Latest news on Pepsico issue

Farmers led by Nallamada Rythu Sangham on Thursday staged a sit-in in front of multinational PepsiCo plant at Tummalapalem village in Guntur district demanding immediate withdrawal of cases slapped by the company against farmers in Gujarat.

PepsiCo has sued farmers in Gujarat asking them to pay 1.05 crore each as damages for ‘infringing its rights’ by growing the potato variety used in its brand ‘Lays’ chips.

“PepsiCo’s intention is to threaten the Indian farmers and make this as a precedent. We condemn the action of filing a suit against our brothers who are toiling to feed the Indian people,’’ said Kolla Rajamohan, president of Nallamada Rythu Sangham. The organisation started with the demand to expand the Nallamada drain and later grew into a movement to protect the interest of farmers and led pro-farmer movements against the powerful fertilizer and seed companies.

‘Hostile stand’

Dr. Rajamohan said that small farmers holding 2-3 acres of land in Gujarat have been cultivating a potato variety from a locally accessed seed since 2018.“PepsiCo is now demanding damages to the tune of 1.05 crore from farmers invoking section 64 of Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights (PPV & FR) Act, 2001 to claim infringement of its rights,” he said.

However, PepsiCo was intentionally ignoring Section 39 of the Act which says that a farmer is allowed to save, use, sow, resow, exchange, share or sell his farm produce, including seed of variety protected under this Act, so long as he does not sell ‘branded seed’.“PepsiCo uses a potato traditionally developed by Indian farmers, and is claiming the seed as its own property,” he alleged.“PepsiCo neither invented the seed nor created the seed in laboratories. It is the product of collective wisdom and labour of intelligent farmers.

“It is a matter of seed sovereignty, food sovereignty of this country. We demand immediate withdrawal of cases against farmers,’’ said Dr. Rajamohan.