“Risks of Hybrid Dominance and Erosion of Local Genetic Diversity”
Introduction:
The relationship between artificial seeds and pesticides
Seeds produced using industrial farming systems, including F1 hybrid seeds, are generally almost identical genetic clones. This homogeneity results in limited resistance to diseases and pests. In contrast, traditional seeds possess a wide genetic diversity that enables them to adapt to diseases and climate change. This dependence necessitates the use of various types of pesticides on industrial seeds, placing farmers in a position of economic dependence on the purchase and use of these pesticides, which leads to economic and environmental consequences.
Genetically modified seeds and reliance on pesticides
Genetically modified seeds exhibit a greater dependence on pesticide use. Herbicide resistance is among the most popular genetic modifications employed by companies. This leads farmers to intensify herbicide use throughout all stages of agricultural production. This results in serious consequences, such as herbicide accumulation in groundwater and negative impacts on biodiversity and the health of farmers and agricultural workers. For example, numerous studies have established a link between glyphosate and several diseases. This has serious economic and social repercussions.
New technologies in genetic engineering
The world is currently witnessing the use of new genetic technologies, often referred to by different names than “genetically modified organisms” (GMOs), in an attempt to circumvent laws that prohibit or restrict GMOs. These technologies are no less dangerous than traditional
gene editing methods (transgenesis). Therefore, it is essential to address them seriously within the proposed legal text.
Summary
The draft law regulating the trade in seeds, seedlings, and propagation materials aims to establish an institutional and regulatory framework for the seed sector. However, the regulatory and definitional focus on commercial varieties, including hybrids, raises serious biological concerns regarding the threat to the genetic diversity of native varieties (landraces) and sustainable agricultural systems. This paper addresses three key biological risks: genetic erosion resulting from commercial dominance, genetic contamination through cross-pollination, and the suppression of traditional seed conservation practices.
Regulating the seed sector is crucial for ensuring production quality and traceability of supply chains. The Lebanese draft law establishes the institutional framework, including the creation of a “Committee for Seeds, Seedlings, and Propagation Materials” and a “National Variety Registry.” While the law provides for a dedicated section for traditional and local varieties to document and preserve them, the strict rules regarding registration and licensing, particularly for commercial purposes, tend to favor varieties developed by commercial companies.framework(Plant Breeders), including hybrid varieties. This trend carries negative biological effects on non-hybrid and locally grown seeds.
Biological and environmental risk analysis
1. Genetic erosion resulting from commercial dominance:
Genetic erosion is the most prominent biological risk associated with the spread of hybrid varieties in the commercial market.
● Preference for hybrids over local varieties: Hybrid seeds (F1) are characterized by “hypertension,” which gives them high yields in the first generation and stability in certain characteristics, making them commercially preferred. However, this commercial advantage leads to the replacement of local varieties (native seeds) in the fields.
● Loss of adaptation: Local varieties are the result of natural selection and traditional agricultural practices over generations. They carry genes necessary for adaptation to local conditions (such as drought tolerance and pest resistance).diseases(and growth in marginal soils). Neglecting these varieties in favor of hybrids represents a permanent loss of genetic diversity, reducing the resilience of the national agricultural system to the challenges of climate change and new diseases, and leading to the loss of what has been built up.seedsLocality is a biological memory represented by genetic modifications at the DNA level that it has acquired through adaptation to the changing nature in which it has lived for decades.
● Monoculture: Relying on a small number of registered hybrid varieties leads to genetic homogeneity, where vast areas of crops share almost the same genetic background. This lack of diversity makes the crop more vulnerable to mass extinction should a new pest or disease emerge that can overcome the resistance of that particular variety.
2. The risk of genetic contamination through cross-pollination:
Although hybrid varieties are generated from pure lines for commercial purposes, their cultivation may lead to a decline in the purity of local open-pollinated varieties through natural cross-pollination mechanisms (insects, wind).
● Pollution mechanism: When hybrid seeds are planted near open-pollinated native seeds, the hybrid pollen may transfer to pollinate the native plants.
● Biological impact: This unintentional cross-pollination introduces genes from hybrid varieties into the lineage of pure local varieties, leading to a deterioration of the purity and stability traits that characterize local seeds and their ability to produce identical offspring. This threatens efforts to maintain varietal purity in general, and particularly for varieties on which farmers rely to replant their seeds year after year.
3. Economic dependency and restrictions on sustainable practices
Hybrid seeds are considered not to be effectively replantable by the farmer (due to the “hybrid vigor” which fades in the second generation), creating a model of dependency.
● Mandatory annual purchases: Farmers who adopt hybrid varieties are forced to purchase seeds annually from licensed trading companies. This shift from self-sufficiency to commercial dependence weakens food security at the individual farm level and increases production costs.
● Ignoring traditional exchange: The law stipulates that seed varieties “produced by farmers for non-commercial purposes or exchanged among themselves” are not registered in the national register. While this is an exemption, it reinforces the notion that the regulatory framework focuses on formal trade, potentially marginalizing or complicating traditional seed exchange practices among farmers. These practices are not trade, but rather a fundamental bio-social mechanism for in situ conservation of genetic diversity.
Summary and Recommendations
The draft law regulating the seed trade is an important step toward quality control, but it carries inherent biological risks due to the dominance of the commercial varieties it seeks to regulate (such as hybrids) within the overall regulatory framework. Genetic erosion, biological
contamination, and commercial dependence threaten local seeds, which are fundamental to the resilience of national agriculture.
Key biological recommendation: When developing implementation procedures, the “Seeds, Seedlings and Propagation Materials Committee” should give the highest priority to protecting the “Section Dedicated to Traditional and Local Varieties” by:
1. Apply buffer zones for planting open-pollinated and local varieties away from commercial fields to reduce cross-pollination.This is not applicable due to the small area of Lebanon.
2. Facilitating and registering farmers’ practices for preserving and exchanging local varieties without imposing costly commercial licensing and documentation requirements on them.
List of supporting academic and documentary sources
1. The risks of genetic erosion and hybrid dominance
These sources are used to support the idea that systems that focus on the commercial registration of modern varieties lead to the loss of native varieties (landraces).
● Source (A): International Organizations (Environmental Reference)
○ Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO): Reports on the “State of the World’s Plant Genetic Resources”.
○ The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA): as a reference on the need to preserve genetic
diversity and the rights of farmers.
● Source (B): Plant Genetics and Conservation (Academic)
○ Studies on “Cultivar Replacement” and its impact on intraspecific genetic diversity.
○ Research on the concept of “genetic vulnerability” resulting from genetic homogeneity in monoculture.
2. The risks of genetic contamination and cross-pollination
These sources are used to illustrate the biological mechanisms of gene flow between hybrid and open-pollinated varieties:
● Source (C): Eco-Genetics
○ Scientific articles that explore “gene flow” through cross-pollination between different agricultural varieties, and determine the necessary isolation distances in seed production.
○ Studies on the “mechanism of heterosis” and how the mixing of generations (F2) resulting from the hybrid leads to a deterioration of characteristics.
3. Restrictions on farmers’ practices and dependency
These sources are used to support the importance of traditional practices as a biological mechanism for preserving diversity:
● Source (D): Agroecology
○ Research focusing on “Informal Seed Systems” and the role of farmers as managers of genetic diversity (in situ conservation).
○ Analyses of the economic implications of annual reliance on the purchase of hybrid (F1) seeds on the sustainability of small-scale agriculture.
