Biopiracy is Theft: Ethiopia’s Fight to Reclaim Teff and Its Sovereignty

Dr. Bayush Tsegaye, Executive Director of the Ethiopian Sustainable Food Systems and Agroecology Consortium, called out the injustice behind the patenting of Teff, Ethiopia’s staple grain, by a Dutch company.

🌾 In 2003, Dutch company HPFI patented Teff processing methods without fulfilling its benefit-sharing agreement with Ethiopia.

“The company patented Teff in Europe… falsely presenting community knowledge as its own invention,” she told Sputnik Africa.

These patents blocked Ethiopia from accessing global Teff markets — a clear case of biopiracy, where indigenous knowledge is exploited for profit without consent or compensation.

“A country that has no seed and depends on external companies… cannot be able to ensure food security... sovereignty is very critical,” Dr. Bayush warned.

Ethiopia, a center of genetic diversity, is vulnerable to such exploitation.

🤍 But there’s hope. She sees Ethiopia’s BRICS membership as a new path away from debt traps and toward self-reliant development.

“It offers a new opportunity to access development funding and move away from the mainstream global loan system. […] It's also essential for African nations to build allies and strategize collectively to counter the strategies of the multinationals.”

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