PepsiCo has agreed to withdraw the case it had filed against 4 farmers in Gujarat for allegedly illegally growing a variety of potatoes for which it holds a patent.
“After discussions with the government, the company has agreed to withdraw cases against farmers. We are relying on the said discussions to find a long-term and an amicable resolution of all issues around seed protection,” a PepsiCo India spokesperson said in a statement on Thursday.
While PepsiCo declined to share details of the discussions with the government, the announcement of withdrawing the case came a day after Gujarat deputy chief minister Nitin Patel told reporters that the state government was working on an out-of-court settlement of the cases filed by PepsiCo.
The move by PepsiCo was being opposed by various farmer organizations and activists and there were calls on social media to boycott the company’s products until the case was withdrawn.
PepsiCo says it developed the FC5 variety of potato, which has a reduced moisture content to make snacks such as potato chips, and registered the trait in 2016.
In a statement late last month, PepsiCo India offered farmers to become part of its collaborative potato farming programme. “In case they do not wish to join this programme, they can simply sign an agreement and grow other available varieties of potatoes,” the company had said.
“The company was compelled to take the judicial recourse as a last resort to safeguard the larger interest of thousands of farmers that are engaged with its collaborative potato farming programme. PepsiCo India remains deeply committed to resolving the matter and ensuring adoption of best farming practices,” added PepsiCo’s statement on Thursday.
Stung by a long-standing intellectual property dispute, seed maker Monsanto, now owned by German drugmaker Bayer AG, withdrew from some businesses in India over a cotton-seed dispute with farmers.