In a big legal suit, multi-billion dollar conglomerate PepsiCo has sued four Gujarati farmers, for Rs.1.05 crore each as damages for ‘infringing its rights’ by growing the potato variety used in its Lays chips.
Post this, many farmer groups have launched a campaign calling for government intervention.
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The hearing is in an Ahmedabad court on Friday.
Warning that the case could set a precedent for other crops, farmers groups are pointing out that the law allows them to grow and sell any variety of crop or even seed as long as they don’t sell branded seed of registered varieties.
The farmers want the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority (PPV&FRA) to make a submission in court on their behalf and fund legal costs through the National Gene Fund.
When asked for a response, a PepsiCo India spokesperson said: “Given the issue is sub judice, it would not be proper to offer detailed comments.”
T.K. Nagarathna, the PPV&FRA registrar who has jurisdiction for vegetable crops, said that the case had come to the notice of the Authority and it was looking into it. “We can take action based on the court order,” she told The Hindu.
“These farmers are small, holding around 3-4 acres on an average, and had grown a potato crop from farm-saved seed after they accessed the potato seed locally in 2018,” according to a letter sent to the PPV&FRA by farmers groups.
They alleged that PepsiCo hired a private detective agency to pose as potential buyers and take secret video footage, and collect samples from farmers’ fields without disclosing its real intent. PepsiCo then filed suit, the letter said.
On April 9, an Ahmedabad commercial court judge granted an ex-parte interim injunction against the farmers and appointed a commissioner to prepare an inventory, take samples and send them to a government lab for analysis. The case is coming up again on April 26.
In a letter to the chairperson and registrar of Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights (PPV&FR) Authority, which is under the central government’s Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare, the 192 signatories have sought the court cases against the farmers be withdrawn.
They have also asked the government to issue a notification barring any private firm to trespass into a farmer’s field without duly informing the local district agriculture office and farmer’s prior informed consent.