Making a case for farmers’ rights for the benefit of farmers under the Malaysian plant variety law

• Main Authors: Murshamshul Kamariah, Musa, Zuhairah Ariff, Abd Ghadas, Shahril Nizam, Md Radzi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: IDOSI Publications 2015
• Subjects: JA Political science (General); K Law (General)
• Online Access: http://eprints.unisza.edu.my/5084/1/FH02-FLAIR-16-05233.pdf; http://eprints.unisza.edu.my/5084/
• Institution: Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin

Farmers’ Rights concept has been articulated under Article 9 of the FAO Treaty to be carried out by national governments as a measure towards strengthening the rights of farmers. The four core principles namely right to seeds, right to traditional knowledge, right to equitable benefit sharing and right to participate in decision making, should be given legal recognition either by adopting is as part of a legislation or policies benefiting the farming communities particularly for small subsistence farmers in developing countries such as Malaysia. Small farmers’ link and pivotal role in ensuring continuity of food production and security is undeniably important, requiring urgent attention by national governments. This paper highlighted the significant contributions of small farmers in securing food production with its surrounding issues and further demonstrates the need to integrate the Farmers’ Rights concept into Malaysia’s plant variety law. Applying doctrinal analysis to relevant international treaty, statutory provisions and relevant government policies, this paper argues that the four core principles enumerated under Farmers’ Right concept should be seriously considered as a mechanism to protect the interests of small farmers under the intellectual property law regime.