Pathways to food security, poverty alleviation and livelihoods through the implementation of farmers rights to crop genetic diversity

DIVERSIFARM is designed to identify agrobiodiversity-based pathways to food security, poverty alleviation and livelihoods among small-scale farmers in developing countries. The diversity of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture is an essential factor for the ability of farmers to adapt their food production to the effects of climate change, like rising temperatures, droughts, floods, pests and diseases. Community seed banks (CSBs) have emerged as pathways to improving locally adapted crops and maximising the benefits for food security and innovative means of income generation in developing countries. More knowledge is needed to understand their conditions for success and for scaling out best practices. However, farmers' rights to save, use, exchange and sell farm-saved seed, which are central to enabling such approaches, are under increasing pressure worldwide through legislation related to seed and intellectual property rights. The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (Plant Treaty) provides for the realization of farmers' rights. As the issue is beset with interest conflicts, more knowledge is needed to guide the implementation of farmers' rights. DIVERSIFARM is analyzing options for, and barriers to the implementation of farmers' rights at international, national and local levels, with a particular focus on conditions under which community seed banks succeed in contributing to climate resilient farming systems, food security, poverty alleviation and livelihoods. Case studies in Malawi, Nepal and Ethiopia show that well-functioning CSBs provide platforms for developing the potential of local crop diversity for food and nutrition security – and that they contribute decisively to seed and food security as well as to income generation. Central factors of success include good and transparent leadership; social cohesion among members, initial access to seed of preferred varieties and facilitation/support in initial years. A further central set of factors is training and knowledge exchange among CSB members on seed related issues, income generation possibilities, social dynamics, gender issues and leadership. Finally, CSBs need financial resources to cover operations, in the form of support or income. The current legislation prohibits CSBs to sell seed of local/enhanced varieties that are not registered in the official lists of plant varieties in most countries. Thus, CSBs cannot earn income from their local/enhanced varieties to finance operations. In general, CSBs and local seed systems are largely neglected by politics and legislation. A technical expert group on farmers' rights under the Plant Treaty has established a rich inventory of examples and a detailed list of options for the realization of farmers' rights, with substantial DIVERSIFARM contributions. At its Ninth Session in September 2022, the Governing Body of the Plant Treaty requested the Secretariat to publish the options, after it had previously published the inventory. Thereby a new international platform has been created for the implementation of farmers’ rights. Another expert group under the Plant Treaty, also with active DIVERSIFARM participation, addressed bottlenecks to farmer-managed seed systems. The DIVERSIFARM-participant suggested to develop voluntary guidelines to guide countries in how to overcome the bottlenecks. The proposal was accepted by the group and adopted at the 10th Session of the Plant Treaty’s Governing Body in November 2023. These are examples of the substantial impact DIVERSIFARM has had in Plant Treaty negotiations. One of the central and controversial questions in current international negotiations on genetic resources is how to regulate so-called digital sequence information (DSI). DSI describes genetic resources in such a precise way that plant breeders do not need access to the physical resources to be able to screen them with a view to plant breeding. DIVERSIFARM has analyzed the relation between DSI and Farmers' Rights, deriving possible solutions to this new and fundamental challenge for the management of crop genetic resources and the realization of Farmers' Rights. Towards the end of 2022, FNI published a DIVERSIFARM-sponsored website with comprehensive information on farmers’ rights as a resource site for decision-makers, practitioners, journalists, and researchers at www.farmersrights.org. The website was officially launched at a Global Symposium on Farmers’ Rights in New Delhi, India, hosted by the Government of India and organized by the Secretariat of the Plant Treaty in New Delhi, September 2023. Following from the results of DIVERSIFARM, FNI has, together with partners in India, decided to develop a project to find solutions to the challenges identified through DIVERSIFARM. India has conducive preconditions in this regard. The new project, DIVERSIFARM-India, will start in 2024, with support from the Royal Norwegian Embassy in New Delhi.

Due to rapid climate change in many developing countries, small-scale farmers are increasingly exposed to crop failure, hunger and poverty. Crop genetic diversity is an important key in adapting food production to climate change, spreading the risks of crop failure and contributing to food and nutrition security. Community seed banks and participatory plant breeding have emerged as platforms and pathways to improving locally adapted crops and maximising the benefits for food security and innovative means of income. More knowledge is needed to understand their conditions for success and for scaling out best practices nationally. However, farmers' rights to save, use, exchange and sell farm-saved seed are under increasing pressure worldwide through seed laws and intellectual property legislation. The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture provides for the realization of farmers' rights. This is of great importance for food security and livelihoods among small-scale farmers. As the issue is beset with interest conflicts, more knowledge is needed to guide the implementation of farmers' rights. The project is designed to meet these knowledge needs. Options and barriers to the implementation of farmers' rights will be analysed at the international level, and at the national level in Nepal, Ethiopia and Malawi, guided by a theoretical framework of structural, instrumental and normative power. On this basis, conditions under which local level community seed banks and participatory plant breeding schemes succeed in achieving climate resilient farming systems, food security, poverty alleviation and livelihoods will be analysed. This will be informed by issue specific studies on climate resilient farming systems, gender equality, and models of community seed banks and participatory plant breeding. Finally, the general relevance for developing countries and implications for international negotiations and development cooperation will be derived.