International Development and Intellectual Property: The Impact of Seed Exchange and Replacement on Innovation among Small-Scale Farmers in India
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Leeds
Department Name: School of PRHS
Abstract
One of the major challenges facing global development is the question of how to arrange the laws and customs surrounding intellectual property (IP) in order to encourage innovation. Bringing together Radick's theoretical and conceptual work on IP over the long-run of the history of science and technology, Kochupillai's legal-empirical studies of IP and innovation concerning plant varieties in India, and the resources of the Art of Living Foundation, this project will study a sample of innovative Indian farmers in order to explore the comparative advantages and disadvantages of two ways of organising innovation in a developing nation.
Indian farmers have traditionally participated in an informal culture of keeping seeds season after season (seed saving) and of swapping seeds (seed exchange), and under this system, new varieties have periodically emerged and been cultivated. More recently, the Indian government has promoted a different system, changing the law to give enhanced IP protection to scientifically derived varieties from state-run institutions or private firms, and encouraging farmers to replace their seed stocks regularly (seed replacement) by purchasing seeds from the marketplace. A key question is whether this increasing promotion of policies of seed replacement and IP regimes that have "exclusivity" as their basic underlying rationale could have a negative effect on cultures of sharing, and therefore on seed-related innovations, among farmers in rural India. The possibility of such an effect was dramatized by the case of the Indian farmer Dadji Ramji Khobragade. Collecting seeds and replanting them year on year, he eventually developed a new rice variety which became popular throughout the region. As is typical of the culture among small farmers of the regions, Khobragade was happy to share his seeds with farmers from other villages. But when university researchers took his seeds to conduct experiments, and four years later released an improved variety, they did not credit Khobragade. Furthermore, under a law governing intellectual property (IP) and plant varieties, Khobragade was not entitled to any share of the profits from the sale of this new variety.
The project will have three phases. In the first phase, a project researcher based partly at the University of Leeds and partly at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition in Munich, will undertake systematic background study of the relevant scholarly literatures while at the same time using the Plant Variety Application database (freely available from the Plant Authority of India) to identify Indian farmers for interview. The second phase will be a two-month field study in India, travelling from region to region in order to conduct in-depth interviews with innovative farmers - that is, farmers who have registered new plant varieties - in order to learn their views and experiences regarding the different cultures of IP surrounding Indian plant-variety innovation, as well as the related impacts on agricultural biodiversity. The researcher will also speak on local/regional radio in India to publicise the project. In the third phase the researcher will return to Leeds to process the interview data and produce a journal article, one or more articles for trade journals etc., and a report for the Foundation. Throughout the project the researcher will use social media, the Foundation's website and related means to promote the project's findings.
The project will end with a conference taking place in Bangalore and involving the project team, farmers, policy-makers and plant breeders. With the UN having recently released a report (http://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/ditcted2012d3_en.pdf) stressing the importance of small-scale sustainable farming to the future of agriculture and the environment around the world, this research is particularly pertinent, and has relevance for small farmers and agriculture internationally.
Indian farmers have traditionally participated in an informal culture of keeping seeds season after season (seed saving) and of swapping seeds (seed exchange), and under this system, new varieties have periodically emerged and been cultivated. More recently, the Indian government has promoted a different system, changing the law to give enhanced IP protection to scientifically derived varieties from state-run institutions or private firms, and encouraging farmers to replace their seed stocks regularly (seed replacement) by purchasing seeds from the marketplace. A key question is whether this increasing promotion of policies of seed replacement and IP regimes that have "exclusivity" as their basic underlying rationale could have a negative effect on cultures of sharing, and therefore on seed-related innovations, among farmers in rural India. The possibility of such an effect was dramatized by the case of the Indian farmer Dadji Ramji Khobragade. Collecting seeds and replanting them year on year, he eventually developed a new rice variety which became popular throughout the region. As is typical of the culture among small farmers of the regions, Khobragade was happy to share his seeds with farmers from other villages. But when university researchers took his seeds to conduct experiments, and four years later released an improved variety, they did not credit Khobragade. Furthermore, under a law governing intellectual property (IP) and plant varieties, Khobragade was not entitled to any share of the profits from the sale of this new variety.
