Farmer-managed seed systems (FMSS) are essential for present and future food security, especially given the implications of climate change for agriculture: Small-scale farmers in many countries of the Global South rely on FMSS for their seed and propagating material and thus for their seed and food security. Local crop diversity is often particularly adapted and adaptable to climate change. Nevertheless, FMSS are largely neglected in policies and legislation, and thus their potential contributions to food and nutrition security and management of crop genetic diversity are under-developed. Realizing Farmers’ Rights to crop genetic resources is an important means to strengthening FMSS. Whereas Farmers’ Rights are acknowledged in the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), their realization is surrounded with controversies.

In this lecture, She talks about how FMSS relate to seed and food security, the history of Farmers’ Rights, including the pivotal role of Prof. MS Swaminathan and India, present an analytical approach to understanding Farmers’ Rights and provide an update on the current state of negotiations. She also highlight well-functioning community seed banks (CSBs) as an example of the realization of Farmers’ Rights and boosting seed and food security, while also showing how CSBs are affected by barriers to Farmers’ Rights.

Through her presentation she highlighted the special international position of India with its pioneering legislation on Farmers’ Rights, its many impressive FMSS initiatives, including CSBs, and its international efforts to promote Farmers’ Rights. She asked how India may continue to pilot the realization of Farmers’ Rights and illustrate some possibilities with the joint MSSRF-FNI project DIVERSIFARM-India.

Speaker: Dr Regine Andersen, Fridtjof Nansen Institute (FNI), Norway

Title: Farmer-managed seed systems and Farmers’ Rights: Promoting seed and food security among smallholder farmers

Date: February 05, 2025

Speaker bio and abstract click here

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