Seeds, sovereignty & struggle: The ongoing battle against UPOV & seed privatisation

Peasants and rural communities everywhere know the critical role seeds play in sustaining food production. Seeds, alongside land and water, are among the most fundamental agricultural resources. The idea that seeds should circulate freely is so deeply rooted in human societies that until 1960, national seed systems were universally based on the principle that stored seeds should be available to anyone needing them.

However, this changed with the establishment of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) in 1961, which sought to privatise seeds and crop varieties. Resistance to this notion was immediate and strong. For the first seven years, only a handful of European countries supported UPOV, with no other nation willing to ratify it.

Today, the assault on people’s seeds has intensified. Efforts to regulate, standardise, and privatise seeds aim to expand corporate markets, facilitated by plant breeders' rights, patent laws, seed certification schemes, variety registries and marketing laws. These measures, regardless of their form, serve to legalise exploitation, dispossession and destruction. But communities around the world are fighting back.

Local seed systems, maintained by farmers, continue to feed most people, particularly in the Global South. Yet, increasingly powerful seed companies, backed by their host governments through aid and trade deals, are pressuring countries, like those in Africa, to accelerate the adoption of “formal” seed systems that prioritize industrial seeds.

In early 2023, Benin’s parliament introduced a proposal for the country to join UPOV. As a member of the African Intellectual Property Organisation (OAPI), Benin is already indirectly tied to UPOV through OAPI’s membership. Direct membership, however, would expose Benin to greater pressure from the global seed industry.

In response, Benin’s civil society swung into action to stop the proposal. They conducted consultations, trainings and public debates. At the regional level, a coalition of farmers’ organisations, women’s organisations, trade activists, and consumer advocates, sounded the alarm They urged Benin’s government to withdraw the proposal to join UPOV and collaborate with peasant organisations and civil society, to evaluate strategies for seeds systems that prioritise local needs. By mid-2023, sustained pressure from social movements successfully stopped parliamentary discussion on joining UPOV.

For millions of African small-scale producers, diverse farmers’ seed varieties are crucial to food sovereignty, nutrition, enhancing biodiversity and sustaining livelihoods not just in rural areas but also in urban and peri-urban areas. Yet, the push for corporate seeds in Africa continues, spearheaded by institutions like the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) which introduced hybrid and GM seeds in the continent.

In Zambia, a new Plant Breeders’ Rights bill, driven by multinational seed companies was tabled for consultations in April 2024. There’s no compelling reason for repealing the existing Plant Breeders Rights Act, besides to align Zambia’s existing law more closely with UPOV. Farmers’ organisation and other civil society groups in Zambia are fighting hard to stop this move, warning that it will increase corporate control over the country’s seed and food systems.

At the continental level, the African Union is attempting to harmonise seed laws across its 54-member states under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). A proposed protocol on intellectual property would privatise seeds. With half of AU member states already aligning their laws with UPOV, this initiative is expected to boost UPOV membership, jeopardising farmers’ rights and local seed systems.

Efforts to harmonise seeds laws, such as the East African Community Seed and Plant Varieties Bill 2024-modelled on UPOV-threaten to create an inflexible regulatory environment. These laws, through the promotion of cross-border seed movement, expose local varieties to competition from powerful seed companies, further eroding seed sovereignty and biodiversity across the continent.

Organisations like the Zambia Alliance for Agroecology and Biodiversity (ZAAB) and the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) have vehemently opposed UPOV and the corporate control of seeds. In unison, grassroots groups across Africa have stood up in defence of African seeds and food systems.

Across Latin America, free trade agreements have reinforced efforts to privatise seeds through new regulations and laws. By enforcing plant breeders’ rights, patents, and seed marketing laws, large companies are infringing on people’s fundamental freedom to save, exchange, multiply and reproduce seeds. In 2012, when the Honduran Congress approved the Law for the Protection of Plant Varieties, it made it illegal to save, share, or exchange seeds. In response, farmers’ organisations like ANAFAE (Asociación Nacional para el Fomento de la Agricultura Ecológica) launched a decade-long legal battle to have the law declared unconstitutional. Although the plea was rejected, they persisted and filed a new motion.

After a long process, in November 2021, the Honduran Supreme Court ruled the law unconstitutional. The Court’s decision was based on the argument that UPOV violated the country’s sovereignty, right to self-determination and constitutional principles related to life, human dignity, and the right of the Honduran people to an adequate standard of living. It also recognised that the law was an attack on the right of the people to nutritious, healthy, and culturally appropriate foods.

Across Latin America, these laws are commonly referred to as “Monsanto Laws”. In Guatemala, Indigenous peoples have been protesting in the streets since mid-2023, demanding that their government’s abandon a proposed bill to adopt UPOV standards. These protests became a central part of a nationwide strike against the government.

