Farmers’ Rights Project: Furthering agrobiodiversity as a means of poverty alleviation

Farmers’ rights related to crop genetic resources are an essential precondition for maintaining crop genetic diversity, which is the basis of all food and agriculture production around the globe. Genetic diversity provides the pool in which plant traits can be found that meet the challenges of crop pests and diseases, of marginal soils, and – not least – of changing climate conditions. Genetic diversity is vital for spreading risks for smallholder farmers. The world’s farmers are the custodians and developers of crop genetic resources. Their rights in this regard are crucial for enabling them to continue to perform this vital role for local and global food security, as a central means in the fight against poverty. Therefore Farmers’ Rights became a cornerstone of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (the Plant Treaty) that was adopted in the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 2001 and entered into force in 2004.