Passage Of Plant Breeders Bill Is Dangerous - CPP Warns

Samia Nkrumah
The Convention People's Party (CPP) on Tuesday said the passing into law of the Plant Breeders Bill in its current state would be dangerous and detrimental to the country's socio-economic development.

Ms Samia Yaba Nkrumah, CPP Chairperson, said the bill if passed would create seed monopoly for multinational companies and might likely lead to farmers paying royalties for the seeds they plant.

She said the party's research had revealed that countries with such laws had since reviewed them, in order to safeguard the interest of their farmers.

Ms Nkrumah was speaking in an interview with  Ghana News Agency  on the sidelines of a forum organised by the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa in collaboration with Food Sovereignty – Ghana.

She said the Party had detected some flaws in the bill and is appealing to Parliament not to pass it so as to send a clear warning to multinational organisations that Ghana's solution to malnutrition is not in genetically modified (GM) foods but rather poverty alleviation.

She said the nation's food security problems could be alleviated through addressing post-harvest losses and infrastructural expansion such as the building of silos for grains storage and linking farming communities with good roads to facilitate the smooth transportation of agricultural produce to urban areas.

The CPP Chairman observed that the concept of  Plant Breeders Bill  and GM foods is strange to Ghanaians.

She said the Party would continue to collaborate with civil society organisations in their struggle against the introduction of GM foods in Ghana.

Ms Nkrumah urged the government to ensure that any future law on Plant Breeders has the interest of the Ghanaian farmer at heart.

Source: Daily Graphic.com.gh