Eighteen ecological and agriculture associations on Monday sent a letter to the government asking that the government take all the necessary steps so that EU seed legislation be directed toward public interest and to prevent corporate greed toward those resources that represent Croatia's food industry.
The letter was sent to European Commissioner designate Neven Mimica, Croatian MEPs and Agriculture Minister Tihomir Jakovina ahead of a draft EU seed legislation which would significantly limit heirloom seeds.
Environmentalist Suncana Pesak told a press conference that some directives could have a catastrophic impact on preserving, developing and sharing domestic, traditional sorts of cultivated plants which are part of Croatian heritage and foundation of domestic farming production and as such on the quality of food on the domestic market.
She added that a final draft of the directive was being discussed by the EC and that the European Parliament and the Council of the EU would make the final decision.
"If that directive is accepted, it will be binding for all EU member states. If it is adopted then seed will only be able to be exchanged free of charge and will not be able to be sold which means the most heirloom sorts will disappear because the number of people breeding them will be reduced", she said.
Arguments were heard according to which large corporations were seeking to gain a monopoly and that they would be able to sell their seeds to us but we won't be able to sell our seeds to them.
It is necessary to register heirloom sorts. So far Croatia has five such sorts registered and has many more it can register but the process costs around EUR 12,000 for each and it was a problem who would initiate the process and pay for it, environmental representatives said.
