Rural women's perspective: protecting women's intellectual property rights.

• Author: Wandia, Mary

The world is changing for smallholder farmers in Africa, especially women. Global trade regulations are leading to monopoly control of seeds, crop and plant genetic resources through an expanding system of patents over living organisms. For staple food crops, at issue are both genetically modified seeds and plants. engineered by inserting genes from non-elated species into their genetic makeup, and varieties created from more conventional crossbreeding methods. Promoted by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) with support from many industrialised nations led by the United States, the Trade related Intellectual Property Rights agreement popularly known as TRIPs, permits individuals and corporations to claim exclusive rights over life forms, genes. Micro-organisms and micro-processes by which they perform their functions. In fact, the WTO actually requires its member countries to patent plants as an integral part of the global trade and market-based framework it obliges them to follow.

This is a radical break from the customary practice of centuries in which people exchanged, saved and used their seeds and crop materials as resources that belong to the entire community. The situation is complicated by the fact that other international agreements are at odds with TRIPs policies. For example the UN's Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Food and Agricultural Organisation's (FAO) International undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources both uphold the principle that plant genetic resources belong to humankind's common heritage and should stay within the public domain. These conventions do not have enforcement mechanism the WTO does. Thus, WTO policies predominate in the conflict over public and private control of plant and agriculture genetic resources.

Individuals and corporations are claiming monopoly rights over resources and traditional knowledge that indigenous farmers particularly women, have developed and used for generations. For, example, patents have been issued on varieties of African sweet potatoes, millet, rice, melons, sorghum, and cassava.

In grappling with the question of their agricultural and biological heritage, Africans have made clear positions in favour of protecting communities' rights over their resources. The African Group of Ministers at the 1999 WTO Third Ministerial in Seattle took the lead in opposing the patenting of life in any of its forms.

Seed are the basis of agricultural production and livelihood...