Hope Not Hype - Third World Network

108 Hope Not Hype
Figure 8.1: The global distribution of IP in the form of genetic diversity and
IPR in the form of patents and PVP (after Adi, 2006)
New patent laws pay scant attention to the knowledge of indigenous people. These laws
ignore cultural diversity in the way innovations are created and shared – and diversity in
views on what can and should be owned, from plant varieties to human life (UNDP, 1999, p.
7).
Seed saving and exchange is relevant and important and a means to the realization of
farmers’ rights.
Farmers in most developing countries depend on farm-saved and public-supplied seeds. The
latter provide seeds for the most important crops, while farm-saved seeds account for over
90% of the planted crops (WHO, 2005).
Seed saving is neither limited to the developing world nor the small farmer. Before
the US moved to the present types of IPR frameworks, seed saving was frequent (Pretty,
2001).
[T]he data illustrates two historical trends with respect to soybean seed-saving practices in
the US prior to the introduction of GM soybean in 1996. Firstly, farmers have historically
been engaged in seed-saving practices. More importantly perhaps is that significant proportions,
sometimes as much as 70 per cent, of soybean varieties have been grown from homegrown