The project will have three phases. In the first phase, a project researcher based partly at the University of Leeds and partly at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition in Munich, will undertake systematic background study of the relevant scholarly literatures while at the same time using the Plant Variety Application database (freely available from the Plant Authority of India) to identify Indian farmers for interview. The second phase will be a two-month field study in India, travelling from region to region in order to conduct in-depth interviews with innovative farmers - that is, farmers who have registered new plant varieties - in order to learn their views and experiences regarding the different cultures of IP surrounding Indian plant-variety innovation, as well as the related impacts on agricultural biodiversity. The researcher will also speak on local/regional radio in India to publicise the project. In the third phase the researcher will return to Leeds to process the interview data and produce a journal article, one or more articles for trade journals etc., and a report for the Foundation. Throughout the project the researcher will use social media, the Foundation's website and related means to promote the project's findings.
The project will end with a conference taking place in Bangalore and involving the project team, farmers, policy-makers and plant breeders. With the UN having recently released a report (http://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/ditcted2012d3_en.pdf) stressing the importance of small-scale sustainable farming to the future of agriculture and the environment around the world, this research is particularly pertinent, and has relevance for small farmers and agriculture internationally.
Planned Impact
The project will engage with a broad range of non-academic audiences through a variety of channels and outputs:
(1) Small, marginal and medium land-holding farmers: Farmers and farming communities ultimately comprise the most important audience for our research. During the research phase the Postdoctoral Research Assistant (PDRA) will invite selected farmers to the end-of-project conference - for which a fund will be available to assist with their travel and accommodation. One focus of this conference will be to help farmers to better understand what an "exclusive rights regime" entails vis-à-vis the socio-cultural practices they are used to and how this affects them as farmer-innovators. The PDRA will investigate the practicalities of securing the assistance of Indian legal experts practicing in the field of plant variety protection law so that we will be able to provide training in the legal situation around IP as it relates to the production and registration of new plant varieties. This will increase farmers' awareness and understanding of these laws, helping to ensure they can secure legal protection over plant varieties they may produce, or have already produced. The PDRA will also investigate how best to disseminate the research findings to a broader segment of the farming community - especially bearing in mind that many small farmers will not be literate. For example the PDRA might arrange to be interviewed on local radio with a translator. Depending on interest, and with the help of the AOL, it might be possible also to get regional or national radio coverage.
(2) Government officials and policymakers: Representatives of local and regional government will be encouraged to attend our workshop; our project will benefit this group by helping them to better appreciate the impact of IP protection regimes and associated policies on farmer cultures such as seed saving and exchange, and on farmer level innovation. This can then inform their policy decisions.
(3) Plant breeders (industry representatives) and scientists: The project will also engage with and benefit those engaged in formal seed innovation research. In addition to using professional mailing lists to draw the attention of this audience to our research, and encouraging attendance at our end of project workshop, the PDRA will reach out by writing a non-academic article in a trade or in-house journal or some other suitable medium as appropriate, to be identified by the PDRA during the interview stage of the project.
(4) Non-governmental organisations, esp. AOL: Our collaboration with AOL will benefit the organisation and its trainers as we will be able to provide a training session based on our findings at our workshop to supplement their existing knowledge. For continued reference, a report of the project findings will also be provided to the AOL. Through the AOL, an international organisation, the project research can also reach international audiences and benefit small farmers in other Low/Middle Income Countries.
(5) General public: We will reach out to a broader and -- given the scale of the farmer suicide problem and the wide interest in solving it -- international audience of people interested in organic farming, traditional agriculture and issues of sustainability; this might include, for example, guest posts on relevant blogs, public talks, and radio programmes. A page will be created within the AOL's social projects website giving details of the project and encouraging public comments and discussions. The PDRA will also maintain a Twitter account and a Facebook account to regularly post project updates. In addition, the PDRA will also investigate ways in which we could engage in outreach and education activities, for example by producing schools' resources about agrobiodiversity and sustainability. Such an initiative might form the basis of a follow-on project from this research to increase the impact of the project work.
