Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

I am also wondering whether the revision of the Zero Draft can include a format contract for users in practice as an annex attached to the guidelines. Thorough explanations and reasoning are beneficial for legal professionals, researchers, and legislators. However, the guide may be too complicated for a layman to comprehend. Notably, in rural areas in developing countries, lawyers are not so popular or widely asked to participate in contract matters. The involved lawyers from the grantors’ side may not have full professional proficiency in English. Therefore, straightforward contract clauses may be more helpful to make the guide more practice-oriented for developing countries.

The contract template can comprise a complete set of optional clauses written in a simple and clear format including fundamental operational issues and arrangements ensuring legitimate tenure rights and responsible/sustainable agriculture investment. There is not a well-known contract template published yet by any independent and authoritative organizations, especially from a perspective of contributing to sustainable development. Parties who are to be engaged in such a transaction can use this document as the basis to formalize a contract by editing, adding, or deleting clauses as they wish.[1] Allowing modifications to the template is essential because it gives flexibility to the practitioners and increases the viability of the guide. At the moment, we cannot expect that all projects in relevant countries can apply the same level of responsible practices.