Priscilla
Agriculture is a timeless occupation in India. Agriculture cannot exist without farmers hence, it is essential to protect their rights and interests.
Recognizing the importance of farmers, the Government of India has enacted the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act, 2001 (PPVFR), which seeks to protect plant varieties, rights of farmers and plant breeders in order to encourage the development of new varieties of plants.
The following are the rights conferred by the Act on the farmers:-
According to S.P Bala Ravi, there are 9 rights;
1. Access to seed (S.39(1)(iv)) : Farmers are entitled to save, use, sow, re-sow, exchange, share or sell their farm produce, including seed of protected varieties under the Act and as they were before the commencement of the Act. But, they cannot sell branded seeds of any variety protected under the Act.
2. Benefit sharing (S.26) : This right makes sure that the farmers and plant breeders who contribute parent variety of seeds to breeders, for the breeding of new varieties, also receive a benefit share along with the Plant Breeders of the new varieties.
3. Compensation for loss arising out of a registered variety (S.39(2)) : As per this right, the farmers can claim compensation when registered seeds under the Act, sold by a breeder, are not upto the standard as specified by him. It may be in terms of its quality, performance, disease resistance etc. and therefore, the breeder will be held liable for payment of compensation.
4. Registered seeds at reasonable prices (S.47): Under the PPVFR Act, the farmers are entitled to obtain an adequate supply of registered seeds at reasonable prices, from the Plant Breeder Right (PBR) holder. The farmers have the right to take the matter to the concerned Authority in cases of no fulfillment of these conditions.
5. Recognition and reward (S. 39(1)(iii) & S.45(2)(c)) : Recognizing the significant role played by the farmers in the conservation of crops and in the contributions they make toward crop improvement, the Act recognizes and rewards farmers from the National gene fund.
6. Registration of farmers’ varieties (S. 14 & S. 28) : The farmers can register their traditional seed varieties under the Act and thereby obtain an exclusive right over those varieties as PBRs, to produce and market them .
7. Prior authorization for the commercialization of essentially derived varieties (S. 41) : In certain cases, a new variety may be developed from a traditional variety of seeds and the breeder of the new variety may not disclose the traditional/parent seed used for such development, dishonestly or ignorantly. In that instance, the farmers can prefer a claim for compensation before the PPVFR Authority.
8. Exemption from fees (S.44) : The farmers are exempted from the payment of any fees under the Act for eg. for registration of plant varieties, for conducting tests on them, for renewal of registrations and the fees prescribed for opposition, benefit claim, etc.
9. Protection from innocent infringement (S.42) : If a farmer can prove that he/she had not been aware of the provisions of law infringed by him/her, then the farmer will not be held legally liable for such infringement. This provision is a source of protection to the farmers, owing to the prevalence of low-legal literacy.
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