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Potato farmers cry foul as PepsiCo sues them
Just days after multi-billion dollar conglomerate PepsiCo sued four Gujarati farmers, asking them to pay ₹1.05 crore each as damages for 'infringing its rights' by growing the potato variety used in its Lays chips, farmers groups have launched a campaign calling for government intervention.
The case is coming up for hearing 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. It added that at least nine farmers in three districts have been charged since 2018.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Saturday May 04 2019, @04:16PM (2 children)
I absolutely agree- growing food is sacred. My immediate reaction to the story is the Gestapo tactics of the big company (they don't need any more press.) Slowly but very surely the world is becoming a police state. Instead of the secrecy / baiting / entrapment, they could have approached the farmers and negotiated a deal. Do we even know if the farmers knew they were breaking rules / laws?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 04 2019, @06:10PM
farmers need to start killing every rep these big companies send out. make it very expensive for these pieces of shit to screw with people.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Sunday May 05 2019, @01:27PM
Yes, it is. It is accelerating now, though, with the efforts to de-platform, de-person, sue, censor, shame, de-fund, excommunicate, and ostracize. Does that mean greater freedom is very near, and the masters are in a panic to forestall it? What do we call our global human inner call to freedom and self-determination? The old labels, the twentieth century and nineteenth century ones, don't fit anymore. That antidotes we have now are only named in part, like "the right to repair" or "DIY" or "organic farming" or "open source software."
There's no overarching term that leaps to mind.
Washington DC delenda est.