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: 233

    41) Farmer-codeveloped ordinance on agriculture (Sustainable Agriculture Code of the Municipality of Arakan, North Cotabato, Philippines)

    In 2013, Southeast Asia Regional Initiatives for Community Empowerment (SEARICE) facilitated the development of the Agriculture Code of Arakan, North Cotabato. The code compiled all existing local ordinances on agriculture and added new provisions that would reflect the desire of the communities for a sustainable agricultural system. To develop the agricultural code, SEARICE and the Municipality of Arakan co-organized an ordinance-writing workshop for farmer leaders (women and men) of the municipality, led by a lawyer working with SEARICE. The Draft Code was then submitted for consideration and adoption. Provisions include (1) management, utilization, exchange and development of PGRFA, including protection of local seed systems and institutionalization of community seed banks; (2) municipal guaranteed protection of farmer-bred varieties, including the institutionalization of a seed registry and protection against misappropriation; (3) free access to seed for all farmers; (4) a ban on genetically modified organisms (GMO); (4) facilitating and monitoring access and benefit-sharing, including through the Arakan Farmers’ Trust Fund; (5) protection and promotion of Farmers’ Rights; (6) provision of incentives for farmer-breeders of traditional and indigenous varieties; (7) development of a loan assistance program; and (8) commitment to make an annual Farmers’ Day a permanent part of the Municipal Foundation Anniversary.

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

    Type of measure/practice: Administrative

    42) Building on community traditional knowledge and practices for food security

    Southeast Asia Regional Initiatives for Community Empowerment (SEARICE) implemented ‘Putting Lessons into Practice: Scaling up Peoples’ Biodiversity Management for Food Security’ (2012-2015), in collaboration with partners from government, non-government and research institutions. Objectives were to develop adaptation strategies for food security by bridging traditional knowledge and science; to influence policies on food and agriculture from local to international level toward realizing the right to food of indigenous and smallholder farmers; and to strengthen their adaptive capacities in plant genetic resources conservation, including access to and sustainable use of PGRFA, by scaling up successful and/or innovative models. Components include capacity-building through collaborative strategies, e.g. Participatory Plant Breeding (PPB) and community seed management, and policy support by providing a venue for farmers to articulate their concerns and issues to government leaders. The Farmer Field School approach was used as a learning and empowering methodology, while the system of rice intensification and PPB were introduced as climate-change mitigation measures. The initiative targeted 75,000 low-income farming households from several regions of Vietnam. Farm productivity and yield increased by 10%, while periods of food scarcity were reduced from a maximum of 17 weeks to a maximum of 7 weeks across all regions by its conclusion.

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

    Type of measure/practice: Technical

    43) Community seed registry

    Starting in 2002, the Campagao Farmers' Production and Research Association (CFPRA) of the municipality of Bilar, province of Bohol, in collaboration with Southeast Asia Regional Initiatives for Community Empowerment (SEARICE), established a community seed registry. The registry is not intended to claim property rights but aims to prevent others from doing so by placing knowledge in the public domain. The community seed registry recognizes farmers as the developers of the varieties and upholds the principle that seeds should be freely and widely accessed and exchanged. Through a municipal resolution, the community seed registry was officially recognized. Community seed registries may evolve differently in different contexts, but share common elements, including (1) a community declaration, through which the local communities publicly and collectively assert their rights over local plant genetic resources, e.g. a joint resolution or statements of communities or farmers’ organizations, public ceremonies, rituals/oral traditions, audio/video techniques, or other indigenous means of documentation; (2) legal recognition, which obliges the State to recognize the registries and to provide them with a mantle of legal protection; and (3) community protocols or procedures meant to regulate and facilitate access more systematically and to ensure that Farmers’ Rights to the accessed materials are recognized.

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

    Type of measure/practice: Technical; Administrative

    44) Establishing resilient community-managed seed systems

    Southeast Asia Regional Initiatives for Community Empowerment (SEARICE) considers the empowerment of farming communities at the forefront of agricultural production as the most sensible way to making local seed systems resilient. Thus, SEARICE projects include the development of community-managed seed systems as a key outcome of its various projects. For the purposes of this documentation, however, we describe only the initiative implemented in the project ‘Building Resilient Community- Managed Seed Systems towards Climate Change Adaptation’ in the Philippines and Cambodia (2013- 2015), in collaboration with government units in each of the participating countries. It made significant contributions towards the technical empowerment of farmers in 55 project communities in seven (7) and nine (9) provinces in Cambodia and the Philippines, respectively. The capacities of 1,546 men and women (832 or 53%) farmers to manage crop genetic diversity and strengthen their local seed systems to adapt to the changing climatic conditions have been enhanced through Farmer Field Schools on community-managed seed systems. Previously disadvantaged farmers, they too have been organized to gain social and political influence, actively assert their rights and interests and pursue activities collectively to develop further their resilience to the impacts of climate change.

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

    Type of measure/practice: Technical

    45) Participation of Farmers in the Decision-Making Process

    Under the responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan, farmers participate in several national-level councils as members (e.g., the Council of Food, Agriculture and Rural Area Policies and the Agricultural Materials Council) to provide inputs in the decision-making process. Both the Council of Food, Agriculture and Rural Area Policies and the Agricultural Materials Council were established in 2001 by reorganizing existing councils. They were established under the Food, Agriculture and Rural Areas Basic Act and the Act for Establishment of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, respectively.

    Category: 8.Farmers’ participation in decision-making at local, national and sub-regional, regional and international levels

    Type of measure/practice: Administrative; Legal