farmer |
"Seed is something
that is sacred. Seed is life. In our tradition, it is about culture,
identity; it's about sharing ... If everything is for sale, when will it
stop?" asked Rifqah Tifloen at a public hearing on the Plant
Improvement Bill and the Plant Breeders' Rights Bill in Port Elizabeth's
City Hall on Friday.
Tifloen of Calabash
Trust was making a submission on two bills introduced in the National
Assembly and published in the Government Gazette on 23 January 2015. The
Plant Improvement Bill and the Plant Breeders' Rights Bill will replace
the Plant Improvement Act (1976) and the Plant Breeders' Rights Act
(1976).
The bills seek
among other things to regulate the quality, import and export of plants
and to protect the ownership rights and royalties of plant breeders.
Tifloen believes
the bills will harm small scale farmers. "Seed production and
distribution should be made accessible to the poor. These two bills, if
made into Law, will subvert food production and food security. We want
bills that protect farmers' rights and not one's that enable policing of
farmers. We want policies that support food sovereignty because all
people have a constitutional right to food," she said.
A written
submission by the African Centre for Biodiversity says the new bills
will strengthen the rights of breeders and weaken those of farmers.
"Breeders rights should extend only to the first purchase of the seed.
Following this, farmers should be allowed to freely save, trade, and
exchange and sell all materials that are under their control and in
their seed system."
A backyard gardener
and nursery trader, Robert Matsabise of Wells Estate, said, "We are
forced to depart from our traditional way of owning and distributing
seed. They [the bills] destroy the concept of Vuk'uzenzele. The bills
take away our freedom of cultivation and experimentation because we are
always afraid of being arrested if we flout the law."
Mangaliso
Ngxokwana, 75, of KwaZakhele, said he has been practicing farming in the
backyard of his house and at a nearby school for many decades. "I
inherited my farming practices and skills from my parents long before
these breeding companies arrived in this country. Now they want to own
the seeds that we inherited. It is even very expensive to register
ownership of the seeds. The process is just laborious and expensive for
us. It favours the rich."
Rushta Johnson, a
small scale farmer and environment activist based in Port Elizabeth,
said, "Yes, it costs money to breed. The rich corporates have the money
... As farmers we share and exchange our seeds. With these Bills, it
will be a criminal offence to do so ... This means if you want to sell
your seeds you need to register first."
A university
student, Ribekah-Breeze Johnson, said, "We risk losing our indigenous
seed varieties when big corporations push for farmers to use one variety
... Even though these two bills seem small, I can't help seeing the
bigger picture and what destruction they [as they are now] could lead to
in the future."
Advocate Koleka
Beja for the Eastern Cape Legislature told the audience that her
committee would consider the people's sentiments. She said: "These are
strong sentiments. You are the ones who should give the nod whether it
will be passed or not. I will take your submissions as they are because
they are coming from the people affected by the bills."
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