(1) Small, marginal and medium land-holding farmers: Farmers and farming communities ultimately comprise the most important audience for our research. During the research phase the Postdoctoral Research Assistant (PDRA) will invite selected farmers to the end-of-project conference - for which a fund will be available to assist with their travel and accommodation. One focus of this conference will be to help farmers to better understand what an "exclusive rights regime" entails vis-à-vis the socio-cultural practices they are used to and how this affects them as farmer-innovators. The PDRA will investigate the practicalities of securing the assistance of Indian legal experts practicing in the field of plant variety protection law so that we will be able to provide training in the legal situation around IP as it relates to the production and registration of new plant varieties. This will increase farmers' awareness and understanding of these laws, helping to ensure they can secure legal protection over plant varieties they may produce, or have already produced. The PDRA will also investigate how best to disseminate the research findings to a broader segment of the farming community - especially bearing in mind that many small farmers will not be literate. For example the PDRA might arrange to be interviewed on local radio with a translator. Depending on interest, and with the help of the AOL, it might be possible also to get regional or national radio coverage.
(2) Government officials and policymakers: Representatives of local and regional government will be encouraged to attend our workshop; our project will benefit this group by helping them to better appreciate the impact of IP protection regimes and associated policies on farmer cultures such as seed saving and exchange, and on farmer level innovation. This can then inform their policy decisions.
(3) Plant breeders (industry representatives) and scientists: The project will also engage with and benefit those engaged in formal seed innovation research. In addition to using professional mailing lists to draw the attention of this audience to our research, and encouraging attendance at our end of project workshop, the PDRA will reach out by writing a non-academic article in a trade or in-house journal or some other suitable medium as appropriate, to be identified by the PDRA during the interview stage of the project.
(4) Non-governmental organisations, esp. AOL: Our collaboration with AOL will benefit the organisation and its trainers as we will be able to provide a training session based on our findings at our workshop to supplement their existing knowledge. For continued reference, a report of the project findings will also be provided to the AOL. Through the AOL, an international organisation, the project research can also reach international audiences and benefit small farmers in other Low/Middle Income Countries.
(5) General public: We will reach out to a broader and -- given the scale of the farmer suicide problem and the wide interest in solving it -- international audience of people interested in organic farming, traditional agriculture and issues of sustainability; this might include, for example, guest posts on relevant blogs, public talks, and radio programmes. A page will be created within the AOL's social projects website giving details of the project and encouraging public comments and discussions. The PDRA will also maintain a Twitter account and a Facebook account to regularly post project updates. In addition, the PDRA will also investigate ways in which we could engage in outreach and education activities, for example by producing schools' resources about agrobiodiversity and sustainability. Such an initiative might form the basis of a follow-on project from this research to increase the impact of the project work.
| Description | (1) One of the most significant achievements was the breadth of farmers reached in terms of experience and geographical diversity (Punjab in the north, Assam in the east and Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra in the south). This allowed for the collection of a range of perspectives based on a variety of experiences and contexts. For instance, Punjab is where the Green Revolution had the biggest impact; therefore, farmers in the region are typically described as 'progressive' (conventional rather than traditional) and predominantly cultivate high-yielding varieties. By contrast farmers in Assam rely on rain-fed agriculture, the region is vulnerable to flooding, seed-replacement rates are low, agro-biodiversity is relatively high and generally farmers in the region are viewed to have low productivity. However, in these two regions interviews focussed on the exceptions to the rule. In Assam, interview selection focussed on remarkable farmers known by the local research institution and recipients of Genome Saviour Awards (also registered varieties with the Plant Variety Authority). In Punjab, interviews focussed on farmers involved with the seed saving non-profit group KVM. Farmers and tribal groups working closely with the Art of Living were interviewed in Chhattisgarh, whereas in Maharashtra interviews included a wider range of farmers. (2) In most of these regions seed saving and exchange was a practice almost lost and then restored with the help of non-profit groups. The one exception is Assam where traditional practices have continued. However, the farmers interviewed in Assam (award winning) tend not to trust the quality of other farmers' seeds. They will give seeds when requested or needed, but do not accept seeds. Seed exchange does not happen as freely as it might have in the past. For instance, in Punjab a few cultivators produce seed for the KVM group and then the group distributes to farmers. A few farmers interviewed in Punjab exchanged seeds with farmers in neighbouring states in an experimental manner. Farmers including tribal farmers in Chhattisgarh were actively searching for varieties from wild stocks and tribal areas and then restoring the cultivation of these varieties. (3) Many farmers did not fit solely in the traditional or conventional farmer category. Some farmers cultivated hybrids in addition to traditional varieties. In Assam