The declaration, unanimously endorsed by farmers, indigenous communities, activists, and advocates, presents a bold vision for safeguarding seeds, biodiversity, and farmers' sovereignty against ecological and corporate threats.
Published Apr 08, 2025 | 4:32 PM ⚊ Updated Apr 08, 2025 | 4:32 PM
Telangana Annual Seed Festival unveils Telangana Declaration on Seeds and Farmers’ Rights. (Supplied)
Synopsis: The First Telangana Annual Seed Festival unveiled the Telangana Declaration on Seeds and Farmers’ Rights, 2025, advocating for seed sovereignty, biodiversity conservation, and farmers’ rights. Key demands include a ban on GM/GE seeds, resistance to patents on genetic resources, and support for open-pollinated seeds. The declaration urges the repatriation of seed varieties and emphasizes women’s role in seed preservation, positioning Telangana as a leader in sustainable agriculture.
The First Telangana Annual Seed Festival, “Vitthanala Panduga,” held from 4 to 6 April 2025 at the Earth Centre, Anumaspalli, near Hyderabad, saw the unveiling of the Telangana Declaration on Seeds and Farmers’ Rights, 2025. The declaration, unanimously endorsed by farmers, indigenous communities, activists, and advocates, presents a bold vision for safeguarding seeds, biodiversity, and farmers’ sovereignty against ecological and corporate threats.
The declaration stressed that seeds and plant propagation materials are essential to humanity’s survival, calling them a collective bio-cultural heritage belonging to all people. It affirmed the sovereign rights of farmers and communities to sow, use, reproduce, adapt, save, share, exchange, or sell seeds without restriction and promoted decentralized conservation of biodiversity. The declaration also highlighted the need for living Seed Banks in farmers’ fields and forests to preserve locally adapted, traditional plant varieties, with a particular focus on women’s contributions to seed preservation.
In light of the ecological challenges posed by modern agriculture, the declaration urged governments to prioritize bio-diverse, ecological farming over cash crops and agrochemicals, which harm biodiversity and rural livelihoods. It further emphasized the responsibility to protect Mother Earth, which is the source of seeds, livestock, soil organisms, aquatic life, and biodiversity, calling for transformative changes in education, culture, and lifestyle.
The declaration sharply criticized international treaties and national laws that undermine traditional collective rights over seeds, particularly through patents and Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs). It demands the repatriation of thousands of crop seed varieties, which are currently stored in gene banks like ICRISAT (Hyderabad), IRRI (Philippines), CIMMYT (Mexico), and Fort Collins (USA), back to the Indian farming communities from which they originated. It underscored India’s, and particularly Telangana’s, vast plant diversity and called for safeguarding this genetic wealth from theft or bio-piracy.
The declaration also opposes the privatization of India’s genetic resources and urges the Indian government and Telangana to reject membership in the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), as well as seed laws that limit access to and control over seeds.
They also raised concerns over the exploitation of Digital Sequence Information (DSI) for patents and called for resistance against bio-piracy and enforce corporate liability for contamination or health damages from Genetically Modified (GM) or Gene Edited (GE) seeds.
This declaration marked a significant milestone in the fight for seed sovereignty, biodiversity preservation, and the empowerment of farmers, positioning Telangana as a leader in advocating for sustainable and equitable agricultural practices. The collective resolve of the festival participants highlighted a commitment to ensuring a sustainable future for generations to come.
(Edited by Sumavarsha)
