Halt passage of Plant Breeder Bill : Peasant Farmers urge govt

Small scale farmers have called on Parliament to halt the passage of the Plant Breeders Bill (PBB), as a matter of urgency, to allow for further consultations, especially with farmers.

The farmer group argued that the Bill would have a negative impact on the country’s agriculture and subsequently aggravate the challenges of farmers leaving them in abject poverty and misery.

The Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) made the call on the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the International Day of Peasants’ Struggle, in solidarity with peasant farmers.

Speaking on behalf of the President of the PFAG in Accra, the Programme Coordinator of the association, Ms Victoria Adongo, said the draft bill would deny small holder farmers the right to save and exchange their own seed.

“It will jeopardise our food sovereignty by allowing multinational corporate takeover of our seed industry. The question of access of control of seed is about life. If you take seed out of the equation of agriculture, there is no food and if there is no food, there is no life. It is about working to ensure the sustainability of our society as a whole,” she said.

The Bill

The Plant Breeders Bill seeks to protect the intellectual property of plant breeders who create new varieties and establish a legal framework to protect the rights of breeders of new varieties of plants or plant groupings.

While proponents argue that the PBB would promote the breeding of new varieties of plants aimed at improving the quality, quantity and cost of food, fuel, fibre and raw materials for industry, critics fear that the PBB if passed into law would stifle the peasant farmer.

Farmers’ concerns

The United Nation (UN) has said the main cause of hunger and malnutrition is the lack of access to land.

Ms Adongo attributed the decline in the performance of the agricultural sector to continued undermining of peasant farmers and prioritising farm lands for mining, estate development, biofuel by corporate institutions and other commercial activities.

“The fact that an increasing number of peasants who provide 70 per cent of our food are being driven away from their farm lands does not only represent a danger to local food systems but to global food production as well,” she said.

Also, she said, inadequate support for farmers to access credit had led to exploitation and defrauding of farmers by some unscrupulous microfinance institutions which had resulted in some farmers committing suicide.

A representative from Food Sovereignty Ghana, Mr Yaw Opoku, said the PBB was a threat to livelihoods because it would leave total control of seed distribution in the hands of foreigners.

“The Plant Breeders right shall be independent of any measures taken by government to regulate within production, certification and marketing of variety of seeds. The government will not have any control over those who will bring seeds into the country,” he said.

Way forward

The PFAG called on Ghanaians to join in the struggle for food sovereignty for the country.

“Peasant farmers should be protected and supported as key investors in their sector. Governments and financial institutions need to reconsider their focus on support to large-scale farming against majority of about 90 per cent small peasant farmers,” Ms Adongo said.

The Peasant struggle

The international day of the peasant struggle held on April 17, annually, in solidarity with the Telangana peasant struggle which began in India around 1947 and saw over 10,000 peasants detained and brutalised.

Also about 20 years ago in El Dorados dos Carajas in Northern Brazil some 19 peasant farmers, including women, were murdered for defending their land against corporate interest.