The Use of GM Crops in Developing Countries
Will GM technology be controlled in ways that are compatible with self governance and economic security?
4.27 Case studies 2 and 5 (on drought resistant rice and virus resistant sweet potato) have shown that there is some evidence of increasing awareness to ensure the public availability of new varieties: in particular issues relating to access of poor farmers to beneficial varieties of seed should be considered early in the development phase. Case study 7 showed that some farmers were able to benefit from the absence of IPRs relating to GM soybean in Argentina. They were also able to take advantage of the increased competition between providers of agrochemicals. The latter provided considerably less costly generic versions of the herbicide glyphosate, which have entered the market since the expiry of Monsanto’s patent on the compound. However, there have also been reports of difficulties with IPRs in the case of Golden Rice (see case study 4). We note that the increasing concentration of seed companies and their control over germplasm have raised concerns and consider these issues in Chapter 6.