Manas Dasgupta
AHMEDABAD, May 2
Even as food and beverages giant PepsiCo India today said the company had decided to withdraw the lawsuits against four farmers in Gujarat for cultivating a special variety of potato for which the company had exclusive rights, the farmers’ organisations sounded a note of caution against getting carried away by the promise.
“The question is not of just the four farmers in Gujarat. The company may withdraw the cases against them under pressure. But the country will have to guard against the multinational companies dictating terms to farmers on what they should cultivate and what not. The question is of corporatisation of agriculture, which must be prevented,” a spokesman for the Gujarat Kisan Sangh said.
PepsiCo India, which had sued four farmers of Sabarkantha district in north Gujarat last month for cultivating and selling FC5 variety of potato, which it claimed had been patented, was facing the farmers’ ire and the government also agreed to join it as party in favour of the potato growers.
“After discussions with the government, the company has agreed to withdraw the cases,” a PepsiCo India spokesman said. “We are relying on the discussions to find a long-term and amicable resolution of all issues around seed protection.”
At different times, the company had filed cases against 11 farmers in Sabarkantha, Aravalli and Banaskantha districts, all in north Gujarat. The company had claimed huge losses and demanded damages ranging from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 1 crore from each farmer for cultivation and sale of the variety the company used for production of popular Lay’s chips.
from The Tribune http://bit.ly/2DHaQ8D
via Today’s News Headlines
No comments: