About International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture:
- It was adopted by the Thirty-First Session of the Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations on 3 November 2001.
- The Treaty aims at:
- Recognizing the enormous contribution of farmers to the diversity of crops that feed the world;
- Establishing a global system to provide farmers, plant breeders and scientists with access to plant genetic materials;
- Ensuring that recipients share benefits they derive from the use of these genetic materials.
- It is the major international agreement between member countries to conserve, use and manage plant genetic resources for food and agriculture around the world for the benefit of people everywhere.
- The Treaty ensures that farmers and plant breeders access, easily, the raw genetic material needed to develop new crop varieties, including those with higher yields and those that are resilient to climate change.
- The International Treaty makes it possible to share plant genetic resources across borders through a unique Multilateral System of Access and Benefit-sharing (MLS).
- This treaty established and operates a special initiative operated for the benefit of developing countries – the Benefit-sharing Fund (BSF).
- This Fund supports agricultural projects for farmers, public institutions and others in developing countries to conserve and use PGRFA to improve food crop production, fight plant pests and adapt to the effects of climate change.
