CNA defends creation of trade board for transparency in the seed market

The president of the Agriculture and Livestock Confederation of Brazil (CNA), Senator Katia Abreu, defended the creation of trade board to gather information on deals and prices involving the seed market on Aug 8. "The creation of a transparent forum is a way to make information public and combat possible abuses”,she said.

While participating in a debate about the impacts of the concentration of the seed supply for grain production in the country, at the Committee on Agriculture and Land Reform (CRA) of the Senate, she proposed the strengthening of the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE). CADE is responsible for investigating and deciding on competition issues.

The concentration of the seed market, which was the subject of the hearing, was analized by her as a phenomenon caused by globalization. "As we have no mechanism to prevent the concentration, we have to learn to live with it. The adjustment is critical," she said. She also noted that many producers, especially small ones, can’t afford to take to matter to the court to resolve potential commercial deadlocks.

At the hearing, Senator Katia Abreu highlighted the resistance EU with GMO foods, what makes sales of Brazilian and American products even harder - the largest producers in the world of foods that use genetically modified seeds - which influences other countries.

According to her, the subsidies received by European producers allow them to choose conventional seed, whose production costs are higher due to the need to apply higher volume of pesticides. In Brazil, 50% of the cost of cotton production can be reduced when using GMO seeds.

Although Brazil and the United States adopt transgenic products, the situation is different in the two countries. The United States research is more advanced. "Brazil is lagging behind due to the aftermath of ideology and prejudice against biotechnology," said Senator Katia Abreu. If we follow this thought process, she argued that genetic transformation processes used in other countries can be approved more quickly, after conducting specific tests to prove the safety of these technologies.

She stated a variety of drought-tolerant corn in the final stage of studies in the United States. When approved by the U.S. government, this biotechnology could meet the needs of farmers in Northeast Brazil that over the last few decades have lost their productions due to the long periods of drought.

At the hearing, the expert on biotechnology regulation Reginaldo Minare, technical advisor to the CNA president, made a presentation on the regulatory framework, the configuration of the seed market and the controversies surrounding the introduction of this technology in Brazil. Minare said that the position of CNA is to promote the clarification about the changes brought about by the entry of this new technology in the country and build understanding regarding the remuneration of intellectual property, avoiding lawsuits.

In the same way that the CNA respects and defends the right to land ownership, it also defends and respects the rights of intellectual property. One of the observations is highlighted by the specialist that the concentration in the seed market does not differ from what is seen in other inputs such as pesticides and fertilizers. Minare also pointed out that, even opting to build understandings posture to prevent abuse of economic power, the CNA is not unaware that the Plant Variety Protection Act provides mechanisms to take to CADE concrete cases of economic order infractions.