The third meeting of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Farmers Rights (AHTEG-FR-3), was held remotely (from 25 to 28 August 2020) by electronic means (Zoom), due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the attendant national and international restrictions on travel and gatherings. (See Titilayo Adebola’s comments on AHTEG-FR-1 and AHTEG-FR-2). The decision to hold the meeting virtually followed consultations between the Co-chairs (Ms Svanhild-Isabelle Batta Torheim, Norway, and Mr Rakesh Chandra Agrawal, India), the Bureau of the Ninth Session of the Governing Body, the Secretary and Meeting Services of Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO).
Pursuant to its Terms of Reference, the AHTEG is mandated to develop options for encouraging, guiding and promoting the realization of Farmers’ Rights, as set out in Article 9 of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) based on the Inventory of National Measures, Best practices and Lessons Learned from the Realization of Farmers’ Rights (Inventory). The inventory was designed by the AHTEG and ITPGRFA Secretariat based on the submissions of contracting parties and other stakeholders.
As requested by the Governing Body of the ITPGRFA and the AHTEG, the Secretariat prepared the Options For Encouraging, Guiding and Promoting the Realization of Farmers’ Rights as set out in Article 9 of the International Treaty (Options document) as a basis for the AHTEG-FR-3.
The Options document explores how to:
- Encourage the realization of Farmers’ Rights by showing the range of Options that are available, based on the experiences that have been attained and shared by Contracting Parties and relevant Stakeholders, including in different regions and contexts.
- Guide the realization of Farmers’ Rights by explaining how these Options relate to Article 9 of the ITPGRFA; why they can be regarded as Options for encouraging, guiding and promoting the realization of Farmers’ Rights; and what types of measures would typically be involved.
- Promote the realization of Farmers’ Rights, recognizing the enormous contribution that the local and indigenous communities and farmers of all regions of the world have made and will continue to make for the conservation and development of plant genetic resources, which constitute the basis of food and agriculture production throughout the world.
The AHTEG exchanged views on the Options and discussed how to further develop them. While the majority of the experts agreed with the revisions suggested during the discussions, the experts from Canada and the International Seed Federation, amongst others, resisted them. Following the lack of consensus, the meeting Co-chairs concluded that no decision regarding the Options document was finalised during the meeting.
The Experts asked the ITPGRFA Secretariat to prepare a working document for the next meeting (scheduled for 23 to 26 March 2021) which will include the Options document, the issues that may need further discussion, based on the exchange of views held during the third meeting, and proposals on possible ways to address those issues.
The ITPGRFA Secretariat committed to sharing the working document with the Expert Group at least six weeks before the next meeting in all four languages. The Expert Group agreed to use the Options document as the basis for work at its AHTEG-FR-4, in accordance with the Terms of Reference of the Expert Group.
See the AHTEG-FR-3 meeting documents here.
