The Farmer-Scientist Partnership for Development (MASIPAG), together with Good Food Community, Gulay Na, the Philippine Network of Food Security Programmes (PNFSP), and other food and farmers’ rights advocates, led a dialogue on trade, food security, and human rights at the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), reiterating strong opposition to the expansion of intellectual property rights over seeds and the Philippine government’s possible alignment with the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) under the ongoing European Union-Philippines Free Trade Agreement (EU-PH FTA) negotiations.
Held last June 22, 2026, the forum, entitled “Balancing the Plate: Trade, Food Security and Human Rights,” was organized as part of the CHR’s regular Kapihan at Kamustahan series. Prompted by MASIPAG’s growing concerns regarding UPOV and its implications for farmers’ rights and food sovereignty, the dialogue highlighted the urgent need to place farmers’ rights, food sovereignty, and human rights at the center of trade policy discussions.
For MASIPAG, the forum provided an important opportunity to bring to the forefront the voices of Filipino farmers who stand to bear the greatest burden of intellectual property regimes that prioritize corporate profits over people’s rights and food security.
“Ang binhi po ay buhay” (“Seeds are life”), emphasized MASIPAG farmer-breeder Lauro Diego during the dialogue, underscoring the reality that seeds are not mere commodities, technologies, or private inventions, but living heritage collectively developed, conserved, and improved by generations of farmers.
Serving as the forum’s resource speaker, MASIPAG discussed the organization’s growing concerns over developments in the EU-PH FTA negotiations, particularly proposals that seek to align Philippine plant variety protection laws with the standards of UPOV 1991. While there remains no publicly available finalized negotiating text or official Philippine position on the intellectual property chapter of the agreement, MASIPAG’s engagements with Philippine negotiators, European Union officials, and other stakeholders reveal continuing pressure to strengthen intellectual property protections over seeds.
Over the past several months, MASIPAG, together with various Filipino and European civil society organizations, has actively engaged the Philippine negotiating team, European Union representatives, government agencies, and civil society organizations to oppose any commitments that would undermine farmers’ rights and seed sovereignty. During consultations with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), MASIPAG raised serious concerns regarding the incompatibility of UPOV standards with existing Philippine laws and international obligations that recognize and protect farmers’ rights. On ground, a petition signing was initiated already gathering signatures from 456 Filipino farmers and indigenous people organizations and more than a thousand individual signatures from concerned citizen which was submitted during one of the consultations with both the Philippine and European Union negotiating team.
MASIPAG emphasized that the issue extends beyond the technical question of whether the Philippines formally joins UPOV. The more critical concern is the proposed “alignment” of Philippine laws with UPOV standards, which could effectively produce the same outcome: the expansion of corporate control over seeds and the restriction of farmers’ traditional practices of saving, exchanging, sharing, breeding, and propagating seeds.
This concern is not hypothetical. During its review of Philippine legislation, the UPOV Secretariat itself identified provisions of the Philippine Plant Variety Protection Act, particularly Section 43, which recognizes farmers’ rights to save, exchange, and share seeds, as incompatible with UPOV standards. Any future attempt to align Philippine law with UPOV would therefore likely entail weakening or removing legal protections for farmers’ rights.
The farmer-led network stressed that the struggle for seed sovereignty is inseparable from the struggle for food sovereignty and food security. Farmers’ control over seeds ensures agricultural biodiversity, climate resilience, culturally appropriate food systems, and democratic control over food production. Conversely, the concentration of seed ownership in the hands of multinational corporations threatens not only farmers’ livelihoods but also national food security and the right of peoples to determine their own food systems.
Importantly, the discussions also reinforced that seed sovereignty and farmers’ rights are human rights concerns. The Commission on Human Rights, through its work on the right to food, has recognized the importance of protecting farmers’ rights to seeds and supporting farmer-managed seed systems as indispensable components of realizing the human right to adequate food. Such recognition is consistent with international human rights standards, including the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP), which explicitly affirms the rights of peasants to save, use, exchange, and sell farm-saved seeds.
The dialogue also highlighted the critical role of seed sovereignty in sustaining culturally rooted and ecologically sustainable food systems. Chef Lao Castillo of Gulay Na and Mabi David of Good Food Community emphasized that the struggle for farmers’ rights to seeds extends far beyond agricultural production as it is fundamental to food sovereignty, food sustainability, and the preservation and revitalization of Filipino food culture. They stressed that the ability of farmers to save, exchange, and continue breeding diverse seed varieties is what makes it possible for cooks, food communities, and future generations to access the rich diversity of ingredients that underpin Philippine culinary traditions. The expansion of intellectual property regimes such as UPOV would therefore not only undermine farmers’ rights and agricultural biodiversity, but also erode the cultural, ecological, and social foundations of Philippine food systems, threatening efforts to build food systems that are just, sustainable, and grounded in local knowledge and traditions.
MASIPAG reiterates its call on the Philippine government to reject any obligation under the EU-Philippines Free Trade Agreement that would require accession or alignment with UPOV 1991 standards. The organization likewise calls for greater transparency in the ongoing negotiations and for the government to uphold its obligations to protect farmers’ rights, biodiversity, and food sovereignty.
At a time of worsening climate change, biodiversity loss, and persistent hunger, the answer cannot be the further privatization of life itself. The defense of farmers’ seeds is the defense of biodiversity, food sovereignty, human rights, and the collective future of our food systems.
No to UPOV. Defend farmers’ rights. Defend seed sovereignty. Defend the right to food.
#NoToUPOV #DefendSeedSovereignty #FarmersRightsAreHumanRights #FoodSovereigntyNow