Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations  
International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture

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    The Inventory

    This online version of the Inventory presents, for each measure, the title and a brief description with information on implementing organization(s), start year, objectives, core elements, key outcomes, and, if applicable, lessons learned. It thus allows users to quickly identify those examples that may be of interest to them. A hyperlink to the original submission is provided, which includes additional information, such as on the history and context of the presented measure, challenges encountered, or target groups reached. In this way, users can get a more comprehensive idea of the measure in question and the specific context for which it was developed.
     
    To facilitate navigation, the Inventory is subdivided into eleven categories. Measures or practices that fall under more than one category are listed under each one that applies. Furthermore, information is provided on the type(s) of measures that are typically involved, such as technical, administrative, legal, and/or others, and on the relevant sub-article of Article 9 that is addressed. Additional search options allow searching by country, region, free text and keyword.
     
     
     
     
     
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    Number of records: 235

    181) Participatory Plant Breeding in Lao PDR

    In 2000, the Southeast Asia Regional Initiatives for Community Empowerment (SEARICE), an NGO operating at regional level, and the Agricultural Research Center (ARC) of the National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute (NAFRI) together with the Department of Agriculture in Lao PDR launched a program called Biodiversity Use and Conservation in Asia Program (BUCAP), which later merged with another program called Community Biodiversity Development and Conservation (CBDC), and implemented from 2006-2010. Activities centred around Farmer Field Schools (FFS) on rice breeding, through which farmers co-defined breeding objectives, and together with scientists of the ARC, identified suitable parent materials. Researchers and extension agents were trained as FFS facilitators, while policy makers from local and national levels were consciously involved in all key activities to raise awareness and generate support for the work of farmers on the ground. As a result of the initiative, 55 high performing rice varieties were developed, of which some exhibit adaptation to specific conditions, including tolerance to drought or acid soils; one variety was granted official release in 2018, while others are still going through the same process.

    Category: 7.Participatory approaches to research on PGRFA, including characterization and evaluation, participatory plant breeding and variety selection

    Type of measure/practice: Technical; Administrative

    182) Developing Community Biodiversity Registries and Biocultural Community Protocols (BCP): tools for implementing Farmers' Rights as set out in Article 9 of the ITPGRFA and strengthening community capacity to manage crop genetic diversity

    Starting in 2015, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (MAEP) and Service d’Appui à la Gestion de l’Environnement (SAGE) in Madagascar and the Institut National des Recherches Agricoles du Benin (INRAB) together with the NGO Cercle de Sauvegarde des Ressources Naturelles (CeSaReN) for Benin, with support of Bioversity International and the Darwin Initiative, implemented a project to facilitate the mutually supportive implementation of the ITPGRFA and Nagoya Protocol. The ABS Capacity Development Initiative, the Secretariats of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the ITPGRFA; the African Union Commission and the regional NGO Natural Justice were also involved as partners. At the national level, the focus was on creating and adopting legal instruments. At the local level, communities were supported to create Community Biodiversity Registries as a useful tool to identify, document and monitor the existing biodiversity in their surroundings, along with associated traditional knowledge; Biocultural Community Protocols were then developed to enable local communities to take advantage of their countries’ commitments under both the ITPGRFA and the Nagoya Protocol by establishing mechanisms to regulate access to genetic resources in their territories and to establish the terms and conditions for access to and use of their traditional knowledge and resources.

    Category: 4.Catalogues, registries and other forms of documentation of PGRFA and protection of traditional knowledge

    Type of measure/practice: Technical; Administrative

    183) Morphological characterization of native crop varieties using farmers’ descriptors

    In 2001, in the frame of in situ conservation project, the National Institute of Agrarian Innovation (INIA), together with several governmental and non-governmental organizations, conducted documentation of the morphological characteristics of native varieties of maize and potatoes using ‘peasant descriptors’. The objective was to make an inventory of the most important crops grown by farmers, using their own descriptors and language, in order to understand the diversity and variability of the native crops and varieties. Technicians and experts interacted with farmers and visited their fields were visited at different growth stages. Descriptors used by farmers ae related to leaves, stems, flowers, tubers, grains, and fruits; and they were based on places, people, colours, animals, and shapes. As a key result, morphological characteristics of different varieties of maize and potato crops according to farmers’ descriptions or terminologies, are elaborated and documented. During documentation, it revealed that women farmers are the knowledge holders, or play an important role in cultivating crops, since they ae experts in describing the diversity of native varieties they grew in their fields.

    Category: 7.Participatory approaches to research on PGRFA, including characterization and evaluation, participatory plant breeding and variety selection

    Type of measure/practice: Technical; Administrative

    184) Strengthening local farmers’ seed systems through Community Seed Banks in Malawi

    Biodiversity Conservation Initiative (BCI), a civil society organization in Malawi, partnered with the Development Fund of Norway (DF) to implement a Community-Based Agrobiodiversity Management project (2013-2016), which was extended for the period 2017-2020. DF provides the funding, while BCI directly implements the project targeting 2500 smallholder farmers. The major objective is to increase adaptive capacity to climate change among smallholder farmers in Malawi through strengthening local seed systems with community seed banks as a major focus. Core components of the work include: (1) multiplication of locally adapted seed varieties such as finger millet, groundnuts, beans, green gram, sesame, sorghum, pearl millet and bambara nut; (2) maize varieties participatory variety selection; (3) community seed banking on a loan basis for enhanced farmer access of the materials and loan schemes for sustainability; (4) capacity development programs on quality seed production and enhanced crop production practices; and (5) seed policies, including Farmers’ Rights. Notable achievements of the work include the sustainable management of four Community Seed Banks in Rumphi district. Lessons learned include that capacity development of farmers in key areas, such as seed multiplication, collection and storage, appropriate storage facilities and economic incentives are important to effectively conserve crop genetic resources on-farm.

    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

    185) Networking for growing crop diversity

    NordGen, established 1979, is the joint Nordic genebank for ex situ collections (seeds) of agricultural and horticultural crops. Throughout the years, individual researchers and farmers have requested and obtained seed samples from NordGen for further multiplication and cultivation. Focus has primarily been on heritage or redundant cultivars. Selection of superior plants within evaluated landraces and/or locally grown cultivars has taken place. Activities include both seed production for maintaining expertise and methodology in the field, as well as growing (niche) products for consumers (flour, flakes, whole or crushed grain). The networks provide their own need of seed. Seed is shared within the networks, as existing legislation restricts putting seed on the market.

    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: Administrative; Legal