Civil society group Foro Ciudadano is warning the Chamber of Deputies, President Danilo Medina and society in general about the “National Seeds Bill” that was fast-tracked in the Senate on 23 and 30 April 2014. FC says that the bill promotes the privatization and centralization of the food trade through the creation of a National Seeds Office (ONASE) that would rule the certification of seeds used for planting in the Dominican Republic. The bill was submitted by former Minister of Agriculture Amilcar Romero, a high-ranking employee in the Ferquido fertilizer and seed importing company. In his online profile, it says he is corporate vice president for sales and marketing for Ferquido.
The Foro says that the bill promotes a monopoly in favor of national and foreign firms that sell certified seeds. The civic group says that the bill would create mechanisms to expropriate the seeds that local farmers have used for generations. The bill establishes in its Art. 56 that no government body could finance farm projects that do not use seeds with the duly certified patents. The Foro says this violates the Constitution by creating monopolies.
http://acento.com.do/2014/economia/8143260-foro-denuncia-quieren-robar-a-los-campesinos-dominicanos-privatizando-las-semillas/
http://acento.com.do/2014/opinion/8143307-ley-de-semillas-por-que-y-para-quien/
www.7dias.com.do/portada/2014/05/22/i164514_sectores-articulan-para-frenar-ley-semillas-amilcar-romero-empresario-del-sector.html#.U4MwglxAcds
http://viacampesina.org/es/index.php/temas-principales-mainmenu-27/biodiversidad-y-recursos-gencos-mainmenu-37/2153-republica-dominicana-ley-nacional-de-semillas-hara-desaparecer-la-agricultura-familiar-campesina