Ancient Plant Diversity Under Threat in Africa

Grain Seeds from True Mind's Open Sesame: The Story of Seeds

via Tech Dirt:

Back in May 2013, we wrote about worrying attempts to create a harmonized system for controlling the sale of seeds in Africa that would increase the power of large suppliers such as Monsanto, at the expense of small farmers. A long and interesting article in Intellectual Property Watch indicates that those efforts are intensifying:

The African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), with the help of the United States and an international plant variety organisation, is working to grow regional support for a controversial draft law. The draft protocol would boost protection for new plant varieties, despite concerns of local civil society that it would not be in the best interest of ARIPO members’ food security due to its potential impact on small farmers. ARIPO held a regional workshop on the issue in recent weeks in part to build support for a treaty negotiation to lock in these protections.

There appears to have been an attempt to censor criticism at that workshop.

Read More: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20141116/06485329163/africas-ancient-plant-diversity-seed-independence-still-under-threat-proposed-new-laws.shtml

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