A good starting point for a national consultative process is creating or enhancing awareness on the importance of Farmers' Rights. The more operational parts of the consultative process can be designed as a series of workshops/seminars leading towards a framework for implementation of Farmers' Rights, and if required, monitoring such implementation.

Here, possible contents of a core workshop on the design of a national framework for implementation of Farmers' Rights are outlined. This is based on the workshop module prepared for that purpose, and further details can be found there. The outline below may however also serve as points of inspiration to develop an own workshop program, or program for the workshop series.

In most countries of the world institutions and people involved in Farmers' Rights are few and resources scarce. Thus, joining forces and pooling resources for the realization of Farmers' Rights are vital. This means that all stakeholders are invited to join forces and pool resources, including stakeholders that have traditionally not been thought of as allies in terms of Farmers' Rights.

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During the controversies over farmers’ rights over the past decades, two rationales have been prevalent: the 'stewardship' and 'ownership' approaches.

Farmers' Rights was among the most contested issues during the negotiations towards the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.

The Leipzig Conference on Plant Genetic Resources was a major event in the 1990s. Here too the importance of the realization of Farmers' Rights was addressed. It was highlighted in the Global Plan of Action for the Conservation and Sustainable use of Plant Genetic Resources, as well as in the comprehensive State of the World's Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, which formed a basis for the conference.

The issue of Farmers' Rights was addressed during the negotiations leading to the Convention on Biological Diversity as well as in the Agenda 21, both adopted in 1992. These were important points of reference for later negotiations towards the International Treaty.

1989 marks a breakthrough for the negotiations on Farmers' Rights in the FAO. The FAO Conference adopted two resolutions on Farmers' Rights, one of which should provide an important basis for all further negotiations.

The Keystone Dialoges from 1988 until 1991 were instrumental in framing the issue of Farmers' Rights and providing a basis for the recognition of these rights by the FAO Conference.

Thorough analysis of the documentation shows that the concept of Farmers' Rights was first brought up in international negotiations in the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 1986.

This article summarizes some of the most important aspects of the history of Farmers' Rights. You can read more about them in the other articles under History of Farmers' Rights.