|
Global Plan of Action 29.
Assessment: Modern plant breeding has been remarkably
successful in helping raise yields, and to improve resistance
to pests and diseases and quality of food products, especially
in favorable environments. Farmers
choose to grow new cultivars for many reasons including market
conditions, family food security and environmental sustainability.
Unfortunately,
these choices often result in significant onfarm genetic
erosion. Still,
in some countries, the overwhelming majority of farmers, as
a matter of choice or necessity, engage in de facto conservation
and development of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture
as they select and save seed for the next planting season.
These
farmers typically practice lowinput farming. Such
farmers often lack access to new and diverse genetic materials
which could be integrated into existing crops to improve production.
Historically,
farmer access to a broad range of germplasm in developed countries
has contributed to yield increases and greater crop adaptability
through farmer selection. It
has also led in many cases to the rise of local seed enterprises.
30.
Without appropriate and creative approaches, prospects of
markedly increasing the productivity of lowpotential and
lowinput farms through genetic improvements alone also would
appear limited. Yet,
increased productivity is important for food security and
to reduce pressure on fragile environments. Neither
the private sector nor public agricultural research institutions
presently have the capacity of serving this large, economically
disadvantaged population completely. Many
governments are seeking to realize farmers' rights through
national legislation, as appropriate. 31.
Initiatives focusing on participatory, onfarm management
and improvement of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture
may offer the potential to reach large numbers of farmers
and promote further agricultural development. It
would, of necessity, depend on farmers themselves and their
decisions and build upon and make use of their ongoing efforts
to improve their crops through mass selection and other breeding
efforts. And
it would necessarily recognize the central role that rural
women play in agricultural production in most developing countries.
Efforts
to provide farmers greater access to appropriate genetic resources
and training could assist farmers in improving various characteristics
of their planting materials (such as disease or pest resistance),
and in increasing food production. A
number of governments, research institutes, and NGOs are now
engaged in projects researching and promoting onfarm management
and improvement of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture.
Significant
technical and methodological questions remain. The
capacity of these projects is limited, however, and the numbers
of farmers they are reaching is relatively small. Thus,
it would appear the full potential of onfarm improvement
may not yet be realized. 32.
Longterm objectives: To better understand and
improve the effectiveness of existing onfarm conservation,
management, improvement, and use of plant genetic resources
for food and agriculture. To
achieve a better balance between ex situ and in situ conservation.
To
realize Farmers' Rights as defined in FAO Resolution 5/89
at the international, regional, and national levels. To
promote the equitable sharing of benefits from plant genetic
resources for food and agriculture as called for in the Convention
on Biological Diversity. To
foster the future emergence of public or private seed companies
and cooperative enterprises as an outgrowth of successful
onfarm selection and breeding. To
encourage traditional seed exchange and supply systems. 33.
Intermediate objectives: To gain greater knowledge
about the dynamics, methodologies, effects, and potential
of onfarm conservation and plant improvement. To
establish or strengthen programmes and networks for onfarm
management of farmer's varieties, wild relatives of food crops,
harvested food plants and rangeland genetic resources. To
extend the role of national, regional and international genebanks
to include support for and provision of materials to onfarm
improvement programmes. To
build on farm and garden programmes based on local systems
of knowledge, institutions, and management, ensuring local
participation in planning, management and evaluation. To
focus greater public and scientific attention on the diverse
roles that women play in production and resource management
in rural households. 34.
Policy/strategy: Onfarm activities are a means
to improve existing practices in selected communities. They
are complementary to and not a substitute for more formal
varietal development and seed supply systems. Institutional
flexibility will be needed in working with farming communities.
No
single plan or recipe is possible or advisable. Working
examples must be identified of conservation and sustainable
use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture that
support and maintain the social, economic and cultural values
of local and indigenous communities and improve the quality
of life. 35.
Governments should consider how production, economic incentive,
and other policies, as well as agricultural extension and
research services might facilitate and encourage onfarm management
and improvement of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture.
36.
Where appropriate, national research systems should consider
strengthening local level capacity to participate in all stages
of breeding, including onfarm selection and adaptation. 37.
