Ghana has signed the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, the socalled UPOV91 and we have gone ahead to lay a Bill in Parliament .(anyway the Bill is a copy word-for-word of the convention and laws based on the convention from other countries) I can predict that our parliamentarians as uncritical as the colectively are will pass it without hassle. Already the Biotech and Big Agric GMO corporations have been in town to push it just as they did with Biosafety Act, 831, 2011. This Bill will change how agric which has evolved over 40,000 years is done. Now large firms want to appropriate intellectual rites of plants and crops to economically enslave our farmers. The consequences of the Bill if passed can be summed up in two very important points: 1. It would limit the customary rights of farmers to save and reuse farm saved seeds and planting material -- which is main means of sustaining Agric in Ghana . 2. Ghanaian farmers would have to buy seeds and planting material for each season. For some species they could reuse their farm saved seeds or potatoes upon payment of royalties each time . I have written some letters to some members of parliament and i urge all to try and do something about it. * you can download the bill from the website of parliament
Posted on: Tue, 26 Nov 2013 11:00:57 +0000
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