WTO and Rights of Farmers.

According to The international undertaking on planned genetic resources farmers rights are the
right rising from the past, present & future contribution of farmers on conserving, improving &
making available plant genetic resources particularly those in the continuous of origin &
diversity. These rights are vested with the international community, as the trust for the present &
future generation of farmers for the purpose of ensuring full benefit to the farmers.

Today we have few traditional plants and an abundant no. of plants that have been developed
through genetic engineering. Thus, the concern for farmers right is necessary today than ever
before.

The UN binds the WTO in formulating its further agreements and accepts farmers’ rights as
human rights on the primacy and vulnerability principles. In contrast to TRIPS, CBD provides
safeguards for farming communities. The pre-eminence and primacy principles under the UDHR
and the Chapters 32 and 26 of the Agenda 21 can promote the rights-based approach, which can
reduce the vulnerability of the farming communities thus recognizing and protecting their rights
as human rights. Since both the Agreements- TRIPS and AoA- are subject to periodic reviews
under WTO negotiations, the groups advocating the farmers’ rights should lobby in the countries
of South and the North to create an equitable atmosphere during the trade talks at the WTO
ministerial level.

Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)

The WTO Agreement on TRIPS is the most comprehensive multilateral agreement on

intellectual property (IP). After the TRIPS agreement came into force in 1995 the issue of
protecting the farmers right has become a matter of intense debate. This is mainly due to two
reasons:

a. Firstly, certain provision of TRIPS has the potential to limit the farmers traditional rights
to save, exchange and sell the produces.
 b. Secondly, the role of intellectual property rights in the agricultural sectors has increased
sharply in the recent years.

For example:

Many developed nations have developed agriculture as industry, where few people are involved
in the agriculture but they produce millions of tons of agricultural produce. But the least
developed nations as ours has been cultivating for sustaining our livelihood rather than for
industrial purpose. The developed nations under the genetic discourse ae developing new plants
and registering the newly developed plants as IP rights as a result the farmers are losing their
farmers right. Therefore, TRIPS related IP rights made provision in regards to addressing right of
the farmers.

The farming communities has become more venerable due to monopoly regime perpetuated by
WTO. Particularly TRIPs that governs the production, trade a food, harming the human right of
farmers under this agreement. The developing and under developed nations are force to reduce
support to agricultural while developed counties give massive subsidies to their farmers,
similarly the high trade barriers of the nations have discouraged imports from the least developed
and developing nations hampering the farmers rights. Thus, the UN blinds the WTO in
formulating its further agreement and accepts farmers right as human right on the prima facie
and vulnerability principles.

Rationale of farmer’s right

Previously the farmers were free to share and exchange plants as a common heritage of human
kind prior to the convention on bio-diversity,1992. the free flow of genetic resources was
accepted & infect encourage a mechanism to ensure food security & fight hunger and starvation
at the global level.

Recently in the quest to promote globalization & liberalization issue like plant varieties quotation
under international union for the protection of new varieties of plant & TRIPS, model has
emerged and such model have direct implication on framers right and conservation and
sustainable utilization of genetic resources.

Article 27 sub section 3(b) of TRIPS mention, member also exclude from patentability plant &
animals other than micro-organism & essentially biological process for the production of plant or
animals other than no- biological & micro biological process.

This article implies that the members are obliged to provision protection to life from firms
including genetic resources, race for patenting genetic resources is unaccepted. Private
entrepreneurs are encouraged to use the genetic resources and traditional knowledge to build
their scientific abilities and knowledge thereby acquiring benefit without concentrating equitable
benefit share to the owner of genetic resources and knowledge.

Due to hegemony of the multinational company’s ad rich nations, exploitation of the farmers
occurs as they are not providing proper share to the farmers for conserving the plant genetic from
generation to generation. Thus, to avoid an irreplaceable damage to the sustainable agriculture
the protection of the farmers rights is a must.