Jasmine rice: a new but expected case of biopiracy
After Basmati rice, now it is the turn of the Thai jasmine rice to be threatened by US attempts to produce their own - genetically modified - Jasmine "made in USA".

Fragrant rice like the Basmati from Pakistan and India and the Jasmine from Thailand are the most successful varieties on the world market, obtaining high prices. New varieties of Basmati "made in USA" have been produced and sold for several years. The RiceTec patent on Basmati sparked off protests and international solidarity campaigns. In August 2001, RiceTec was forced to reduce its claims but the firm can still claim a monopoly on its rice varieties that have been derived from traditional Basmati varieties. The firm is still allowed to market its aromatic rice as American Basmati and even promote it as "higher quality".

So far, what was seldom talked about is that producers of jasmine rice have also been mobilising since 1998. As there is an ever-increasing demand for Thai jasmine, they feared that RiceTec will set its heart on their precious rice, too. One Italian variety of rice that has strictly nothing to do with flavoured rice, has already been named Jasmati. With such a brand name, owned by RiceTec, consumers can get the illusion that they are offered a new flavoured variety.

But the worst threat is occurring right now.

A few weeks ago, Dr. Chris Deren of the University of Florida (USA) announced that he was transforming jasmine rice using a basic gene mutation method involving gamma rays in order to develop new strains that can be grown in USA and are suitable to be harvested easily by machines. This project is carried out In the framework of the "Stepwise Program for Improvement of Jasmine Rice for US", supported by the US government. The original strain of jasmine rice, Khao Dok Mali (KDM) 105 was obtained from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).

The IRRI, benefactor of mankind or profiteers' accomplice ?
Founded in 1960 by the Ford and Rockefeller foundations in cooperation with the government of the Philippines, with funds from the development cooperation budgets of some 30 states, the IRRI is supposed to serve developing countries and to promote food security, in order to eradicate poverty. Besides the research centre, IRRI manages a rice bank with more than 86, 000 rice strains collected across the world; Thailand has provided more than 5, 500 strains, among others the original Khao Dawk Mali. So far, IRRI has used the original Khao Dawk Mali in many crosses - nearly 1,500 - and distributed the original seeds to over 20 countries.

Research samples of Jasmine rice seed are held by IRRI for safekeeping under a Trust Agreement with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The 1994 Agreement prohibits intellectual property claims on any "in trust" germplasm. Any researcher who requests rice seeds from the IRRI gene bank for research must abide by a standard Material Transfer Agreement (MTA). That obliges the recipient not to patent or otherwise monopolize the donated seeds. The transfer of KDM 105's, to the US Department of Agriculture in 1995 did not include the required MTA. IRRI's failure to include the standard MTA with the transfer of Jasmine rice was not intentional. Nevertheless, it was a violation of the Trust Agreement. The University of Florida researcher and the USDA have recently signed statements saying that they will abide by the MTA.

At a Press Conference held in Bangkok on November, 2 by genetic conservation and farm groups from Thailand and many other countries, the credibility of the IRRI was questioned. Instead of protecting indigenous peoples' and farmers' knowledge and heritage and safekeeping original seeds, the IRRI practice amounts to favouring biopiracy and to undermining food security. Ultimately, however, signing the MTA retroactively, and agreeing not to patent the new jasmine varieties, does not solve the ethical problem related to this kind of research. Far from eradicating poverty, the transfer of Jasmine to the USA would create tremendous social and economic impacts both for Thai jasmine farmers and the economy of Thailand.

Jasmine rice : vital crop for small farmers and the Thai economy
Thai Jasmine rice is a traditional Thai rice variety, found commonly in a small village in central Thailand. In early' 70s, both private and government sectors looked for alternative rice varieties for export oriented markets. Jasmine rice was transfer to other regions for test grown. It was found that Jasmine Rice grown on the dry, salty soil of Northeastern Thailand, especially in Isan, gave very white and beautiful rice with special fragrant aroma and soft cooking characteristics (the quality preferred by upper export oriented markets). Over time, farmers and scientists have developed some 200 locally-adapted varieties.
Today, about 5 million farm families cultivate jasmine rice, mainly as cash crop, and depend exclusively on it for their livelihood. The majority of these families are very poor; their average monthly income is an estimated 200 US $ (an amount that is below the poverty level in Thailand). If the small-scale Thai jasmine producers lose their markets, and particularly their main customer, the US, they have no alternative to face their future.

By the way, Thailand would lose both the top range on the rice export market, held for over 20 years, and important foreign currency. Jasmine rice accounts about 20 - 25 % of the total Thai rice export; last year Thailand exported 1.2 million tonnes of Jasmine rice for a value of 26 billion Bt (650 million US $). Last year, Thailand exported 243, 000 tonnes of rice to the US. 220, 000 tonnes of this was jasmine rice; this volume represents about 75 % of global fragrant rice imports in US.

International support for Thai mobilization
Thai civil society organisations like BIO THAI and Alternative Agriculture are planning to hold a large rally in front of the US Embassy in Bangkok on Friday, 9 November, to protest against the US Jasmine rice programme and the failure of the IRRI.

International organisations from many countries join this protest and state :
   We urge the USDA to stop any research programme which will threaten the export of crops from developing countries like Thailand and undermine crucial sources of income for millions of farmers.
   Furthermore, we urge the international community to advocate for an efficient protection of the Farmers' Rights and for a fair and equitable benefit-sharing as stipulated in the recently approved International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.

Signatory : 150 individuals & organizations, during November 5, - November 20, 2001.