The blog Kluwer Patent, which tracks patent business, has just published: A Dutch court has declared two Dutch patents for the processing of teff, which were issued by the United States. Teff is a stalk called a scissor, which supports most of its meals, to do what a crop has used for thousands of years in Ethiopia. The Government of Ethiopia has welcomed the Supreme ' s decision to suspend the referendum. These patents had aroused great indignation in Ethiopia, where tefa is considered part of the national heritage.

On Wikipedia in Basque, the tefa or teff (Eragrostis tef) is an annual herbaceous plant created in the Ethiopian massif of northeastern Africa. It has a lot of dietary fiber and iron and is enriched with proteins and calcium. It is cooked as millet and quinoa, but the seed is smaller. It is an important crop in Ethiopia and Eritrea, which is part of the so-called scissor food, and is also used in India and Australia.

"Is teff the new superfood?" ", in 2016 the New York Times newspaper asked: “Teffa has been for years the food of mythical long-running Ethiopian runners, such as Haile Gebrselassie, who won gold at the Olympic Games and established the world brand, which said teff was the secret to Ethiopian success. But now teff is becoming one of many trendy American foods. Long-term athletes love grain because it has lots of minerals. Those who cannot with gluten have the alternative of wheat. Sales of this crop increase year after year in the US: In 2014, a 58% increase according to the market research company Packaged Facts”.

The agreement signed in 2005 between the Ethiopian Institute for Biodiversity and the Dutch company Health and Performance Food International (HPFI) was recognised in 2008 as a ‘pilot model’ or prototype by the International Congress for Biodiversity. An Ethiopian genetic treasure had to become a global business, based on the pact between a private company and a poor state in ethical and parity terms.

The company then explained in the document “The solidarity business model of HPFI” a solidary business: “When the Dutch company HPFI began to enter the markets of North America and Europe, teff realized that he had to act with the approval of the people of Ethiopia. It was important for the company to cultivate, preserve and transform that savage cereal, which now benefited from the benefits it gave in the world for centuries.”

According to the company, it invested 3 million euros and four years of research, found among 375 teff the 3 most suitable for Europe’s climate and soil and carried out important promotional work in the United States. “As agreed in the agreement, it brings 5% of the company’s profits to a fund created by HPFI and the Ethiopian Government to promote sustainable and rural employment. In addition, Ethiopia receives royalty of 30% of the profits from the sale of teff seeds and EUR 10 per hectare sown teff by HPFI.”

Culinary colonialism

That was what was written in 2008, but by 2012 it was shown that the pact that had been corrupted came from the seed. Edna Mohamed summarizes in the June issue of The New Internationalist the scandal that Norway investigated the Fridtjof Nansen Institute, an observatory of governance and energy and resource legislation of the world. “How a corporation patented Ethiopia’s most common staple”.

Under the marketing plan agreed between Ethiopia and HPFI in that 2005 treaty, the Dutch agronomist Jans Roojsen had requested in 2003 a patent that gave him the right to market, sell or import teff, acquired in 2007. In other words, the ownership of the teff that for thousands of years had been cultivated by the farmers of Ethiopia and Eritrea was owned by the HPFI.

However, even though teff was becoming more popular, the HPFI did not get the expected benefits and went bankrupt in 2009. During the five years that the pact lasted, Ethiopia received only EUR 4,000 in total, an amount that did not vary. However, the HPFI had a well-preserved treasury in the liquidation – patent of the teff- and was absorbed by Jans Roojsen, founder of the company, for 60,000 euros.

Subsequently, another Dutch company, Bakels, started selling teff products and Roojsen demanded it by asking it to pay patent rights. Despite the fact that justice can sometimes be poetic, the Hague court has ruled against it on the basis of Roojsen's claim and annulled its patent, leaving the Ethiopians free of rebound to do whatever they want with the teff. The Roojsen patent still works in Belgium, Italy, Germany, Austria and Great Britain.

The Fridtjof Nansen Institute has denounced that teff is a case of biopiracy, as theft has caused Ethiopia to be unable to use its genetic resources in several European countries. Last May, the Ethiopian Attorney General announced that a complaint is being made against Roojsen to be tried for a crime of theft. But in the meantime, it is not clear whether Ethiopian companies can sell grain in countries where the patent is still alive or whether a risky complaint, the one held by the company Bakels bezalakoa.Behin, has been privatized.

The topic also shows how culinary colonialism works [culinary colonialism]. The concept was formulated by the philosopher Lisa Heldke, who explained how colonialism had transformed culinary customs. This colonialist behavior involves, firstly, renewing the appearance or the name of foods from dependent countries to make them attractive to consumers in the rich West [rebrand], keeping in the new image a small link with the original just to highlight the exotic of the product, but ultimately eliminating any cultural link with indigenous societies of origin.

The teff issue, says Edna Mohamed, is the expression of the enormous expropriation that corporations are carrying out in agriculture and in nature in general: “75% of plant DNA is owned by private companies, half by 14 multinationals.” Well sealed with patents.