traditional varieties were cultivated along with higher yielding varieties, the traditional varieties often providing a safety net in that no matter how poor the environmental conditions some yield was assured. However, the precarious state of conservation efforts is noteworthy particularly when a plant breeder working in the area says that one traditional resilient variety can only be found in one farmers field. The plant breeder/researcher tells other farmers in the region to acquire seeds from that farmer when the university no longer has a supply. For the most part research participants favoured making traditional variety information a matter of public record to ensure the full benefit of the knowledge and varieties could be experienced by the community of farmers. The BAIF model used in Maharashtra was described as open-source and believed that the community must take care of the innovator. Again, the group distributed seeds to other farmers and would reimburse farmers if they contributed seeds to the group. Thus, the group provided a layer of quality assurance. The BAIF model also adopted field visits and demonstration similar to what is done with high-yielding varieties, but in this way, they were able to spread the cultivation of traditional varieties instead. Farmers in these regions can be said to recognise the intellectual property (broad) of BAIF and KVM and to some extent consumers also recognise the IP associated with KVM through the use of logos at farmers' markets in Punjab. (4) The effectiveness of the Genome Saviour Award as an IP structure for promoting innovation is questionable. Over a dozen farmers within a single district in Assam were recommended for recognition, but only three received awards. Potentially these other farmers were as deserving as the award winners. In fact, as documented by the media, other states have had bad feelings created when only some community members receive recognition over the wider community. The award recipients were asked what had changed since receiving the reward and generally said nothing had changed except for a boost of confidence. These same farmers had begun the process of registering plant varieties but were awaiting certification. In addition, these farmers had additional ideas and desires to be innovative but did not have the means to benefit from their ideas. One Assamese farmer said that only with the development of the varieties will they be fully protected. This farmer was hoping to reach consumers through festivals celebrating indigenous varieties. The most common challenge for farmers was reaching customers, consumer awareness and reaching customers with the use of IP. In some regions of India, this challenge has been left to non-profit organisations such as KVM and BAIF. Farmers in Assam do not have similar support and the Genome Saviour Award does not provide any follow-up to assist farmers in marketing or benefiting from their intellectual property. (5) The journal article stresses not only the interdisciplinary nature of the research, but also the iterative collaborative nature of this project within the methodology section. While the majority of the research findings originate from farmer interviews, these perspectives were shared with farmers in attendance at the round-table event and used to generate additional discussions. The notes that came from each round-table group have been included in the research result and therefore the format included in methodology. The article will be submitted to a developmental policy journal next month. (6) Our goals of promoting the visibility of the project, enabling other organisations to engage with it, and offering a forum for sharing expertise and experience were met through use of Twitter and associated project website, press coverage, round-table/conference participation and the creation of a WhatsApp discussion group. Our non-profit collaborators are well-positioned to take the findings forward particularly through the position paper. |
| Exploitation Route | An immediate ambition is to produce a white paper with which to influence the policies of the government in India in making more creative use of the levers of intellectual property in order to encourage sustainable seed innovation. |
| Sectors | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Environment,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Description | The most immediate impact involved a reported change in views, opinions and behaviours in our non-profit colleagues. This change was noted by more than one colleague and occurred throughout the course of the research project. Our non-profit partner provided assistants and translators in regions throughout India. These assistants often had significant roles relevant to the research topic. For instance, in Assam our translator ran his own local non-profit and liaised with other agencies working within the region. He expressed surprise in not knowing about the efforts of the Genome Saviour Award winners in his region. At the time of the research interviews, he and one of the farmers expressed interest in partnering on projects. The research assistant planned to help the farmer with funding applications. In Maharashtra, our assistant runs a start-up selling organic produce sourced from farmers throughout India. She plans to expand her work by developing a farming college. She told the PDRA that she is now changing her business model in light of what she learned from the research. She has decided that the work should be centred around local indigenous varieties. Finally, the chief organisers from the Art of Living in Bangalore noted that they were not aware and working on the topic of farmer-level innovation and intellectual property prior to their involvement in this project. The primary means for which they motivate farmers to cultivate indigenous varieties is through the concurrent adoption of zero input agricultural practices. Some farmers are motivated by a moral obligation to protect the environment, while many others are motivated by the associated cost savings and self-dependency. Innovation and intellectual property opens a new avenue for motivating farmers through the generation of new revenue streams. In addition, expanding the discourse that traditional can be innovative could improve the appeal to more farmers. The position paper developed over the course of the project was submitted to two government representatives who attended a day-long conference at the Art of Living campus in Bangalore in July 2019. The paper stressed the need for coordinated government action on 3 fronts in order to rebalance Indian agriculture towards more sustabtainable agriculture: (1) research into the efficacy of farming using traditional ecological knowledge (TEK); (2) changes in farmer education; and (2) changes in the IP system, notably through the introduction of blockchain technology. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2017 |
