In this two-part interview with Flora IP, Mr Kent Nnadozie, the Secretary of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) discusses the treaty, which has direct impacts on food and agriculture globally.
Over the last decade, Mr Nnadozie has worked both with the ITPGRFA and the FAO Commission for Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, on legal and policy matters, as well as intergovernmental processes. Before his appointment as Secretary, he served as Senior Officer of the ITPGRFA, overseeing various technical areas of the programme of work of the Secretariat. He received his PhD in Law from McGill University, Canada and MBA from Lagos Business School, Nigeria.
Flora IP (FI): Can you tell me about the ITPGRFA?
Mr Kent Nnadozie (KN): No country is self-sufficient when it comes to genetic resources for food and agriculture, which are the building blocks of our food basket. All countries are inter-dependent and depend on materials from other parts of the world for their food production.
The ITPGRFA is the major international agreement which establishes the global governance framework for the management and exchange of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture around the world, for the benefit of the global community.
The ITPGRFA facilitates the continuous exchange and free flow of genetic resources.
The scope of the ITPGRFA is all plant genetic resources, but it also establishes a multilateral system for the exchange which, to date, covers 64 of the world’s major crops, accounting for 80% of our food derived from plants.
The ITPGRFA was adopted by the 31st Session of the FAO Conference (in November 2001) in recognition of the important role that the plant genetic resources play in our agricultural systems and the contributions they make to our food security.
Before 2001, developing a new variety of wheat or rice, for example, would require making many individual contracts -in some cases, 20 or more- with different providers, most likely, in different countries. This means they would have to negotiate individually for each one, keeping in mind that each country has different conditions and terms. It was an extremely onerous task; often virtually impossible. Now, this hurdle can easily be overcome through the ITPGRFA’s Multilateral System (MLS) of exchange.
The ITPGRFA has facilitated the exchange of over 4.2 million samples so far, which averages to about 1000 exchanges per day.
In doing so, the ITPGRFA helps encourage innovation, crop diversity and the global sharing of material and information. (For more Information on MLS, see here).
The main purpose of the ITPGRFA is the conservation of plant genetic resources for agriculture, to ensure that the agricultural diversity on earth is not lost. Second, it ensures that the crop diversity conserved is also used. It is by using the genetic materials that they are kept relevant, as the characteristics and traits that can produce higher yields or better adapt to changes in climate or other specific conditions are developed. Third, it ensures that the benefits derived from these processes are shared equitably. Fourth, it acts as an insurance policy to protect plant genetic resources for present and future generations.
The ITPGRFA aims to:
- recognise the enormous contribution of farmers to the diversity of crops that feed the world;
- establish a global system to provide farmers, plant breeders and scientists access to plant genetic materials;
- ensure that those accessing these plant genetic resources share the benefits they derive from the use of these genetic materials with the countries where they originated.
As of 03 October 2018, the ITPGRFA had 145 Contracting Parties (members), with Mongolia and the United States of America being its newest members.
FI: Can you share examples of projects or programmes that the Secretariat of the ITPGRFA is currently working on?
KN: Fourth Cycle of Benefit-sharing Fund (BSF) projects. The Fourth Cycle of BSF projects commenced at the end of 2018. The overarching goal of the Fourth Call for Proposals is to enable farmers around the world use and conserve adapted varieties, leading to increased productivity, on-farm incomes and nutrient-rich food, as well as enhanced resilience to production shocks and reduced adverse impacts to the environment.
- Eligible applicants include governmental and non-governmental organisations, such as farmers and farmers’ organisations, genebanks and research institutions, as well as regional and international organisations based in developing countries that are Contracting Parties to the ITPGRFA.
- This Fourth Cycle of BSF project proposals emphasises new partnerships, including bringing technology and knowledge to the community and farm level and highlighting the important role of women in biodiversity management, farming and rural development. Partners of the projects that are selected will be funded to work together to establish and strengthen linkages between projects and across Regions.
(For more on BSF, see here).
Global Information System (GLIS): The ITPGRFA has developed a Global Information System to provide facilitated access to information on seed and other crop material for research and breeding. This is the newest initiative under the ITPGRFA.
- GLIS assigns unique Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) to plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA) in a consistent and accurate way to help identify the material. This is critical for the effective accumulation of information resulting from scientific research carried out by different institutions.
- The Global Information System is growing fast and has already assigned 600,000 Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) in the six months since it went live.
(For more on GLIS, see here).
Supporting Farmers’ Rights: The ITPGRFA is the first international legal instrument that recognises the enormous contribution of farmers to the diversity of crops that feed the world. The ITPGRFA holds workshops to increase awareness of Farmers’ Rights and supports Contracting Parties in:
- promoting the rights of farmers to save, use, exchange and sell their seeds
- protecting traditional knowledge
- increasing participation of farmers in national decision-making
- ensuring that farmers share in the benefits arising from the use of plant genetic resources
(For more on Farmers’ Rights, see here and here).
Mr Kent Nnadozie discusses the importance of the ITPGRFA in Part II of his Flora IP interview series.
Photo Credit: The ITPGRFA Secretariat.
You must be logged in to post a comment.