‘No one can eat just one.‘ goes the tagline for the popular potato chips brand ‘Lays’ manufactured by the multi-billion dollar company PepsiCo. Recently, the potato variety used to make said chips i.e. FL-2027 or FC5 has been all over the news. PepsiCo has sued 4 Gujarati farmers for growing this registered variety for Rs.1.05 crore each.
The company has made an out of court offer to the farmers saying they can either cease growing the ‘Lays potato’ or be a part of their corporate farming programme. If they choose to collaborate, they would have to buy seeds from the company and sell exclusively to them.
According to The Hindu, the Gujarat government has decided to support the farmers in court as a party. The state is the largest producer of potatoes in India and the interest of the farmers will be backed by the government. The farmers have also requested the Centre to help with legal costs but there is no official word on their stand yet.
Farmers are citing this clause from the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights (PPV&FR) Act as their defence because it allows a grower,
“to save, use, sow, resow, exchange, share or sell his farm produce including seed of a variety protected under this Act”
The only caveat is that they are not allowed to sell the branded seed.
The next scheduled hearing for the case will be held in Ahmedabad civil court on June 12. We will have to wait and see if the farmers in question decide to take up PepsiCo’s offer or continue to battle it out against the MNC.