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Free New Zealand in Food & Environment, 08th February
2005
NZ Farmers Warned Over Loss of Access to Seed
New Zealand
farmers urgently need to work together to protect their long-term
access to seeds and the right to save seeds for planting each year.
The urgency to protect farmers' rights that have been presumed secure
until now is a result of increasingly aggressive attempts by agri-businbess
to control all seed supplies. Consolidation of seed supllies into
a handful of companies means farmers may be denied access to seeds
they want and be limited to new patented varieties that may be genetically
modified or be contaminated by GM material.
Monsanto's recent acquisition of the world's largest seed supplier
for fruit and vegetables means New Zealand's Fruit and Vegetable
farmers are also more vulnerable.
The move to block farmers access to seed has included legal suits
in the US that have impacted thousands of farmers. But the decision
by US authorities to introduce a ban on seed- saving in Iraq should
be a wake-up call to the New Zealand industry and government.
"New Zealand is reliant on agriculture but many sectors are
also reliant on imported seed. The Iraq decision demands our farmers
and the government consider the long term threat to the industry
from external control over the seed we need," says Jon Carapiet
from GE Free NZ in food and environment.
There are already efforts being made to protect heirloom seeds but
the government must give priority to the issue and work with the
agricultural sector to ensure the secure supply of conventional
seeds into the future.
The ban on seed-saving in Iraq is a wakeup call for farmers. They
must look ahead five years and take action now to protect basic
rights that are threatned by patenting regimes and punitative licensing
agreements.
ENDS
Jon Carapiet 09 815 3370 0210 507 681
REFERENCE:
US Declares Iraqis Must Destroy Their Own Seeds .Edited by Iman
Khaduri
http://abutamam.blogspot.com
http://globalresearch.ca/articles/KHA501A.html
As part of sweeping "economic restructuring" implemented
by the Bush Administration in Iraq, Iraqi farmers will no longer
be permitted to save their seeds, which include seeds the Iraqis
themselves have developed over hundreds of years. Instead, they
will be forced to buy seeds from US corporations. That is because
in recent years, transnational corporations have patented and now
own many seed varieties originated or developed by indigenous
peoples. In a short time, Iraq will be living under the new American
credo: "Pay Monsanto, or starve ."
"The American Administrator of the Iraqi CPA (CoalitionProvisional
Authority) government, Paul Bremer, updated Iraq's intellectual
property law to 'meet current internationally-recognized standards
of protection'. The updated law makes saving seeds for next year's
harvest, practiced by 97% of Iraqi farmers in 2002, and is the standard
farming practice for thousands of years across human civilizations,
to be now illegal.. Instead, farmers will have to obtain a yearly
license for genetically modified (GM) seeds from American corporations.
These GM seeds have typically been modified from seeds developed
over thousands of generations by indigenous farmers like the Iraqis,
and shared freely like agricultural 'open source.'"
Iraq law Requires Seed Licenses November 13, 2004
"According to Order 81, paragraph 66 - [B], issued by L.Paul
Bremer [CFR], the people in Iraq are now prohibited from saving
seeds and may only plant seeds for their food from licensed, authorized
U.S. distributors.
The paragraph states, "Farmers shall be prohibited from re-using
seeds of protected varieties or any variety mentioned in items 1
and 2 of paragraph [C] of Article 14 of this chapter."
Written in massively intricate legalese, Order 81 directs the reader
at Article 14, paragraph 2 [C] to paragraph [B] of Article 4, which
states any variety that is different from any other known variety
may be registered in any country and become a protected variety
of seed - thus defaulting it into the "protected class"
of seeds and prohibiting the Iraqis from reusing them the following
season. Every year, the Iraqis must destroy any seed they have,
and repurchase seeds from an authorized supplier, or face fines,
penalties and/or jail time."
http://globalresearch.ca/articles/KHA501A.html
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