The plenary of the Seventh Session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty held in Kigali. ©FAO/Teopista Mutesi

Over 500 participants from 190 delegations of the International Treaty on Plant Genetics resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) across the world, convened in Kigali, Rwanda from the 30 October – 03 November 2017 for the Seventh Session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty.

The conference aimed at among other things to examine the possibility of expanding the scope of plant materials, enhancing multilateral system benefits sharing and to ensure there is increased access to material of plant genetic resources.

After 5 days of consultations and deliberations, the conference come up with a number of recommendations among which, contracting parties agreed on a roadmap for improving the system that the treaty is based on so that more people have access to seeds, crops that we’re planting.

The Governing Body called upon contracting parties to reaffirm their commitment and strengthen their efforts to fully implement the Treaty in order to achieve sustainable agriculture and food security through conservation and sustainable use of plant genetics resources for food and agriculture.

Mrs Majory Jeke, a farmer from Zimbabwe, is one of the over 2000 smallholder farmerswho benefited from the Benefit Sharing Fund project implemented in three districts each in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe in 2016. She participated in seed and food fairs where farmers exchanged different seeds and knowledge.

“Farmers have observed an increase in the number of crops grown at household level from an average of three to five as a result of the introduction of new crop varieties and advanced breeding lines,” she testified.

The theme for the Seventh Session of the Governing Body: “The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Role of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture”.

Dwelling on the theme of the conference, the minister of agriculture and animal resources, Dr Geraldine Mukeshimana, while officiating at the launch of the event noted that the International Treaty has the potential to support countries meet the set out SDGs of ending hunger, extreme poverty and malnutrition.

“The Treaty’s contracting parties, have placed very high expectations in this Seventh Session to advance food security and nutritional health through, among others, delivering direct benefits for farmers and indigenous communities participating in the conservations of seeds that produce our food,” she noted.  

René Castro Salazar, Assistant-Director General for FAO’s Climate, Biodiversity, Land and Water Department emphasized the need for countries to ensure sustainable management of biodiversity in agriculture.

“We need to slowly teach the World that water will be a scarce resource in the future and you need to manage it as such,” Castro said.

Achievements of the Conference

As countries seek to make the International Treaty benefit all the contracting parties, pledges and commitments were made. The United States for instance, committed to added 500,000 samples of 15,000 varieties of plant genetic material for food and agriculture (PGRFA) into the Multilateral System of Access (MLS) and Benefit-sharing Fund (BSF) of the ITPGRFA, thus allowing other member countries access to new material.

With the newest additions, the International Treaty’s MLS will now comprise 2 million samples of plant genetic material from its 144 member countries.

During the event, the fourth cycle of the Benefit-sharing Fund (BSF) was launched. In the next two years the fund will provide funds to support farmers in developing countries to enable them to have access to seeds that adapt to climate change and environmental stresses.

Kent Nnadozie, Secretary of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture announced that the target of this year disbursement is $10million.

“Famers and other research centres can apply to get funding from the Fund. In the first round we’re going to disburse $5.3million,” he said.

Since its establishment, the Benefit-sharing Fund initiative has so far cost over $20million to fund projects that support farmers in developing countries all round the world.

French private seed sector (Groupement National Interprofessionnel des Semences et plants, GNIS) made an annual contribution of Euro 175 000 to the Benefit-sharing Fund of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture starting this year, and also announced the government’s decision to add new material into the International Treaty’s Multilateral System (MLS).

Crop covered in the Treaty

The treaty’s innovative solution to access and benefit sharing, puts 64 of our most important crops – crops that together account for 80 percent of the food we derive from plants – into an easily accessible global pool of genetic resources that is freely available to potential users in the Treaty’s ratifying nations for some use. Some of the crops covered include; Cassava, Apple, Plantain, Rice Beans, Potato, Maize among others.

Rwanda’s contribution

Rwanda’s agriculture research has released over 90 high yielding, disease and pest resistant crop varieties including beans, potatoes, maize, wheat and rice, some of which have been widely disseminated beyond Rwanda. Rwanda has also gained germplasm from other countries to develop seeds that are resistant to pests and diseases.

As the World strives to achieve zero hunger and end poverty, and in the face of changing weather patterns in many regions causing flooding and drought destroying millions of hectares of crops, the International Treaty encourages countries to move fast to preserve and promote plant species that can withstand climate change.

Appointments

During the conference, Dr Kent Nnadozie from Nigeria was appointed the first African Secretary of the International Treaty. Kent will be at the helm of the Treaty’s Secretariat for a period of two years.

