Can you confirm that U.S. policy in Iraq prohibits Iraqi farmers from replanting their traditional seeds in lieu of patented seeds from the west? In fact making saving seeds illegal. If so, do you think this is good policy, and why?

Can you confirm that U.S. policy in Iraq prohibits Iraqi farmers from replanting their traditional seeds in lieu of patented seeds from the west? In fact making saving seeds illegal. If so, do you think this is good policy, and why?
Asked by: Kurt Christensen from Westminster, MD

Asked of All U.S. Congress on Apr 29th, 2008

Categories: Agriculture · Civil Liberties · Environment · Foreign Policy · Iraq · President Bush · Regulation · Rural · Technology. Tags: biodiversity · genetically modified organisms · intellectual property.

Answer from: U.S. Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO)

They produce a lot of potatoes over there, I know that. There is very little their soil is actually conducive for agriculture. They do have some irrigated ground down in the south around Basra but, you know, most of that was drained or flooded by Saddam Hussein. I don’t know if they’ve ever gotten that infrastructure back yet. Not a whole lot of agriculture takes place in Iraq. There’s a lot of desert there, so they don’t have the water infrastructure either, is the problem. I mean I couldn’t…I’m just not sure. I think they have the starch they have a lot of starch the only thing would be potatoes that I know of at least at this point but they certainly don’t do any corn or soybeans or anything like that or wheat which would be our traditional crops.

Answered on Jun 19th, 2008

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Sam Graves did not answer the question.

Posted by AZiffelle on June 25th, 2008 at 6:30 PM

Congressman Graves said nothing about policies regarding the saving and reuse of seed. Perhaps some clarification is in order.

The article Iraq's new patent law: A declaration of war against farmers was clarified. It says that "The law does not prohibit Iraqi farmers from using or saving traditional seeds. It prohibits them from reusing seeds of new plant varieties registered under the law." However, practically speaking, only new, protected seeds are available.

There is plenty of hardship going around. Read Why Iraqi Farmers Might Prefer Death to Paul Bremer's Order 81 to get some idea of how this was taken. Still, western companies are making the big push, as evidenced by Firms Seek Patents on 'Climate Ready' Altered Crops. See also Iraq and Washington's 'seeds of democracy'.