National Gene Fund
Also called: Gene Fund · Topic: International Trade Policy, WTO and Intellectual Property · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The National Gene Fund is a fund set up under Section 45 of the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights (PPV&FR) Act, 2001. It sends money back to the farmers and communities who protect plant genetic resources. These resources are the old seeds, landraces (traditional local varieties) and wild relatives of crops that plant breeders use to make new varieties. The Fund carries out benefit-sharing, which means giving a fair return to the people who conserved the material a breeder used. This matters because registering a farmers' variety gives the farmer a certificate, but no income. The Fund is how the Act turns recognition into money.
Example
The Plant Genome Saviour awards are cash prizes paid from the National Gene Fund. They go to farmers and communities who conserve landraces and wild relatives of crops, for example tribal communities in Koraput (Odisha) who keep rice, millet and pulse landraces alive. Nearly half of the varieties registered with the PPV&FR Authority are farmers' varieties, so the Fund has a large group of conservers to reach.
Don't confuse with
- Benefit-sharing under the Biological Diversity Act 2002: this is a separate access and benefit sharing system based on the CBD and the Nagoya Protocol, and the National Biodiversity Authority runs it. The National Gene Fund belongs only to the PPV&FR Act.
- National Genebank (ICAR-NBPGR): this is a physical store that keeps seeds away from the farm (ex-situ conservation). It is not a fund and pays no money to farmers.