Pakistan, July 20 -- In an era where globalisation is championed as a force of progress, developing nations like Pakistan and India find themselves ensnared in a corporate siege - a silent but potent conquest unfolding through the seedbeds of our agriculture.

The roots of this transformation lie in a single global accord: the TRIPS Agreement (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights), ratified under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 1995. While heralded as a tool to standardise intellectual property protections worldwide, TRIPS has paved the way for multinational corporations to monopolise seed systems and exert control over food production in the Global South. Traditionally, farmers in Pakistan, India, and much of the d...