Category: Policy

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Protecting rice in Thailand and India

I’ve pointed to a couple of different stories in the past few weeks dealing with the legal protection of rice diversity, and I thought it might be a good idea to bring them together here.

The first concerned aromatic Jasmine rice from Thailand. This was the lead paragraph:

On Wednesday, His Majesty the King applauded Thai scientists and those involved in the patenting of genes that can control the aroma of Thai jasmine rice. His Majesty said the patent would ensure that Thais take pride in eating Thai rice. They won’t have to eat rice that has a foreign patent.

However, it turns out the patent is actually for a transgenic aromatic rice, which is not quite the same thing. In fact, it would be difficult to protect the gene controlling the aroma of Thai rice, because that same gene also controls aroma in all other aromatic rices around the world. A recent paper suggests as much:

The badh2 mutation … [was] surveyed in a representative rice collection, including traditional aromatic and non-aromatic rice varieties, and strongly suggested a monophylogenetic origin of this badh2 mutation in Asian cultivated rices.

The second article is about rice with a red pericarp. This is often said to have health benefits, due to the accumulation of various nutrients along with anthocyanins.

Scientists are trying to protect a traditional rice variety that is on the verge of extinction in Himachal Pradesh. The red rice is more disease-resistant and hardier than strains cultivated commercially over most of India and can lend that through cross-breeding.”We are trying to provide legal protection to the vanishing red rice variety, grown in the state for centuries, by bringing it under the ambit of the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act 2001,” R.P. Kaushik, director of the rice research centre at CSK HP Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, an agricultural university based in Palampur. told IANS.

Now, red pericarp is the ancestral state in rice, and it’s occurrence is geographically widespread. ((It turns up in at least 20 countries in Asia and Africa, according to our mole at IRRI.)) So, again, if this rice is to be protected, it could not be protected simply as “red rice”, but rather as a particular, clearly defined, variety of red rice. Anyway, as Bhuwon points out in his comment on the article, if it fetches such high prices as the article suggest, is there really a need for legislative protection?

But then, arguments for legal protection of genetic resources are not always grounded in anything more than a sort of reflexive place-ism.

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Nibbles: Dogs squared, Afghanistan’s poppies, Rice at IRRI, Book on sapodilla chicle in Mexico, Opuntia, Trees

  • DNA survey of African village dogs reveals as much diversity as in East Asian village dogs, undermines current ideas about where domestication took place.
  • Fossil doubles age of dog domestication.
  • “When children felt like buying candy, they ran into their father’s fields and returned with a few grams of opium folded inside a leaf.”
  • “The rice, a traditional variety called kintoman, came from my grandfather’s farm. It had an inviting aroma, tasty, puffy and sweet. Unfortunately, it is rarely planted today.”
  • “An era of synthetic gums ushered in the near death of their profession, and there are only a handful of men that still make a living by passing their days in the jungle collecting chicle latex…The generational changes in this boom-and-bust lifestyle reflect a pattern that has occurred with numerous extractive economies…”
  • Morocco markets prickly pear cactus products.
  • TreeAid says that sustainable agriculture depends on, well, trees.
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Farmer takes a shot at agri-intellectuals

Blake Hurst is a farmer in Missouri, and something of an anti-Pollan:

…we have to farm “industrially” to feed the world, and by using those “industrial” tools sensibly, we can accomplish that task and leave my grandchildren a prosperous and productive farm, while protecting the land, water, and air around us.

The argument is made very engagingly, with hard numbers as well as telling anecdotes, and a real passion for farming:

Young turkeys aren’t smart enough to come in out of the rain, and will stand outside in a downpour, with beaks open and eyes skyward, until they drown.

But sadly, as ever, the debate is framed as either/or, black or white, organic or industrial, no grey allowed, no nuance:

I deal in the real world, not superstitions, and unless the consumer absolutely forces my hand, I am about as likely to adopt organic methods as the Wall Street Journal is to publish their next edition by setting the type by hand.

And yet Mr Hurst admits to some organic-like practices, such as rotations and the use of manure, on his unashamedly “industrial” family farm. I can’t help thinking, not for the first time, what a step forward it would be if we tried not to think in mutually exclusive dichotomies all the time. Anyway, read the whole thing at The American.

LATER: USDA explores the unexplored potential of biotech crops in an organic setting. Talk about shades of grey.

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Making changes

Changemakers is a community of action where we all collaborate on solutions. We know we have the power to solve the world’s most pressing social problems. We’re already doing it, one project, one idea at a time.

How do we do it? We talk about the issues, share stories and mentor, advise, and encourage each other in group forums, even engage in friendly competition. We form surprising connections and unexpected partnerships across the globe that turn the old ways of problem solving upside down. We try things that have never been tried before.

With regard to the competitions, the winners of the one entitled “Cultivating Innovation: Solutions for Rural Communities,” which “aims to find innovative solutions toward improving the quality of life in rural and farming communities,” were announced a few days ago. Alas, none of the three winners, worthy as they undoubtedly are, has an explicit agrobiodiversity focus. But I may be wrong, the descriptions of the projects are rather brief. The entry from the Uganda Rural Development and Training Programme, for example, mentions seed saving.

The latest competition is all about GMOs: “How can we help consumers make better, more informed choices?” You can join the debate, or submit an entry, here. The winner will get a chance to chat with the best-selling author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan. There are six weeks left to enter. If you have a new, innovative way to “help consumers become more aware of what they are eating, and discover how their choices will affect health, the environment and society,” have a go!

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Nibbles: Fisheries, Mangroves, European bison, Dormouse, Eating & drinking heirlooms, Apios, Kombucha, Organic and health