KUCHING: The Malaysian CSO-SDG Alliance has expressed deep concern over the expected tabling of the Seed Bill in parliament this February.
In a media statement, the alliance warned that it would cause harm to indigenous and smallholder farmers, raise food costs for consumers, threaten food sovereignty, and endanger the environment.
“Corporate interests must not overshadow the voices and needs of our indigenous and smallholder farmers.
“This bill risks erasing traditional seed-saving practices that have sustained rural communities for generations.
“It is also important to balance seed regulation with the preservation of local biodiversity, environmental sustainability, and the livelihoods of Malaysia’s farming communities,” it emphasised.
This bill is expected to propose seed production, certification, and distribution regulation in Malaysia.
However, it is expected to have tight provisions that can disadvantage the indigenous and smallholder farmers more while promoting activities detrimental to biodiversity and ecosystems.
The concern is it will threaten indigenous and smallholder farmers by criminalising traditional seed-saving practices, increasing dependency on expensive, corporate-approved seeds, and raising food costs.
The bill risks consolidating seed industry control under multinational corporations, undermining Malaysia’s food sovereignty, and promoting monoculture farming, which harms biodiversity and ecosystems.
Additionally, reliance on synthetic fertilisers and pesticides damages the environment, while local innovation and traditional farming practices could be supressed.
Countries like India, Bangladesh, and Australia demonstrate how balanced seed regulations can protect farmers’ rights, biodiversity, and sustainability.
Towards this end the alliance urged the country to align its seed policies with global best practices, emphasising sustainable farming, biodiversity conservation, and prioritising social protection over corporate interests.
Adopting such practices would strengthen the country’s food security, empower local farming communities, and enhance environmental resilience, it said.
The alliance appealed for a just and sustainable seed policy that upholds farmers’ rights, safeguards indigenous agriculture heritage, maintains biodiversity, adds environmental safeguards, and engages in stakeholder policy-making.
Recommendations include harmonisation of Malaysia’s seed regulations in line with best global practices and reviewing and strengthening the existing laws, including the Protection of New Plant Varieties Act 2004 and the Consumer Protection Act 1999, to replace the new Seed Bill.
The Seed Bill, it claimed, will impact more than just farmers in that it will endanger Malaysia’s capacity to ensure affordable, sustainable, and resilient food for all.
It poses risks of higher food prices, biodiversity loss, long-term environmental harm, and the erosion of Malaysia’s unique agricultural heritage, it added.
“We urge the government to ensure this bill safeguards Malaysia’s farmers, ecosystems, and food sovereignty.
“Let us protect the integrity of our Malaysian food systems: our food, our environment, and our future,” said the alliance.
