Gujarat backs potato farmers vs PepsiCo

Manas Dasgupta

AHMEDABAD, April 28

The Gujarat Government has promised to stand by the potato-growing farmers facing libel suits filed by PepsiCo India for alleged unauthorised production and sale of a particular variety of potato for which it claims to have exclusive rights.

Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said the government would stand by the farmers and try to solve the issue amicably to ensure that the potato-growers were not harmed. He added that the government would join the court case as party in favour of the farmers and would also ask PepsiCo to withdraw the current suit and not to file such cases in future.

The company had offered the farmers an out-of-court settlement provided they agreed to its conditions that they would purchase the seeds for the FC-5 variety of potato only from the company and sell only to the company, and not in open market.

A PepsiCo India spokesman said the company had “proposed that they may become part of its collaborative potato farming programme, which will give them access to higher yields, enhanced quality, training in best-in-class practices and better prices”. And in case they did not wish to join the programme, “they can simply sign an agreement and grow other available varieties of potatoes”.

The company had claimed that about 1,200 farmers in Gujarat were producing FC-5 variety under the agreement and the four against whom the law suit was filed could join the group without facing any court case.

The offer was given during a hearing at the commercial court in Ahmedabad on the company’s complaint against four potato growers — Bipin Patel, Hari Patel, Chhabil Patel and Vinod Patel, all of Vadali village in Sabarkantha district in north Gujarat, for violation of intellectual property rights of a plant variety registered by the company under the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights (PPV&FR) Act, 2001.

The company demanded Rs 1 crore each from the alleged defaulting farmers against estimated damages, claiming that the farmers had infringed the company’s exclusive rights on the FC-5 variety of potatoes it uses for producing the popular variety Lay’s chips.

The judge, MC Tyagi, fixed the next hearing on June 12 and also extended the restrictions on the farmers against producing and selling the disputed variety till then.

The farmers told mediapersons that they had only followed the age-old practice of mutual exchange of information and good quality seeds among various farmers, and were not aware about the name of the brand or any exclusive rights.

The accused farmers had also complained against the company of unlawful entry into their fields by its representatives incognito and demanded police action.

The company had similarly filed cases against nine farmers, including a suit in Deesa civil court, on which the court appointed a clerk as court commissioner for a field visit. The company approached the HC, which directed appointment of two court commissioners to visit fields without knowledge of the farmers.

Corporatisation bid?

• Farmers and many intellectuals have expressed concern over multinationals aiming at corporatisation of agricultural production and dragging farmers to courts
• A group of 192 farmer leaders, civil society representatives and activists have written to the Gujarat and Central governments to intervene in support of the farmers and also sought immediate withdrawal of cases