Global Information System

Number of records: 233

131) Geographical indication

Since 1992, the French National Institute of Origin and Quality (Institut National de l’Origine et de la Qualité (INAO)) has offered options for the protection of Geographical Indications (GIs) protecting the name of a product from a specific region and with a traditional production process. The objective is to identify an agricultural product, raw or processed, of which quality, reputation or other characteristics are linked to its geographical origin. Geographical Indications tend to lead to higher prices for farmers compared to similar products in the same food category and offer a marketing message about high value-added products. For this reason, farmers in rural areas are encouraged to initiate the administrative procedures to obtain the GI recognition; such labels may also result in more sustainable and responsible consumer choices. There is a long history of this approach in French legislation. Today, Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs and Title II of the French Intellectual Property Code (L721-1 to L.722-17) establish the rules for geographical indications. Well-known examples are ‘Coco de Paimpol’ (dry beans from Bretagne), ‘Lentille verte du Puy’ (green lentils from Auvergne) or ‘Espelette pepers’ from Basque Country.

Category: 3.Approaches to encourage income-generating activities to support farmers’ conservation and sustainable use of PGRFA

Type of measure/practice: Technical; Administrative; Legal

132) Transfer of technology to farmers and its application for the conservation of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (I)

Farmers in semi-arid areas of Al Jaffara plain area, south of Tripoli, have no access to technology and always confronted with high prices of farm inputs. In 2018-2019, the Safit Station for Agricultural Research and Studies and the Animal Research Center re-launched the technology transfer programme in order to support farmers. This programme was implemented between 1991-2000, and was aimed to help farmers by applying appropriate agricultural techniques for cultivating crops in arid areas where they live, to learn how to apply a set of agricultural techniques and methods suitable to the arid lands, use of suitable seeds types and varieties, and more importantly, to increase their farm incomes. Initially, the technology transfer was done involving 49 farmers in 2018, and then in 2019, about 136 farmers were involved. This activity resulted to farmers’ enhanced understanding of the importance and necessity of applying agricultural techniques in their harsh and semi-arid environments, and enabled them to make choices and decisions in cultivating crops and varieties and applying appropriate agricultural technologies.

Category: 9.Training, capacity development and public awareness creation

Type of measure/practice: Technical

133) Strengthening capacities through courses, workshops, brochures, and others

Since 1995, through a series of projects, the Instituto de Investigaciones Fundamentales en Agricultura Tropical ‘Alejandro de Humboldt' (INIFAT), together with other government and non-government organizations, has engaged in in situ conservation activities in two Biosphere Reserves. In the first year of each project, the research team would conduct a diagnosis to identify training needs; this course of action has allowed them to develop short courses, workshops and brochures to address farmers’ needs. Such as, workshops to consolidate knowledge on seed production and storage, soil management and seed storage and conservation; promotion of knowledge sharing and exchange of experiences among all participants; dissemination of successful experiences, all of which, are conducted in a participatory manner This has allowed to strengthen and revive traditional knowledge in the communities where projects have been implemented. The continuous sharing of knowledge and exchange of experiences between and among farmers and researchers has laid the ground for identifying gaps that need to be filled in the short and medium term in these rural areas to better focus training activities and/or new interventions that promote the conservation and sustainable use of agrobiodiversity in the country.

Category: 9.Training, capacity development and public awareness creation

Type of measure/practice: Technical

134) Recognizing farmers’ contributions by registering traditional varieties in the National Register of Varieties of Cuba (I)

The national agricultural research institute Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Agrícolas (INCA) has been involved in several participatory plant breeding (PPB) projects between 1999 and 2006. In 2005, the first corn variety developed through PPB in Cuba was included in the official list of varieties under the name `Felo´. This variety was developed based on a combination of local materials by a member of the Cooperativa de Producción Agropecuaria (CPA) Gilberto León, municipality of San Antonio de los Baños in the province of Artemisa, where the first participatory corn breeding fair was held in June 1999. A process of mass selection (five cycles) followed, considering traits such as plant height, good closure of the ear and absence of fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda). A nutritional analysis showed satisfactory protein (9.0 and 9.3%) and starch (71 and 73%) contents. Yields obtained were around 3.4t/ha without fertilizer application. This example demonstrates the importance of varieties conserved by farmers for breeding purposes; among them, varieties of corn with high nutritional quality were identified, which have been developed in low-input production systems and without using techniques such as genetic engineering.

Category: 1.Recognition of local and indigenous communities’, farmers’ contributions to conservation and sustainable use of PGRFA, such as awards and recognition of custodian/guardian farmers

Type of measure/practice: Technical; Administrative

135) Implementation of the program Bioeconomy Brazil Sociobiodiversity

During the past two decades, the Brazilian government has implemented policies addressing concerns of smallholder farmers, indigenous people and traditional communities living in close relation with biodiversity. In 2019, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply, launched the Bioeconomy Brazil Sociobiodiversity program. The program aims at promoting partnerships between the government, family farmers, small scale and medium-scale farmers, traditional communities and their enterprises, and the business sector. The programme further aims at promoting the sustainable use of sociobiodiversity and extractive resources, as well as the production and use of energy from renewable resources, while allowing the participation of the communities living closely with biodiversity in the productive and economic arrangements through the concept of bioeconomy. The program axes comprised of (i) productive structuring of the extractivism chains; (ii) medicinal, aromatics, condiment herbs and special teas of Brazil; (iii) sociobiodiversity routes; (iv) potentialities of Brazilian agrobiodiversity; and (v) renewable energy for family farming. With these axes, the Ministry intends to raise the income-generating capacity of farmers through the aggregated values of biodiversity.