Rural KwaZulu-Natal farmers contest proposed seed bills in Parliament
Richard Mthembu and Thombithini Ndwandwe in await the start of the public hearings on the Plant Breeders’ Rights and Plant Improvement Bills in the South African Parliament in May. Photo courtesy of Biowatch.
Biowatch, along with farmer representatives from two rural northern KwaZulu-Natal communities, Richard Mthembu from Ingwavuma and Thombithini Ndwandwe from Mtubatuba, travelled to Cape Town in May to give oral submissions in Parliament at the public hearings on the recently tabled Plant Breeders’ Rights and Plant Improvement Bills.
Biowatch believes it is the duty of South Africa’s Parliament to approve seed policies that will benefit the majority of its population, denying laws that give private ownership to what used to be commonly held for centuries. Private commercial rights can never override the rights of farmers and humankind to save seed and to grow food which feeds communities.
In the absence of any policy or legislation that recognises and provides legal space for the vital contribution of the informal seed sector, public breeding and conservation activities, seed regulations and trade laws have become tools aimed at preventing farmers from producing seeds independently.
Seed regulations are increasingly restrictive and are now used in tandem with plant breeders’ rights to protect the interests of seed companies and private breeders at the expense of agro-biodiversity and the independence of farmers. It is therefore critically important to consider and determine the impact that seed regulatory systems developed for industrialised, commercial agriculture have had and will have on the informal seed sector, small-holder farmers, conservation and public breeding priorities.
Our written submissions on both Bills are available on our website: www.biowatch.org.za.