In addition to the pressures from trade agreements, the push to join UPOV also comes through intense political campaigns. In Argentina, the new government of Javier Milei is trying to include a clause in its ‘Omnibus Law’ bill (Article 241) to join UPOV 1991. This initiative, backed by powerful seed corporations like Bayer, Syngenta, Corteva and BASF, aims to stop farmers from freely reusing seeds and extend corporate control over harvested materials, threatening Argentina’s food sovereignty. Whoever controls the seeds, controls the agri-food chain-and thus the availability, quality and price of food for the population. In response, a massive social movement was launched to defeat this bill and remove article 241.

On January 24, 2024, a nation-wide strike and mobilisation led by Argentina’s major trade unions drew around 5 million participants. UPOV was a key focus of the protests, which managed to stop the bill. However, the struggle continues as the government remains determined to introduce a new seed law to prevent farmers from freely saving seeds.

In May 2024, peasants and civil society organisations from México, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Colombia and Ecuador gathered in Costa Rica for the “Defense of seeds and maize” meeting. They shared and planned actions to counter the growing control of seeds and planting materials by transnational corporations through intellectual property, marketing and other laws. Participants at the meeting specifically denounced free trade agreements and UPOV laws, which they see as a critical threat to their communities.

Halfway around the world, since the mid-1990s, people in Thailand have been fighting to prevent the country from joining UPOV. With one-third of the population made up of small farmers, rural communities remain a significant source of agricultural seeds. The country also has a thriving local seed breeding community and seed enterprises. However, in 2017, under pressure from the European Union and the Trans-Pacific trade agreement, which impose UPOV, the Thai government quietly proposed an amendment to the 1999 seed law to align with UPOV 91. This attempt was met with strong opposition from various sectors, which openly challenged the government’s plan, eventually forcing it to backtrack. Organisations such as BioThai and the Alternative Agriculture Network argued that the amendment would have increased the monopoly of global seed companies, as well as Thai-based multinational Charoen Pokphand.

A similar situation is unfolding in Indonesia, where farmers have been struggling with restrictive UPOV-like seed laws. These laws have been used by a local subsidiary of Charoen Pokphand, PT BISI. The company has charged several farmers of alleged infringement of their intellectual property over seeds. After being convicted, the farmers received suspended six-month sentences. One farmer ended up in jail for a month and all were prohibited from planting their own seeds for a year. These cases underscore a disturbing message: "Buy your seeds from the companies or else…"

Indonesia ratification of the free trade agreement with EFTA (Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Lichtenstein), triggered an assessment process from the country’s plant variety protection body about joining UPOV 1991. This raised concerns from farmers organisations and wider social movements, which mobilised to put pressure on the government, including seeking intervention from UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Food, Michael Fakhri. In response, in February 2024, the Indonesia permanent mission to WTO and UN organisations in Geneva issued a statement confirming that the country would not join UPOV 1991. This is seen as a significant victory for farmers and civil society movements in the country, who have been resisting seeds privatisation for over twenty years.

However, the fight is not always won. Vietnam joined UPOV in 2006, when nearly all of the country’s plant breeding was publicly controlled. At that time, hundreds of farmer-run seed clubs operated in the Mekong Delta, with only 3.5% of rice seeds used by farmers coming from the formal system. Within ten years, the seed industry in Vietnam became highly consolidated, with eight companies-most of them global giants like Syngenta, Monsanto and Japan’s Sakata-controlling 80% of the market. While it has been difficult to challenge the new seed law, which adheres to UPOV, indigenous farmers, especially those in the mountains, continue practicing traditional farming methods. These practices allow them greater freedom to use, save and exchange seeds, compared to lowland farmers who are more dependent on industrial varieties.

Building on decades of resistance to seed privatisation and UPOV, and marking UPOV's 60th anniversary on 2 December, 2021, hundreds of farmers' groups and civil society organisations around the world have come together to oppose the corporate hijack of seed systems. They are calling for the dismantling of UPOV, denouncing 60 years of restrictions on the freedom to save, breed, share and distribute seeds-restrictions that undermine the diverse farmer-led seed systems necessary to tackle the climate and food crises. Together, these groups stand against national and international intellectual property laws like UPOV, as well as seed marketing regulations which dispossess people of their resources and knowledge.

The call continues as an ongoing campaign to stop UPOV and similar seed laws that threaten farmers’ seeds. It seeks to amplify action, strengthen information sharing, and mobilise to prevent the spread of laws that privatise seeds. As we face a coordinated political and technocratic crusade to impose uniform and rigid laws and regulations in favour of agroindustry, it is crucial for rural and urban farmers, indigenous communities, and civil society to unite and strengthen the movement against intellectual property regimes like UPOV.