SIDE EVENT to be held during the 9th Session of the Governing Body of the ITPGRFA in New Delhi

Tuesday 20 September 2022, evening time (18:15 – 19:30)  
Venue: Pullman New Delhi Aerocity Hotel – Room: Please see hotel announcement

See programme here (JPG, 236KB).

Well-functioning community seed banks that are centred on agrobiodiversity contribute significantly to food security and improved livelihoods among smallholder farmers in the Global South. However, policies and laws largely neglect these initiatives and make it difficult to realize their potential. At this side event we will present preliminary results from the research project DIVERSIFARM, which has been designed to investigate and analyze agrobiodiversity-based pathways to food security and improved livelihoods among smallholder farmers in the Global South. The organizers of this side event are the partner institutions of DIVERSIFARM, which is supported by the Research Council of Norway. We will present case studies from Malawi, Nepal and Ethiopia, summarize factors of success for community seed banks, and identify key issues requiring attention in spheres of policy, law and development cooperation. The side event will also launch a new website on Farmers’ Rights.

Organized by: Fridtjof Nansen Institute (FNI), Norway, in collaboration with partners from University of Cape Town in South Africa, Mekelle University in Ethiopia, The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT in Nepal, German Institute for Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture and Norwegian University of Life Sciences.