Indigenous Seeds Conference - Mahasarakam

As the Chi river flowed peacefully past P' Thoy's home in Mahasarakam province, members of the AAN, representatives from sustainable agriculture groups in Northern Thailand, along with several researchers and professors from Bangkok, met to discuss the current situation regarding indigenous rice seeds, plant protection and farmers' rights. The conference was also intended to continue building connections between Thailand's 4 regions, in the lead up to our annual seed exchange, to be hosted in Khon Kaen. While a meeting like this could be held for several days, the day-long conference was jam-packed with panel discussions and an afternoon network-wide exchange.

More than seven years ago, the AAN realized that the sustainable agriculture movement had to be about more than organic farming and select ag-related political issues. The agenda expanded to focus of using indigenous or local seeds, to support local culture about food and production, train farmers in proper seed-selection techniques and importantly, resist capitalist seed production and ownership. While Jasmine 105 was blanketing the agricultural landscape, farmers were storing away local varieties to preserve and to eat - maintaining an important connection between culture and indigenous seeds. Seeds within the network have expanded based on annual farmer-to-farmer exchange events, while ideas about farmer's rights and community ownership have emerged in response to corporate efforts (especially, CP and Monsanto) to use intellectual property rights (IPRs) ownership controls. There are currently 73 farmer-researchers in the network, with over 140 rice varieties saved for preservation and expansion.

How do we want to define ownership for farmers? What do the rights to local seeds mean?

When P' Jansee, an SFS member on the farmer-researcher panel (above, with microphone) was asked, "We preserve seeds, but how are we going to use them?" he responded by talking about learning more about consumers' preferences and SFS' experiences at our annual indigenous seeds event at the Green Market. As SFS members have built a strong base of indigenous seeds, they can begin tailoring production to the health needs of consumers. If a consumer is concerned about diabetes, they might be interested in Red Jasmine rice, which has a significantly lower percentage of sugar when compared to Jasmine 105 or Gor Kor 6 sticky rice.

P' Lan (above, in striped shirt) a leader in the AAN farmers' group in Kudchum, Yasothon, continued by talking about the reasons for the loss of indigenous seeds. Traditionally, his home sub-district of Gamet planted 23 indigenous varieties of rice. The market for indigenous seeds, however, disappeared following the expansion of large-scale mills designed to mill only Jasmine 105 or Gor Kor 6 sticky rice and government policy promoted "improved" varieties for surplus production. This production system also minimized feed for livestock, as the crop is planted on all of the farmers' fields and harvested all at once. After further discussion about the revival of local seeds by the Kudchum farmers' group, P' Lan concluded that those who produce and grown must have more ownership over seeds - farmers' rights. Farmers also need to continue learning about other crops and try planting them out in order to better understand local ecology.

Resist free trade and preserve local seeds

Following the farmer-researcher panel was a discussion led by P' Supa of the Sustainable Agriculture Foundation. We can hold the belief that plants shouldn't have owners, but this system has changed. The WTO needs to have intellectual property rights (IPRs), as membership depends on it and form the basis for free trade agreements (FTAs). Outside the WTO, the constitution (at least in theory) gives farmers' communities rights, yet there is a disconnect between policy and reality in communities. Later during the discussion, one farmer passionately proposed that property rights should be done away with. He got a quick response: commercial seeds have already destroyed many farmers' rights.

Geographical Indication (GI) is an alternative to IPRs - it allows farmers to freely plant registered seeds, but not use the registered name. Yet there aren't seeds that are specifically able to be planted in one area. If someone develops a new breed, sure they should have the right to register it - but are they really creating anything new? Registration or protection is about indigenous genetics, not a tool for corporate exploitation - yet it's also about allowing other farmers to benefit from local resources. Finding a balance in protection and use is our network's challenge.

Saving seeds in order to plant them again is a farmer's right. Selling locally and exchanging are also farmer's rights - local resource management sovereignty - and power is mobilized for rural communities, in order to come up against the conventional system. This was all building to a network-wide statement in the afternoon discussion/brainstorm (Ubon Yuwa, exchanges with P Wan, of the Joko Learning Center in Nan province).

Plant genetics are of natural systems (also legal).

Property rights become an issue when the seeds farmers produce are taken by a company and we need to register our seeds with them - as is the case for rice seed breeders in Southern Vietnam. The urgency of the conference stems from the reality that seed companies are developing new varieties to create new markets - it's not about improving efficiency for Thai farmers. In response, what is the network's reaction? Create some kind of a law for farmers' way of life, to protect their local resources? Create a new level for community rights, for local resource management? What is the genetics system that we are looking at? Preservation or expansion? How do we manage new breeds? P' Thoy responded: our [AAN] type of agriculture isn't about making money - we need to make a clear separation for ourselves - but what is keeping farmers from thinking they can be their own seed breeders?

The shared feeling among farmers and NGOs is that no one should be an owner or have the right to "own" seeds, but we need to raise the level of community rights for protection and prevent corporate control over material. The notion of a "seed commons" was also raised - allow for free use and exchange, without registration for commercial sale. Farmers are preservationists and network-oriented. Ubon Yuwa suggested that we need a "bridge" to the government, perhaps create an "indigenous seeds assembly?"

Given the success of the National Health Assembly and our network's strong working relationship with public health efforts in Thailand, a seed assembly is possible. But clearly, a lot of things are possible, and the day's conference in Mahasarakam was far from conclusive. It got farmers and NGOs thinking about next steps, and as we build our own bank of indigenous plant material, being able to engage with trade policy or IPRs with farmers' dignity and knowledge behind the movement will be essential for protecting our interests and supporting others who may not yet have access to good seeds.