Central idea

The article discusses the concept of open-source software and its parallels with open-source seeds.
Richard Stallman pioneered the Free Software Movement and developed the General Public License (GPL) to protect users’ rights and prevent code misappropriation.
Farmers have been innovating and sharing seeds without intellectual property rights (IPR) claims for centuries.

Backgrounder: Plant Breeders’ Rights

Plant breeders’ rights (PBR) granted exclusive rights to breeders and developers of new varieties.
Farmers’ rights were limited under this regime.
The TRIPS agreement established a global IPR regime over plant varieties.
The consolidation of the seed sector raised concerns about the freedom to innovate.

There are now two forms of IPR protection in agriculture: PBR and patents.
Together, they restrict farmers’ rights and the freedom to develop new varieties.
The use of genetically modified seeds and IP claims triggered many problems, including State intervention on Bt cotton seeds in India.
The decline of public sector breeding and the dominance of the private sector in the seed sector increased the need for alternatives.

The success of open-source software inspired a solution for seeds.
In 1999, a Canadian plant breeder named T.E. Michaels suggested an approach to seeds based on the principles of open-source software.
In 2012, Jack Kloppenburg launched the Open Source Seeds Initiative (OSSI) in Wisconsin.
Agrecol launched another initiative in Europe, and similar programs have come up worldwide.

In India, the Hyderabad-based Centre for Sustainable Agriculture (CSA), part of the Apna Beej Network, developed a model incorporated into an agreement between CSA and the recipient of the seed/germplasm.
CSA’s Open Source Seeds Initiative uses a contracts approach similar to Agrecol’s strategy.
The number of seed firms using open-source models and the crop varieties and seeds made available thereunder is small but growing.
India is yet to test and adopt it widely.

Open-source principles can help promote farmer-led participatory plant-breeding exercises.
Traditional varieties often lack uniformity and aren’t of excellent quality, but open-source principles can facilitate testing, improvisation, and adoption.
Open-source principles can be used in farmer-led seed conservation and distribution systems.
The government and other stakeholders can consider adopting this approach to more widely adopt traditional varieties.