Science and Technology Mailing List Archive

["Ruchi Tripathi" <<address removed>>]

ActionAid is a late entrant to this debate and has limited experience of 
dealing with AST creators in terms of the farming communities themselves as 
well as interacting with the corporate sector AST creators on the issue of 
intellectual property.  Presented below are some of our policy recommendations 
for DFID.


Supporting pro-poor agriculture


DFID has a choice in the type of AST it supports as well as the focus on 
specific communities.  ActionAid recognises that the private sector could play 
a role in providing AST to the commercial agricultural sector, however, it does 
not invest in marginalised areas and where the poor farmers reside.  It is this 
area that DFID should support with appropriate technology.  


Opposing intellectual property on agriculture


DFID has a choice to make in terms of what kind of agriculture it would 
support.  ActionAid International sees corporate controlled commercial 
agriculture to be problematic in many ways.  One of the biggest threats is 
through patenting food and farming crops which promotes a form of genetically 
modified (GM) and commercially controlled agriculture that can threaten the 
rights to food in a number of ways:

·         GM agriculture could intensify the trend towards large-scale 
single-crop farming and concentration of land holdings  - poor farmers depend 
upon a great variety of crops as a safety net, and need security over marginal 
lands.

·         Patents promote the consolidation of global seed and agri-chemical 
businesses, concentrating power over seeds and seed choices in a very few 
hands. Poor farmers are already vulnerable players in the marketplace - to be 
operating in an inefficient market biased against them, increases vulnerability.

·         Seed patenting - the guarantee of monopoly profits threatens the 
practice of farmer saved seeds and is transferring the community knowledge and 
biological resources of the south into private industrialised hands. Patents 
are being granted on plants or plant products that have been developed using 
biological resources which are the result of generations of cross-breeding - 
that is the intellectual property - of farmers in developing countries. 
Creating private property rights over the intellectual rights of many previous 
generations of farmers (which they have shared as common property for the 
common good) raises serious questions in respect to 'prior art', and can also 
viewed as a form of intellectual property theft - so called 'bio-piracy'.

·         Aggressive marketing and easy credit, promising high yields and big 
profits entice farmers onto a high tech treadmill. Farmers are not made aware 
of the risks.

DFID should take forward the findings of the Intellectual Property Rights 
Commission in ensuring that science and technology within the agriculture 
sector remains free of IP restrictions and to ensure a free flow of knowledge 
and resources.  In particular it should ensure that the UK government promotes 
the:

·         Exclusion of genetic resources for food and agriculture from 
intellectual property protection

·         Protection of Farmers' Rights to save, use, exchange and sell 
farm-saved seeds


Provide greater incentives to public sector research


Public sector research is deemed to be more pro-poor.  'In the early 1990s, 
around 12 percent of private research dealt with farm-focused technologies, 
whereas over 80 percent of public research had that orientation.  Food and 
other postharvest research accounted for 30 to 90 percent of private 
agricultural R&D in rich countries.'(IFPRI, 2001)  Continued support to public 
sector agricultural research especially in developing countries is crucial.

DFID should ensure that it's funding into agriculture and rural development 
goes to strengthen the public sector research capacity in country in addition 
to supporting local initiatives.  


Agricultural biodiverstiy


Traditional variety of seeds not only ensures the livelihood security of poor 
farmers by hedging their bet against uncertainties of agriculture, but also has 
a vital role in ensuring that biodiversity is maintained. 

DFID should support protection of agricultural biodiversity through setting up 
of seed banks and promotion of in-situ conservation.  

Intellectual property provides incentives for developing new homogeneous 
varieties; there is no institutional incentive for farmers to conserve local 
varieties.  DFID should help develop incentives for farmers engaged in 
biologically diverse farming.


Access and Benefit Sharing


DFID should support the implementation of the Convention on Biological 
Diversity and the FAO International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food 
and Agriculture globally.  ActionAid believes that no material or knowledge 
should be taken out of local communities in developing countries without the 
prior informed consent of the communities as well as prior agreement to share 
any benefits arising out the commercial exploitation equitably.  This is 
consistent with the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity and the 
FAO International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.

DFID should ensure that traditional knowledge becomes part of the solution to 
support the development of indigenous and local communities and not merely as a 
commodity for corporations to profit from.  Further, ActionAid International 
believes that discussions on protection of traditional knowledge should take 
place outside the intellectual property fora such as WIPO and the WTO.


Biosafety protocol


DFID should support developing country governments in developing their own 
biosafety legistations to protect against the potential impact of GM crops on 
food security, poor farmers and biodiversity.


Farmer-Scientist partnerships


DFID should continue to support both direct supports to AST through promoting 
Farmer-Scientist partnerships to address the emerging problems in smallholder 
agriculture.


DFID should promote greater participation of poorer farmers and communities in 
national agricultural science and technology debates and policymaking.


Competition


DFID should support developing country governments introducing competition 
rules to prevent private sector monopolies in AST and support effective 
institutions to enforce them. 


Budgetary support


Structural adjustment programmes and budgetary constraints have led to 
extension services being curtailed or withdrawn in many developing countries.  
DFID should extend budgetary support to developing country government's 
ministry of agriculture/science and technology to reinstate these.


Support to infrastructure


Poor infrastructure restricts dissemination of AST.  DFID should help support 
rural infrastructure development. 



ActionAid's vision is a world without poverty in which every person can 
exercise their right to a life of dignity. Registered Charity No. 274467
www.actionaid.org 

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