THE world’s poorest farmers should be paid royalties for all the plants they
have given to profit-making companies over the years, one of the architects of
the Green Revolution told the plant diversity conference.
International bodies such as the World Trade Organization don’t do enough to
give traditional farmers a cut of the huge profits made by the global seeds
business, Indian plant geneticist Monkombu Swaminathan told the conference. As
custodians of most of the world’s plant genetic resources, these farmers have
given a wealth of plant varieties to seed companies and plant breeders, he said.
“The time has come to end the sad irony of…
