'India Must Work Assertively For Genetic Resources and Farmer Rights': Scientists Tell Govt Ahead of Peru Negotiations
New Delhi: A group of scientists under the banner of 'Scientists for Genetic Diversity' have written to Union minister of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare, and Rural Development Shivraj Singh Chouhan seeking to protect the rights of farmers and rights over genetic resources. The group had earlier written to the minister in July highlighting the concerns.
Citing several points for "critical" negotiations at the upcoming 11th Governing Body Meeting (GB-11) of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) in Peru in November, in a letter dated October 22, the scientists urged the Union minister to raise the issues.
“Given the obduracy of Developed Countries and the current impasse on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) of Genetic Resources, India must now work assertively as a strong advocate for the sovereign rights of its farmers and the protection of its genetic wealth,” the letter read.
The undersigned scientists included Babu Balijepalli, president of Plant Protection Association of India and former head of ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources; Suman Sahai, chairperson of the a research and advocacy organisation Gene Campaign; Dinesh Abrol, a professor at the Institute for Studies in Industrial Development; and Soma Marla and B Sarath Babu, both former principal scientists at ICAR-NBPGR.
Here's the full letter:
To,
Shri Shivaraj Singh Chouhan
Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare, and Rural Development Government of India, Krishi Bhavan, New Delhi
Subject: Urgent Need for Strategic Advocacy at ITPGRFA GB-11 to Safeguard India's Sovereign Rights over Genetic Resources and the Rights of its Farmers
Dear Shri Chouhan,
We, the undersigned scientists, write to you regarding the critical negotiations at the upcoming 11th Governing Body Meeting (GB-11) of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) in Peru in November 2025. Given the obduracy of Developed Countries and the current impasse on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) of Genetic Resources, India must now work assertively as a strong advocate for the sovereign rights of its farmers and the protection of its genetic wealth.
The Impasse in Negotiations and The Risk to India
The important issues to be resolved in the impasse in negotiations are as follows:
1) Securing robust arrangements favourable to the Countries of the Global South for benefit sharing that include full compensation for the uncompensated transfer of genetic wealth and fulfilment of commitment for technology transfer and sustainable utilization of agrobiodiversity
2) Transparency and accountability of MLS operations related to the exchange of germplasm and return of improved germplasm and knowledge generated by the users gaining from the exchange of germplasm
The main concern is that if the issues identified by us for the government to press in the negotiations remain unresolved, and the government chooses to compromise on the mandated objectives of negotiations, the technology-rich Global North would get away with the Global South offering genetic wealth on a platter without securing gains of monetary compensation and non-monetary benefits of technology transfer and no intellectual property on knowledge and genetic wealth. The key components of the main concern are:
The Unsettled Debt and Failure of Voluntarism
- The Unsettled Debt - Approximately seven million accessions have been transferred under the Multilateral System (MLS). These resources, originating largely from the Global South, have driven billions of dollars in commercial value for the global industries. Yet, the corresponding payment for this immense contribution has been minimal.
- The Failure of Voluntarism - The current system of voluntary Sharing of monetary benefits has proven to be a complete failure. It is therefore very clear that the Treaty's financial mechanism, based on voluntary contributions, is unsustainable and unjust.
Transparency and Accountability Deficit
The failure of voluntarism is severely compounded by critical systemic and structural flaws in the Treaty's implementation of ABS obligations and MLS operations that consistently disadvantage provider countries:
- Ineffective Benefit Sharing - Monetary payments accrued in the Benefit Sharing Fund (BSF) have been minimal, and the current system lacks a clear provision to share these funds directly with the provider communities of the origin countries.
- Transparency Failure: The MLS implementation by the Secretariat exhibits a clear lack of transparency, most notably the failure to report information on Standard Material Transfer Agreements (SMTAs) to the Governing Body or publish them for public scrutiny.
- Weak Institutional Engagement: There is a complete lack of mandated, periodical interaction between the Third-Party Beneficiary/Treaty Secretariat and the recipient of PGRFA, eroding accountability. An April 2025 CGIAR study confirmed that the commercial use of PGRFA is virtually undetectable under the current system.
India's Position of Strength - The Global Standard of Equity
India is a globally recognized major centre of crop diversity and has pioneered a justly formulated, equitable legislation.
Our Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act (PPV&FR Act, 2001) is a unique law that grants farmers specific legal rights over seed, contrasting sharply with UPOV-style exemptions typical elsewhere. India must leverage this domestic success to present the PPV&FR Act as the global standard for equitable genetic resource governance.
Mandate and Strategic Leverage for GB-11
The overriding concern is that if these issues remain unresolved, the technology-rich Global North will grab the genetic resources of the South and claim ownership over these via Intellectual Property (IP) instruments. We urge the Government to mobilize the Global South and secure the following robust arrangements:
- Mandatory (legal) Benefit-Sharing System
- Lead the call for a Mandatory Milestone Subscription System for benefit sharing, including monetary and non-monetary benefits, directly linked to the commercial turnover of companies utilizing Annex I crops.
- Secure a Ban on any form of IP on commercial products arising directly or indirectly from the use of PGRFA accessed through the MLS.
- Sovereign Rights over Digital Sequence Information (DSI)
- We must mobilize the Global South to present a united front at GB-11, to jointly demand a fair and equitable share of the profits earned by users of their genetic resources. • We in Global South as countries of origin, our sovereign rights must apply equally to all genetic material, whether in physical form or as Digital Sequence Information (DSI). We must assert a non-differentiated strategy, insisting that the DSI is the "digital proxy" of sovereign physical resources and its use must be subject to mandatory benefit-sharing.
- Strategic Refusal
- Mobilize the Global South to be firm in refusing the expansion of Annex I.
- Crucially, any agreement on DSI must be held in abeyance until the mandatory MLS Enhancement Package is secured. This strategic refusal is the most potent diplomatic tool at our disposal to ensure justice and safeguard our national interests.
We believe that securing a just and mandatory system for benefit-sharing is fundamental to protecting the welfare of our farming communities and asserting India’s sovereign control over its genetic resources.
Sincerely,
Scientists for Genetic Diversity
Dr. Suman Sahai Dr. Sarath Babu Balijepalli Dr. Dinesh Abrol Dr. Soma Marla
Cc 1) Dr M L Jat, Director General, Indian Council of Agricultural Research 2) Dr Gyanendra Pratap Singh, Director, National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources
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