From history we know how discussions on Farmers' Rights have caused heated debates and conflicts rather than progress in the implementation of these rights. After decades of conflicts and mounting barriers against the realization of Farmers' Rights, it is now vital to move beyond the earlier controversies, build bridges and join forces across sectors to make Farmers' Rights a reality.

Farmers are not defined in the International Treaty. However, in several provisions, the Treaty emphasizes farmers who conserve and develop plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, particularly so in the provisions on Farmers' Rights.

A useful measure for creating awareness can be to offer seminars or workshops in the most central organizations and institutions in the country with regard to Farmers' Rights.

Creating awareness sector wise can be done by inviting representatives from the various relevant organizations and institutions within each of the sectors pertaining to Farmers' Rights to sector wise workshops and/or seminars. This can be done at the national and/or regional level, depending on the size of the country and available resources.

Creating awareness across sectors can be done by inviting representatives from the central organizations and institutions in each of the sectors pertaining to Farmers' Rights to cross sector workshops and/or seminars. This can be done at the national and/or regional level, depending on the size of the country and available resources.

Creating awareness through the media is a means to reach out to broader target groups, such as farmers (with access to TV, radio or newspapers/magazines), consumers, various interest groups and stakeholders, and the public at large.

The means for creating awareness are probably only limited by our fantasy.

A broad based consultative process should ensure participation from all central stakeholder groups, from all regions of the country, from different ethnic groups (if relevant), from men and women.

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.