Relatedly, the conference appointed the Chair of the Eighth Governing Body, Ms Christine Dawson of the United States, and six Vice Chairs, one from each regional group (i.e. Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, Near East, North America and the South West Pacific), who will guide the work of the International Secretariat in the coming biennium, 2017-2018.

The Governing Body of the Treaty convenes every after two years.

Over 500 participants from 190 delegations of the International Treaty on Plant Genetics resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) across the world, convened in Kigali, Rwanda from the 30 October – 03 November 2017 for the Seventh Session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty.

The conference aimed at among other things to examine the possibility of expanding the scope of plant materials, enhancing multilateral system benefits sharing and to ensure there is increased access to material of plant genetic resources.

After 5 days of consultations and deliberations, the conference come up with a number of recommendations among which, contracting parties agreed on a roadmap for improving the system that the treaty is based on so that more people have access to seeds, crops that we’re planting.

The Governing Body called upon contracting parties to reaffirm their commitment and strengthen their efforts to fully implement the Treaty in order to achieve sustainable agriculture and food security through conservation and sustainable use of plant genetics resources for food and agriculture.

The theme for the Seventh Session of the Governing Body: “The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Role of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture”.

Dwelling on the theme of the conference, the minister of agriculture and animal resources, Dr Geraldine Mukeshimana, while officiating at the launch of the event noted that the International Treaty has the potential to support countries meet the set out SDGs of ending hunger, extreme poverty and malnutrition.

“The Treaty’s contracting parties, have placed very high expectations in this Seventh Session to advance food security and nutritional health through, among others, delivering direct benefits for farmers and indigenous communities participating in the conservations of seeds that produce our food,” she noted.  

René Castro Salazar, Assistant-Director General for FAO’s Climate, Biodiversity, Land and Water Department emphasized the need for countries to ensure sustainable management of biodiversity in agriculture.

“We need to slowly teach the World that water will be a scarce resource in the future and you need to manage it as such,” Castro said.

Achievements of the Conference

As countries seek to make the International Treaty benefit all the contracting parties, pledges and commitments were made. The United States for instance, committed to added 500,000 samples of 15,000 varieties of plant genetic material for food and agriculture (PGRFA) into the Multilateral System of Access (MLS) and Benefit-sharing Fund (BSF) of the ITPGRFA, thus allowing other member countries access to new material.

With the newest additions, the International Treaty’s MLS will now comprise 2 million samples of plant genetic material from its 144 member countries.

During the event, the fourth cycle of the Benefit-sharing Fund (BSF) was launched. In the next two years the fund will provide funds to support farmers in developing countries to enable them to have access to seeds that adapt to climate change and environmental stresses.

Kent Nnadozie, Secretary of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture announced that the target of this year disbursement is $10million.

“Famers and other research centres can apply to get funding from the Fund. In the first round we’re going to disburse $5.3million,” he said.

Since its establishment, the Benefit-sharing Fund initiative has so far cost over $20million to fund projects that support farmers in developing countries all round the world.

French private seed sector (Groupement National Interprofessionnel des Semences et plants, GNIS) made an annual contribution of Euro 175 000 to the Benefit-sharing Fund of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture starting this year, and also announced the government’s decision to add new material into the International Treaty’s Multilateral System (MLS).

Crop covered in the Treaty

The treaty’s innovative solution to access and benefit sharing, puts 64 of our most important crops – crops that together account for 80 percent of the food we derive from plants – into an easily accessible global pool of genetic resources that is freely available to potential users in the Treaty’s ratifying nations for some use. Some of the crops covered include; Cassava, Apple, Plantain, Rice Beans, Potato, Maize among others.

Rwanda’s contribution

Rwanda’s agriculture research has released over 90 high yielding, disease and pest resistant crop varieties including beans, potatoes, maize, wheat and rice, some of which have been widely disseminated beyond Rwanda. Rwanda has also gained germplasm from other countries to develop seeds that are resistant to pests and diseases.

As the World strives to achieve zero hunger and end poverty, and in the face of changing weather patterns in many regions causing flooding and drought destroying millions of hectares of crops, the International Treaty encourages countries to move fast to preserve and promote plant species that can withstand climate change.

Appointments

During the conference, Dr Kent Nnadozie from Nigeria was appointed the first African Secretary of the International Treaty. Kent will be at the helm of the Treaty’s Secretariat for a period of two years.

Relatedly, the conference appointed the Chair of the Eighth Governing Body, Ms Christine Dawson of the United States, and six Vice Chairs, one from each regional group (i.e. Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, Near East, North America and the South West Pacific), who will guide the work of the International Secretariat in the coming biennium, 2017-2018.

The Governing Body of the Treaty convenes every after two years.