About 100 representatives of Thai farmers’ groups rallied in front of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives yesterday in a symbolic gesture to protect Thai plant varieties and to express their concerns over FTA talks with the European Union, particularly on protection of new plant varieties under the UPOV Convention 1991.
The farmers’ leaders took turns to address the crowd and to express their concerns over the FTA talks, due to take place from September 28 through October 6 in Phuket.
Prokchon Usap, a coordinator of the ‘Pesticide Watch Group’, said Thai farmers’ groups refuse to accept the EU’s Section X51 of the FTA, which requires Thailand to amend the Plant Varieties Protection Act of 1999 to correspond with the UPOV 1991 Convention (International Union for the Protection of the new Varieties of Plants) which will have significant impacts on Thai grassroots agriculture and economy.
Sorawut Nuangchamnong, secretary to the minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives, received a letter from the farmers’ groups and said that the ministry’s intention is to protect the benefits of farmers. He said that the UPOV Convention does not impact Thai farmers as has been misunderstood.
He also claimed that India, which does not apply the UPOV Convention, loses the opportunity to add value to its agro-industrial sector.
