Gujarat Government Works On Out Of Court Settlement Benefiting Farmers Sued By PepsiCo

The Gujarat government is working on a solution which is helpful to the farmers over PepsiCo suing nine of them for growing patented variety of potatoes used by the multinational in its Lays potato chips, Press Trust of India has reported.

The farmers from Sabarkantha and Aravalli districts have sued for Rs 1 crore each in two separate courts under the Plant Variety Protection (PVP) clause.

Speaking to reporters, Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, said “The government is trying to ensure that the issue is resolved outside the court properly and as per the law, in a manner that it is helpful to farmers. The Agriculture Secretary and Chief Secretary have been informed regarding the same”.

The beverage and food major earlier offered an out of the court settlement to the farmers which involved them either growing the potatoes under its Corporate Farmers Programme or stop growing its registered FC5 variety and surrender the existing stocks.

Meanwhile, farmer organisations have threatened to ban PepsiCo products and stage an agitation. Over 190 activists have come out in support to the farmers and have requested the local and the Union government to protect the rights of the farmers.