FL-2027 (FC-5)

May 4, 2019

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.