:: Farmers' Rights under the FAO Treaty on PGRFA: the Need for a Broad Approach Based on Biocultural Heritage

The ITPGRFA seeks to protect farmers’ rights through equitable benefit-sharing from the use of farmers’ crop varieties. It recognises the enormous contribution that indigenous and local communities and farmers have made to the conservation and development of crop genetic resources. Yet the ability of farmers to continue this role is seriously threatened - not only by a lack of benefit-sharing, but by a lack of secure rights to land and genetic resources and policies that promote industrial agriculture and monocultures. This paper argues for a broad approach to the protection of farmers rights, which goes beyond benefit-sharing, to include protection of farmers' customary rights over genetic resources and associated landscapes, cultural values and customary laws, on which the continued conservation and improvement of crops by farmers depends. It draws on research by International Institute for Environment and Development and partners in Peru, Panama, India, China and Kenya.