Federation of Seed Industry of India Gifts 2 Million Indian Rupees to International Treaty
23/09/2022
Supporting the Guardians of Crop Diversity
New Delhi, India, 23 September 2022 – The Federation of Seed Industry of India (FSII) presented a check for Indian Rupees 2 million (approximately USD 25 000) to the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture Secretary, Kent Nnadozie, at the beginning of today’s proceedings of the Ninth Session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty, currently taking place in New Delhi, India.
“We are delighted to receive this contribution from the Federation of Seed Industry of India in support of farmers, who are at the frontlines of the ensuring global food security as primary providers of world’s food from plants,” said Secretary Nnadozie. “This is a welcome gift that will help the International Treaty in our work to support smallholder farmers in their task of growing food crops to feed the world.”
“The Treaty is of particular importance for the seed companies in India, as it provides a fair and simple mechanism for access and benefit-sharing of germplasm, critical to breed varieties adapted to the local needs of Indian farmers,” said Shivendra Bajaj, Executive Director of the Federation of Seed Industry of India, adding that the donation was being made in support of the work of the International Treaty’s Benefit-sharing Fund.
“Today, we would like to make a donation as an addition to the other financial contributions regularly made by the seed sector,” Executive Director Bajaj said.“However I would like to highlight that the non-financial contributions of the seed sector towards food security are in no way comparable to this donation.”
The Benefit-sharing Fund of the International Treaty has benefited over 1 million people around the world through 80 projects in 67 countries, and is currently going through a pre-selection process for the fifth cycle of projects to be supported.
The Ninth Session of the Governing Body (GB-9) of the International Treaty is being hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare of the Government of India at the Pullman Aerocity in New Delhi. GB-9 runs from 19 – 24 September 2022, and was preceded by two days of regional and inter-regional consultations and a Special Event. The theme of GB-9 is “Celebrating the Guardians of Crop Diversity: towards an inclusive Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.”
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