Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 7 • Number 20 • 16th November 2007

FARMERS’ RIGHTS, FUNDING DISCUSSED AT SEED TREATY MEETING

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FARMERS’ RIGHTS, FUNDING DISCUSSED AT SEED TREATY MEETING

A recent meeting on the preservation and exchange of agricultural seeds saw divisive discussions on farmers’ rights and funding issues that underpin the implementation of a relatively new treaty on the topic.

The second meeting of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture was held in Rome from 29 October to 2 November.

As the event opened, Shakeel Bhatti, Secretary of the Governing Body of the Treaty, noted that "World agriculture is under enormous pressure to produce more food in a sustainable way. Agricultural production needs to be improved by developing food crops that can adapt to threats such as climate change, desertification, pests and diseases and at the same time meet the demand of a population that will grow from six billion people today to nine billion in 2050."

The agricultural resources governed by the Treaty will be important in helping to resolve the problems Bhatti highlighted. Participants at the meeting of its governing body discussed, among other, funding schemes, the development of a compliance mechanism and farmers’ rights.

Civil society calls for Treaty suspension

Civil society groups participated actively in the meeting, advocating for a comprehensive recognition of farmers’ rights. Due to problems in raising funds for the core activities under the Treaty, a coalition of development and farmers’ organisations called for its suspension. They felt that the Treaty thus far had improved plant breeders’ access to plant genetic resources, while doing little to help small farmers in developing countries and to ensure that benefits flow back to these stewards of much of the world’s plant genetic diversity.

"The Treaty, hosted in Rome by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), must halt the exchange of crop germplasm - the critical material for plant breeding. The suspension should remain in effect until governments meet the minimal obligations of the Treaty including its core financial arrangements," said Ibrahima Coulibaly of ROPPA (regional farmers’ organisation of West Africa). These core obligations would involve, for example, support to farmers’ in situ conservation of seeds - not only support of ex situ seed collections.

Pat Mooney of ETC Group said that the real beneficiaries of the Treaty so far were big agribusiness companies. According to Mooney, "The global seed industry has annual commercial sales of $23 billion. Beginning in the 1970s multinational pesticide enterprises began buying seed companies. Today, the top 10 seed companies have 57% of the commercial seed trade. Last year, a single company’s biotech seeds and traits — Monsanto’s — accounted for 86% of the total worldwide area devoted to genetically modified seeds."

Farmers’ rights in the spotlight

The civil society groups stressed that need to recognise the ‘collective rights’ of farmers, noting that "No plant variety and animal breed that is conserved, renewed or selected by farmers can be separated from the social, economic and cultural systems in which farmers develop their production. The rights of farmers include all of these systems of exchange — land, water, animals, knowledge, etc. — and not only plant genetic resources… The rights of farmers should not be reduced to individual private property rights on life which are in fact the opposite of their rights. The rights of peasants are collective rights concerning access to resources and their use, as envisaged by the essence of the Treaty."

The groups called for a process to be put in place, involving all farmers’ groups, to consider issues regarding plant genetic resources and farmers’ rights, such as their rights to the rights to reuse, conserve, protect, exchange and sell their seeds; the revision of any legislation providing obstacles to farmers’ rights; and financial support for the in situ work farmers do to preserve plant genetic diversity.

The work will go on

At the end of the meeting, some critical funding was secured, and a funding strategy forwarded for intersessional work and fundraising activities. Discussions on the compliance mechanism were left pending on the funding strategy.

The meeting adopted a resolution acknowledging the important role farmers play as stewards of plant genetic resources, and on their rights. It called for Treaty members to submit views on the topic, to facilitate further discussion at future meetings.

The meeting also took note of the recent meeting looking at similar issues with regard to animal genetic resources (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 21 September 2007)

At the close of the meeting, Jacques Diouf, Director-General of FAO, noted that the Treaty was entering a critical implementation stage, and called on governments to make the necessary financial contributions to make it effective. "With the global challenges we are facing in today’s world, the International Treaty is more relevant than ever in relation to global climate change, food security and poverty reduction", he said.

Additional information

For a detailed report of the meeting, see IISD’s Earth Negotiations Bulletin at http://www.iisd.ca/biodiv/itpgrgb2/

For the civil society declaration at the meeting, see http://www.grain.org/bio-ipr/?id=531

ICTSD reporting.