The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture is crucial in the fight against hunger and poverty and essential for the achievement of Millennium Development Goals 1 and 7. No country is self-sufficient in plant genetic resources; all depend on genetic diversity in crops from other countries and regions. International cooperation and open exchange of genetic resources are therefore essential for food security. The fair sharing of benefits araising from the use of these resources has for the first time been practically implemented at the international level through the Treaty and its Standard Material Transfer Agreement.
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The Portal of the International Treaty aims at improving access to information, knowledge and training materials. It is a gateway to sound information on the Treaty, its Governing Body and its activities, that provides access to essential documents and information resources.
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Illustrating Generations of Generosity
Crops that produce our food
With this Treaty, crops that produce our food - our breads, our curries, our tortillas, our couscous, and our pasta - are put into a common pool. The treaty facilitates access to those crops, makes them available free of charge for certain uses to researchers who agree to share any future commercial benefits from their use in modern plant breeding or biotechnology.
Every Gene Counts
Traditionally, as plants evolved naturally in their fields, farmers made seasonal selections of which seeds to save and plant the next year, based on what worked best in their local environments. In the early nineteenth century, scientific advancement brought the ability to crossbreed more predictably. Today, modern biotechnology goes even further by providing plant breeders avenues to bring useful genes not only from other varieties but from other species into the mix. This means every crop variety has a potential use that extends far beyond a local farmer's field.
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Illustrating Generations of Generosity
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