Bangkok Post | 19 Nov 2013 Plant pact spurs city lecture protest About 30 people from farming and civic groups stormed a meeting room in the Agriculture Department yesterday. They were protesting against moves for Thailand to become a signatory of a convention on new plant varieties. The groups believe the convention violates the rights of farmers to save seeds. The 30 people, including members of FTA Watch, arrived at the department early yesterday morning. The convention they were protesting against is the 1991 International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, also known as the UPOV convention. The protesters wanted to submit a petition to UPOV president Martin Ekvad, who was due to hold a lecture on the UPOV convention. Their presence prompted department chief Damrong Jeerasuthat to meet them and receive the letter instead. Mr Damrong denied any knowledge of the UPOV lecture, saying he also disagreed with the convention. The group argued that a letter issued by the department to invite people to attend the lecture carried Mr Damrong's signature. They said it was impossible for the department to hold the lecture without the knowledge of the department chief. The protesters later moved to the venue of the meeting to hand their petition to Mr Ekvad, but they were blocked by security guards and department officials who told them that no representative from the UPOV was present. However, one opponent managed to sneak into the meeting rooms and saw the UPOV president giving a lecture to 150 participants and officials. After Mr Ekvad gave his speech, the group handed him their petition. In the letter, the group said the adoption of UPOV would violate the rights of farmers to save seeds as it allowed giant seed developers to monopolise seeds. Small-scale farmers and planters would be forced to pay extra fees to grow new rice and other plant breeds. Source: http://tinyurl.com/pcw478c Read the petition: http://tinyurl.com/ljul4fm