Unless they can force a renegotiation, they will have to recognise patents on life. The ancestors of these cocoa trees came from Brazil a hundred years ago. Critics would now call that biopiracy. But under new World Trade Organisation rules, biotech companies will be able to take out patents on the cells that make up these plants. They'll be able to charge farmers licence fees to grow them.
Critics say that amounts to legalised theft.
They want patents on life to be banned, but the United States and Europe say the agreement is essential if biotech companies are to recoup their investment and fund new research into better crops. Governments will be able to protect their own plants by taking out their own patents - provided they have the legal framework and the technological ability to do so. But critics say that if it comes to a race between Ghana, for example, and a company with the resources of Monsanto , there's little doubt who will win. We've got a system already called the plant variety protection system. What that means is that if a plant breeder produces a new variety, that is protected and that can be sold and the money accrues to the plant breeder if the plant breeder wants it.