New from GRAIN
18 July 2005

SPECIAL ISSUE OF SEEDLING DEVOTED TO SEED LAW

Now available on the GRAIN website:
http://www.grain.org/seedling/?type=45

This Seedling takes us through a number of experiences and brutal shifts going on with seed laws in different parts of the world today, in the hope of raising further debate and new ideas about how we can support truly autonomous and farmer-controlled seed supply systems. As a complement, we have uploaded many seed laws from the South to the GRAIN website. Visit
http://www.grain.org/go/seedlaws.

EDITORIAL

SEED LAWS: IMPOSING AGRICULTURAL APARTHEID
http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=337
Back in the 1960s "seed laws" referred to rules governing the commercialisation of seeds: what materials could be sold on the market under what conditions. Agencies like the FAO and the World Bank played a very strong role in getting developing countries to adopt these seed laws, the main idea, officially speaking, was to ensure that only "good quality" planting materials reach farmers in order to raise productivity and therefore feed growing populations. However, the marketing rules, that the FAO and the World Bank effectively pushed, came from Europe and North America, the very place where the seed industry is in place. And the seed industry produces seeds by specialised professionals and no longer on the farm by farmers themselves. If we look at them today, seed laws are all about repression. They're about what farmers can't do.

SEED LAWS: BIASES AND BOTTLENECKS by Niels Louwaars
http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=339
Most countries of the world have some kind of seed law or seed regulatory system in place. In the countries of the South, they are largely patterned after the US or European models. Niels Louwaars, a Dutch researcher with the Centre for Genetic Resources in the Netherlands, has been studying and analysing seed laws in developing countries since 1992. He gives some background on how these systems work and highlights a few key issues related to diversity and small farmers' needs.

SEED LAWS IN EUROPE: LOCKING FARMERS OUT by Guy Kastler
http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=343
In Europe, the commercial seed supply system is highly organised and controlled. European law on seed marketing has evolved over the years to ensure that only uniform seeds for industrial farming can be sold on the market, condemning farmers ' seeds and traditional varieties to the black market if not complete illegality. Together with strong intellectual property rules and the production of hybrids, European seed laws lock farmers out of the seed system. This article is an extract from a longer work by Guy Kastler. Kastler is a French farmer involved with the Réseau Semences Paysannes, the Confédération Paysanne and Nature et Progrès. The article focuses on France which has taken the strictest approach to implementing seed laws in Europe, and perhaps the world.

INTERVIEW

Antonio Onorati, Crocevia In Italy, eight of the 18 administrative regions have adopted their own laws on local genetic resources since 1997. They generally aim to protect and promote traditional plant varieties and animal breeds in local farming systems as a heritage of the region. Since 2000, when the regional law of Latium was adopted, they also establish collective rights over the local genetic heritage. Below is an extract from an interview with Antonio Onorati, President of the Italian development NGO Crocevia, who has been very much involved in this movement.

For the full interview:
http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=336

For a shortened interview which focuses on the experience with collective rights in Italy:
http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=340

INDIA'S NEW SEED BILL by GRAIN
http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=338
A new Indian Seeds Bill in 2004 has been circulated by the government of India to overhaul the seed regulatory system. The stated objective of the proposed law is to regulate the seed market and ensure seeds of "quality". With the proposed changes the seed law would be harmonised with other seed laws around the world and ensure the Indian seed market is open to big business. This article clearly demonstrates that the losers are the millions of Indian small-scale farmers, whilst the winners are once again the transnational corporations. Whilst there is enormous pressure on the Indian government to embrace this new law, it is now time to ensure that voices in protest are heard.

AFRICA'S SEEDS LAWS: RED CARPET FOR CORPORATIONS by GRAIN
http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=342
Up until the 1990s, seed regulations in Africa were generally organised around public seed programmes, with seed laws, where they existed, mostly limited to import and export restrictions. There was little coordination between countries, with regulations often heavily influenced by the respective donors and very little enforcement on the ground. Indeed, with few exceptions, the vast majority of African farmers have hardly been affected by seed laws or regulations. But out of the larger context of structural adjustment programmes, trade liberalisation, and the consolidation of a transnational seed industry desperate to expand markets, processes have sprouted up over the past decade that are fast-forwarding the implementation of industry-friendly regulations and laws, with scant regard for the impacts on farmer seed systems.

LATIN AMERICA: PRIVATISING SEED LAWS by GRAIN
http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=341
New seed laws are being introduced throughout Latin America. While government intervention in market processes continues to decline in the region, when it comes to seed legislation the states have been laying down some strict laws. These laws vary considerably between each country, but a universal theme that unites them is to provide better protection of private seed varieties developed by companies and sideline farmers’ own seeds. In many cases, farmers’ own seeds are, or will become, illegal.

SEED LAWS UPLOADED TO GRAIN WEBSITE
http://www.grain.org/go/seedlaws
To complement this special issue of Seedling, many seed laws from developing countries have been uploaded to the GRAIN website within the BRL (Biodiversity Rights Legislation) section. We will continue to update this section as new laws come to light. To see the latest additions to the BRL, visit:
http://www.grain.org/brl/?new

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