Why peasant farmers are against newly passed Plant Variety Protection Bill

The Plant Variety Protection Bill 2020 which has been passed into law aims at protecting the rights of breeders of new varieties of plants.

Attorney-General, Gloria Akuffo on Wednesday, November 4, 2020, moved for the passage of the law which was seconded by majority of parliamentarians.

The Executive Director of the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG), Victoria Adongo

Read full articlein an interview with GhanaWeb averred that the bill is skewed towards the protection of large corporations engaged in commercial breeding and rather undermines the rights of smallholder farmers.

According to her, in June this year, PFAG formally wrote to the office of the President, the Speaker of Parliament and the Registrar General’s Department to officially state their position on the Bill.

They emphasised that the Bill was not in the best interest of the country.

Madam Adongo further outlined 5 reasons why the new bill passed wouldn't be of help to smallholder farmers.

Read her reasons below.

1. The Bill is hostile to smallholder farmers in particular and farmers in general. It does not allow farmers to sell and exchange seeds from so-called protected varieties, thus, it is heavily tilted in favour of the commercial breeders and undermines the farmers' rights.



2. The Bill undermines Ghana’s sovereignty and will weaken the agricultural sector through the ambiguous provision of Section 23

3. The Bill undermines Ghana’s biodiversity and food sovereignty by prioritising the production of seeds by plant breeders that may be financially profitable to the breeders. This does not mean that the varieties developed are suitable for the needs of Ghana and ensure food sovereignty.

4. The Bill undermines Ghana’s private seed breeders and competitive industry as the bill is based on the UPHOV 91. It is designed to strengthen the power of the largest global seed companies and we put the Ghanaian seed companies a disadvantage.

5. The Bill violates Ghana’s value system and places the rights of the plants breeder over and above the rights of the farmers.

The group have, however, threatened to vote against MPs who approved the passage of Plant Variety Protection Bill 2020.