GI Label Yet To Benefit Indian Farmers

The Kerala province of India earned two geographic indications, or product names associated with a particular place and characteristics, on rice varieties in November 2007. But, more than a year later, the farmers who grow those strains still have yet to see any economic benefit, says LiveMint, a Wall Street Journal blog. Interviews with farmers seem to show that there has been little easing of the difficult lives of subsistence farmers thanks to the new designation of their crop as a special variety.