Governments, donor agencies, international agricultural research
centres, NGOs, and others should incorporate gender and sociocultural
factors into the design and implementation of agricultural
research and plant genetic resources for food and agriculture
activities. 38.
Capacity: Adequate support should be given to
communitybased institutions and user groups engaged in providing
practical assistance to onfarm conservation and improvement
work. 39.
Considering the needs of and numbers of the farmers served,
genebanks and national/international institutes should consider
identifying appropriate landraces/farmers' varieties for multiplication
and/or developing new breeding populations incorporating specific
characteristics into locally adapted materials for onfarm
improvement activities. Stepbystep
incorporation and improvement should be encouraged rather
than the hasty replacement of existing onfarm diversity.
As
a general practice, quantities of seed and planting materials
distributed should encourage research and experimentation
by farmers, and not be so large as to displace normal seed
supply sources or onfarm seed management. 40.
Interdisciplinary training programmes should be developed
for extension workers, NGOs and others in facilitating and
catalyzing onfarm activities, including selection and breeding
techniques appropriate to supplement and improve those already
used by farmers. 41.
The focus of training programmes should be to help farmers
better incorporate new knowledge and technologies and indeed
become better technicians, and researchers become better enablers
and supporters of farmers. Training
should be aimed at four different groups: scientists, technical
support staff, extension agents (including NGOs), and farmers.
Support
for advanced degree work should include relevant work in the
biological and social sciences. Training
of extension agents should aim to increase their skills in
crop identification, selection and breeding, and seed maintenance
in order to provide the important bridge between national
agricultural research staff and farmers. 42.
Training of (and by) farmers should emphasize enhancing the
identification of plant traits, selection/breeding, utilization
and maintenance of local crops. It
is important to develop farmers' skills in selection of plants
in the vegetative state and not only after harvest. 43.
Training programmes should be designed in close collaboration
with NARS and farmers and their organizations and be based
on particular needs as they see them. Such
programmes should not neglect the central role that women
play in both influencing and directing the evolution of crops.
Programmes
should consider the different uses of biological resources
by women and men, including women's concern for the multiple
uses and processing requirements of crops. 44.
Research/technology: Four basic types of rigorous,
multidisciplinary scientific research are needed: (a) ethnobotanical
and socioeconomic research to understand and analyze farmer
knowledge, selection/breeding, utilization, and management
of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, consistent
with the approval of the farmers involved and with applicable
requirements for protection of their knowledge and technologies;
(b)
population and conservation biology to understand the structure
and dynamics of genetic diversity in local landraces/farmers'
varieties (including population differentiation, gene flow,
degree of inbreeding, and selective pressures); (c)
crop improvement research, including research in mass selection
and simple breeding as a means of increasing crop yields and
reliability without significant losses of local biodiversity.
(d)
research and extension studies for little known crops will
be promoted, including seed production, marketing and distribution.
45.
Scientific research should, when possible, be coupled with
onfarm activities in order that the context and purpose of
the work are fully appreciated. Research
should assist in the monitoring, evaluation, and improvement
of onfarm efforts. Research
should be undertaken in a participatory and collaborative
manner to foster interaction and cooperation between rural
people and the staff of national institutions. Other
institutions must be involved appropriately whenever necessary.
46.
Methods should be developed and assistance provided for recording
and linking in situ farm and garden management and conservation
of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture with national
and regional genebanks and research institutes. 47.
Coordination/administration: National and international
coordination efforts in this area should allow for and encourage
local, communitylevel initiatives in proposing programmes.
Small,
grassroots projects should receive priority in funding and
support services. Priority
should be placed on farmers with a technical project promoting
the maintenance of preexisting diversity and to collaboration
between communities and research institutions. Subject
to satisfactory progress, programmes should be sufficiently
long (10 years or more) to achieve results. 48.
Efforts should be coordinated closely with NARS, international
agricultural research centres, including IPGRI and with NGOs
and farmers organizations. Collaborative
programmes with other agencies, including UNDP, UNEP, IFAD,
and the World Bank, should be undertaken, as feasible. 49.
This activity is closely linked with: |
