Intellectual property rights over plants and seeds opposed
Karachi
February 12, 2021
Leaders of the Pakistan Kissan Mazdoor Tehreek (PKMT) and Roots for Equity on Wednesday criticised the Ministry of National Food Security and Research’s recent decision to start the registration process for granting intellectual property rights (IPRs) for plants and seeds under the Plant Breeders’ Rights Act, 2016 and said that the act would take away farmers’ centuries-old traditional rights of saving and selling seeds.
Roots for Equity’s chairperson Dr Azra Sayeed and PKMT leaders Raja Mujeeb and Asif Khan, while addressing a press conference at the Karachi Press Club, said that as a result of national and transnational seed corporations claiming intellectual property rights over seeds, not only would the country become dependent on corporations for national food security and food sovereignty, but the royalties paid to transnational corporations for IPRs would massively increase seed
National
February 7, 2021
BEIJING: The first business matchmaking event between Chinese and Pakistani enterprises in the Buffalo industry was held by the Pakistan-China Agriculture Cooperation Information Platform, that was established last month aiming to break information barriers between agricultural enterprises of the both sides and enhance pragmatic cooperation.
According to China Economic Net (CEN), gathering representatives from Chinese and Pakistani leading companies and institutes engaging in the Buffalo industry, the virtual meeting has discussed the feasibility of technological cooperation in developing Buffalo embryos to create high-yield type of Buffalo and the possibility of business cooperation in the production of Buffalo milk, powder, meat and other value-added products that could shore up Pakistan’s export.
ISLAMABAD: A high-level meeting, presided over by Prime Minister Imran Khan Wednesday, was told that the market committees had failed to deliver, therefore, it was decided to abolish them in Punjab.