At this session the Governing Body took note of the outcomes of the Global Symposium on Farmers’ Rights in India and decided to reconvene the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Farmers’ Rights to follow up on the implementation of Article 9.

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is relevant for the realization of Farmers’ Rights for two quite different reasons. On one hand, the Patent Cooperation Treaty under WIPO enables patents related to plants to be granted simultaneously in a large number of countries, which may heavily affect any rights that farmers’ have to save, use, exchange and sell farm-saved seed of the plants affected by such patents. On the other hand, the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Resources and Folklore (IGC) under WIPO seeks to negotiate one or more international legal instruments to protect traditional knowledge, traditional cultural expressions and genetic resources.

Following a dramatic end of the Eight Session of the Governing Body in 2019, progress was made on Farmers’ Rights at the Ninth Session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), that was held in New Delhi, India, 19 - 23 September 2022.

How can you proceed to promote Farmers' Rights in your country, according to the provisions in the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture? A set of options for the realization of Farmers’ Rights may provide guidance. Also, a stepwise approach for the process is offered

Important work is being carried out between the sessions of the Plant Treaty’s Governing Body to prepare the ground for negotiations and the adoption of resolutions on Farmers’ Rights. These inter-sessional processes contribute to framing the topics of negotiation and creating common ground of understanding among parties and stakeholders. This has been decisive to the results achieved by the Governing Body. Here you can read about relevant processes between the sessions of the Treaty’s Governing Body.

This biennium was characterized by the development of Options for Encouraging, Guiding and Promoting the Realization of Farmers’ Rights by the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Farmers’ Rights based on the Inventory presented and welcomed during the Eight Session of the Plant Treaty’s Governing Body.

At this session, the Governing Body welcomed the inventory of national measures, best practices and lessons learned from the realization of Farmers’ Rights that had been developed and compiled over the past biennium and endorsed an outline for developing options for the realization of these rights.

A breakthrough for Farmers’ Rights was achieved at the Seventh Session of the Governing Body of the Plant Treaty, held in Kigali, Rwanda, from 30 October to 3 November 2017. After 10 years of negotiations, a consensus was finally found to establish an Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on the realization of Farmers’ Rights.