Japan’s Neoliberal Seed Rules: Farmers’ Rights Undermined
August 2024
By Martin J. Frid & Kaori Hirouchi (Consumers Union of Japan)
In recent years, Japan’s neoliberal government has introduced new legislation for the seed and seedling sector, restricting farmers’ activities while giving multinational corporations a free hand. Is Japan trying to turn millions of farmers into passive buyers, consumers without rights, not only of fertilisers and pesticides, but also of seed, the very essence of our common food security? And what about Japan’s efforts to get other countries to join UPOV91, which is a system developed by industrialized countries for the so-called “protection” of plant varieties that unilaterally promotes the interests of the seed industry at the expense of farmers’ rights?
One of the major changes was in the revision of PVP Act (Shubyo-ho in Japanese). In May 2020 Consumers Union of Japan reported: “The ban on unauthorised self-propagation and self-seeding is to be extended to all protected varieties in order to strengthen the intellectual property rights. …Strengthening Plant Variety Protection has strengthened the control of seeds by corporations, including multinationals, and has deprived farmers of their rights, food sovereignty and food safety. This amendment will further amplify this situation. We protest against the submission of the PVP Act Amendment Bill to the Diet and call for its withdrawal.” (Link: https://www.nishoren.org/en/?p=3063)
During the debate about the PVP Act, farmers’ groups, people’s organizations as well as opposition parties indicated their concerns, saying that the new PVP Act constitutes a deprivation of the freedom to cultivate crops, and save, exchange and sell seeds. A clause on exceptions was requested, and even some within the Liberal Democratic Party had doubts about the rush to revise such important legislation.
We were very surprised when this new legal framework for PVP was fully enacted, with provisions that prohibits seed saving and other activities, including seed sharing and sales of home-grown seed between farmers, if seeds are protected. The threat of harsh punishment was unexpected, for example (Article 67, Crime of Infringement): “Any person who has infringed on a breeder’s right or an exclusive exploitation license is subject to imprisonment for not more than ten years or to a fine of not more than 10,000,000 yen, or combination thereof.” (Plant Variety Protection and Seed Act. Link: https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/4036)
Some farmers, including those in the organic sector, as well as independent experts have continued to protest these restrictions. We believe such concerns are justified.
It has also been pointed out (private communication to the authors from Francois Meienberg of APBREBES, an international network of NGOs that specialises on PVP and UPOV) that Japan’s new PVP Act is unusual in that there is no exception to allow, even in a limited way, farmers to save protected seeds for their use on their own fields. Although this is only an optional exception under UPOV91, other countries have implemented this exception in one way or another.
To make matters worse, we have seen how Japan has changed from a passive player, to putting forward a strong, aggressive, even confrontational agenda abroad, both at UPOV meetings in Geneva, Switzerland and through the little known East Asia Plant Variety Protection Forum (EAPVP Forum). Absent from the EAPVP Forum are the local actors who are most likely to be affected by the decisions of the PVP offices, particularly smallholder farmers, indigenous peoples, local communities, as well as civil society organizations. One example of Japan’s proposals is to develop and test a model of an online PVP registration application platform known as e-PVP. Development of e-PVP Asia is extremely worrying. It risks not only entrenching an unsuitable PVP system in the East Asian region, but also the loss of national sovereignty over seed.
One-size-fits-all approach like UPOV91 does not work, because diversity matters in the face of climate crisis and building resilient community. Also, such approach deprives farmers and consumers alike of self-determination to food, thus the right to food. Consumers Union of Japan is concerned about the domination of seeds by companies and the way in which farmers’ rights are being stripped away. UPOV91 is not a suitable solution for Japan or other countries in Asia and the world. Access to food is a human right. We hope the current debate will continue to inspire more people to get educated, get involved, grow their own food, and as much as possible, to save seed for future generations.