In a victory for Gujarat potato farmers, the PepsiCo India Holdings (PIH) announced it is withdrawing lawsuits against nine farmers in Gujarat, after having sued 11 farmers for “illegally” growing and selling” a potato variety registered in the company’s name.
About:
The patent is for the potato plant variety FL-2027 (commercial name FC-5). Pepsi’s North America subsidiary Frito-Lay has the patent until October 2023.
For India, PIH has patented FC-5 until January 2031 under the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights (PPV&FR) Act, 2001.
Arguments by PIH: PIH, which has a buyback agreement with Gujarat farmers, accused the 11 farmers — three of whom earlier had contracts with the company — of illegally growing, producing and selling the variety “without permission of PIH”.
Arguments by Farmers:
The agreement was that PIH would collect potatoes of diameter greater than 45 mm, and that farmers had been storing smaller potatoes for sowing next year.
They got registered seeds from known groups and farmer communities and had been sowing these for the last four years or so, and had no contractual agreement with anyone.
According to Section 39(1)(iv) of the PPV&FR Act, a farmer is entitled to save, use, share or sell his farm produce including seed of a variety protected under this Act, provided that he is not entitled to sell branded seed of a variety protected under this Act.
The rights on a patented seed differ from country to country. In the US, if someone has patented a seed, no other farmer can grow it. If PepsiCo is looking at enjoying similar rights in India, it does not hold.
Dear Student,
You have still not entered your mailing address. Please enter the address where all the study materials will be sent to you. (If applicable).
