The global food supply is under threat [15] from laws that criminalize the sale and exchange of traditional peasant seed varieties, a group of UN experts said Sept. 16. In their latest report [16] to the Human Rights Council, the UN Working Group on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas indicated that almost all of the world's food comes from seeds and that traditional systems supply 70 to 90 percent of the seeds sown in many countries.
Traditional seed systems are based on peasant farmers' rights to produce, disseminate, and access seeds through local markets. These markets [20] are crucial for meeting the needs of rural farmers and communities and promote food security through the exchange of intentionally diverse and continually adapting seeds.
"Traditional seed systems should be celebrated, not prosecuted," said chair-rapporteur of the Working Group, Shalmali Guttal. "By exercising their right to seeds, peasants feed the world, protect nature and find sustainable ways forward through the climate crisis."
Under the UN Declaration of the Rights of Peasants & Other Peoples Working in Rural Areas [21] (UNDROP [22]), a peasant [23] is any person who engages in small-scale agricultural production for subsistence or the local market. According to the report, over time, peasants' rights and the food supply as a whole have come under threat from the commercialization of seed systems and implementation of plant variety protection laws [17] (PVPs), which punish farmers who trade seeds of a company's protected variety. These laws may additionally prohibit the sale or exchange of any seed that is not catalogued, targeting the diverse peasant variety seed that does not meet industrial standards.
The UN experts indicated that enforcement of these laws has increased in recent years, stating that infringements are being pursued as crimes against intellectual property [24] (IP), with molecular markers, drones, satellite imagery and anonymous tip lines inviting reports of "suspicious seed activity."
In Ghana, a new PVP act [25] prescribes fines or 10 to 15 years imprisonment for unauthorized sale of a protected variety, and in Japan infringing upon breeders' rights [26] can result in up to 10 years imprisonment as well as fines.
Additionally, the Working Group expressed concerns over the intense monopoly that controls the industrialized seed system, imposing strict costs and reducing seed access for rural farmers. The commercial world heavily favors IP rights, PVPs, and enforcing legal and regulatory frameworks that favor commercial breeders.
According to the experts, this has been exacerbated by the role of the World Bank [27], which continuously invests [28] in commercial agribusiness entities, strengthening the seed monopoly and promoting greater participation in the private sector.
Armed conflict may worsen the situation. A community-managed seed bank at al-Qarara [29] in the Gaza Strip, which protected local varities, was destroyed early in Israel's military assault on the territory, and has relocated with the surviving seed to a temporary facility under a large tent.
Moving forward, the UN experts urged states to enshrine article 19 of UNDROP [30], concerning the right to native seed varities, in their national laws, cease criminalizing peasant seed practices, and exempt traditional seed systems from industrial-market rules. The experts noted that in November 2025 the High Court of Kenya at Machakos held that seed sharing is not a crime. And in 2021, the Supreme Court of Honduras struck down the country's plant variety protection law, citing UNDROP.
Guttal emphasized: "Seeds are the material basis of the right to life, food, health, culture and a healthy environment before they are articles of commerce. Laws and policies must therefore unconditionally protect peasant right to seeds."
From JURIST [31], Sept. 17. Used with permission. Internal links added.
