property of the plant breeder and their new varieties.
Plant breeders can apply for a patent on a newly-created plant. As with any new invention, these patents provide ownership of a new ‘product’, to prevent replication, and to provide income from subsequent sales.
If a breeder has created a whole new plant species through genetic engineering, he can prevent others from the reproduction, use, sale and distribution of this newly invented plant. For example, Monsanto has produced plants which are ‘Roundup Ready’, by inserting a single gene which gives the plant resistance to the herbicidal spray Roundup. This single gene gives the plant a unique characteristic which has been defined by altering or inserting a single DNA sequence.
Agribusinesses, such as Monsanto and Syngenta, frequently apply for patents on the seeds and plants they have genetically engineered. It gives them monopoly rights subsequently over all seeds, plants and fruits with the same trait.
In Nigeria The Plant Variety Protection (PVP) Act provides patent-like rights to Breeders, Developers and Owners of plant varieties. The absence of the PVP law in Nigeria has led to stealing of intellectual property of Seed Breeders, marketing of fake seeds leading to low productivity for farmers and the loss of millions of dollars on foreign export of Seeds. The PVP Bill is currently at the senate and has passed Second Reading, which seeks to protect Seed Breeders and Farmers.
In the Netherlands, the Plant Variety Protection (PVP) Act enabled them generate $2.6 Billion from seed export annually, while Kenya generates $1.8 Billion annually from flower export.
In this documentary, the National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC), the regulatory body for the national seed industry and other stakeholders advocate for the passage of the Plant Variety Protection (PVP) Bill into law. Stakeholders discuss the impact of the lack of the PVP law on the seed sector and farmers. They talk about the benefits of the PVP law in resolving food security issues and the economic opportunities if passed into law.
But Section 1.4(a) of Nigeria’s Patents and Designs Act of 1970 expressly prohibits patents for plant varieties. The country does not have an alternative sui generis plant variety protection system. Nonetheless, it has (non-IPRs) laws that regulate the release, registration and commercialisation of plant varieties, namely: the National Crop Varieties and Livestock Breeds (Registration, etc.) Act 1987 and the National Agricultural Seed Act 1992. Meaning we don’t have a patent law in Nigeria, but seed breeders are requesting for right to patent their seeds
The consequences of patenting crop plants and seeds
If they continue to grant patents on seeds and plants bred by conventional processes, there are four important consequences:
- Increased prices for farmers and consumers Through the monopolisation of the seed market, small breeders will be edged out and the large agribusinesses will be free to determine the prices for their seeds, at the costs for farmers, and ultimately, consumers. The three biggest companies Monsanto, Dupont and Syngenta already control around 50 percent of the global proprietary seed market. They are the ones who will make the decisions on which plants will be bred, grown and harvested – and how much they will cost.
- Less innovation Contrary to the intended purpose, patents on seeds substantially hinder innovation. These patents can be used to block access to the biological diversity needed by other breeders and farmers to breed and grow. If permission is granted, a licence fee must be paid to the patent holder. And no further breeding can take place without permission of the patent holder.
- Less biodiversity & variety As the patent owners spread their control, there will be less access to diverse agricultural varieties for breeders and farmers. Growers will have restricted choices and gradually the diversity of species and genome types will decrease.
- Endangered food security Given reduced diversity, crops are less capable of adapting to diseases or changing environmental conditions (such as climate change). High agricultural biodiversity is essential for our food security