Global Information System

Number of records: 235

131) Putting farmers and Indigenous Peoples’ access to crop diversity at centre in seed policy and practice

The measure is a game changing solution presented to the UN Food System Summit 2021 calling for a fundamental re-think of how seed system development is supported globally. Our proposal is to ensure and promote – through legislation, seed policies and action – that farmers have access to a diversity of well adapted varieties of crops that meet agroecological, nutritional and cultural needs and preferences. Farmers’ seed systems are key to provide farmers with access to both local varieties developed over millennia of farmer selection and varieties developed with modern plant breeding. We call for a bottom-up demand-driven approach to seed security to complement the currently dominant top-down supply-side approach, thereby supporting farmers’ agency and recognizing farmers’ seed systems contribution to global food security.

Category: 6.Facilitation of farmers’ access to a diversity of PGRFA through community seed banks, seed networks and other measures improving farmers’ choices of a wider diversity of PGRFA.

Type of measure/practice: Technical; Administrative; Legal

132) Participatory plant breeding to develop and release millet varieties for rain-fed areas of Sudan

Participatory plant breeding trials were conducted between 2010 and 2012 under the supervision of plant breeders of three agricultural research stations in traditional rain-fed areas of Kordofan and Darfur States of Sudan, with the aim to develop and release improved millet varieties for these areas. The trial consisted of two varieties co-developed by a farmer called Wad el-Bashir based on his local varieties of millet in collaboration with a plant breeder from Elobied research station, and a released variety called ‘Ashana’. The resulting varieties were registered under the name of the farmer Wad el-Bashir as type of non-monetary benefit-sharing. The registration of local farmer-developed varieties has enabled the commercial production and marketing of these varieties and allowed to produce and distribute seed on a legal basis. These achievements have led to an increase of the cultivation area of millet, which has resulted in a significant improvement in food security nationally.

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

133) 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

134) 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

135) 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.