| Sector | Agriculture, Food and Drink |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal,Economic |
| Description | The Sustainable Seed Innovation Project 2.0: Translating Research into Action for the Benefit of Rural Communities in India |
| Amount | £100,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | United Kingdom Research and Innovation |
| Department | Global Challenges Research Fund |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2019 |
| End | 07/2019 |
| Description | Printed press coverage in India |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A press release was timed with the conference to widen the audience reached and increase awareness of farmer-level seed innovation amongst consumers. Media at the event interviewed participants and team members. Regional papers (non-English) covered the event along with national (English) including The Hindu and The New Indian Express. Media within India are also awaiting the release of the position paper to do additional coverage on the topic. In particular, Down to Earth a popular online journal in India has expressed interest in writing a series once the paper has been completed. One important outcome was the media narrative reflecting farmers as innovators and scientists in their own right. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://www.artofliving.org/in-en/newsroom/press-release/sustainable-seeds-innovation-round-table-co... |
| Description | Roundtable on sustainable seed innovation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The event took place at the Art of Living campus in Bangalore. The purpose was to discuss the challenges to achieving sustainable seed innovation in India and to determine what can be done to help farmers innovate. The audience at this event included research participants and farmers from across India, many of them representing regional cooperatives working to revive traditional but neglected plant varieties.. The morning session included presentations, followed in the afternoon by audience members dividing into groups to discuss the following topics: Future Research Needs, Intellectual Property Law and Policy, and Consumer Awareness/Outreach. Morning presentations included research project background presented by Dr. Kochupillai and Prof. Radick and preliminary research results presented by the PDRA. Event organizers with the non-profit partner Art of Living also presented their work. Other presenters were invited by the PDRA to share their experiences in helping farmers with sustainable seed innovations. Two of the presenters worked within the study locations of the research project and had been interviewed in the course of the research (the locations being Maharashtra in southwest India and Assam in northeast India). Mr. Sanjay Patil, from the non-profit BAIF Development Research Foundation and Dr. K.K.Sharma, Assam Agricultural University both worked closely with formally recognized innovative farmers (Genome Award winner recipients) and conducted outreach activities to raise awareness about agrobiodiversity and traditional varieties. Ms. Sunita K Sreedharan, Attorney presented her experiences with the challenges of benefit-sharing under India laws. Finally, Mr. Pitambar Shrestha provided experiences of conservation and sustainable innovation from Nepal. The objective of the morning presentations was to challenge participants to think of traditional agricultural practices as innovative and to consider how Intellectual Property, narrowly as well as broadly construed, could support sustainable innovations prior to dividing into discussion groups. The afternoon discussion groups presented back to the entire group. Sanjay Khatal the Director Commercial National Seeds Corporation of India was in attendance at the entire event. Based on the discussions and presentations, he provided suggestions for policy change and places where he thought the Government of India could provide support. He also requested a position paper based on the research and event feedback that he would take to policymakers. The PDRA is currently working on the paper at the Max Planck Institute of Innovation and Competition in Munich. A final draft will be sent to our non-profit partner for comment at the end of March 2018. Conference participants also created a WhatsApp discussion group where they share successes, upcoming projects and encourage each other in their work towards sustainable seed innovation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://www.artofliving.org/in-en/events/conference/sustainable-seeds-innovation-round-table |
| Description | Social media (Twitter, Facebook) and Blog |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Social media in conjunction with the website was used to engage with a wider audience throughout the time of the project. Down To Earth reporters were first engaged with the project through the Twitter page. Researchers working on similar projects also connected through Twitter. Through the Twitter page we shared the printed press coverage and retweeted Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (Art of Living leader). Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's tweet about his participation in the conference had over 1500 retweets. Relevant web addresses include https://idip.leeds.ac.uk/category/farmers-stories/; https://idip.leeds.ac.uk/category/journal/; and https://twitter.com/FarmerInnovate |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://twitter.com/FarmerInnovate |