Colombia forges path for native seed policy through two Innovation Policy Lab Workshops in November 2025

Local farmers in Colombia have long conserved and developed native seeds with distinctive traits, yet their contributions often went unrecognized and unrewarded because existing seed laws and policies—like those in many countries—were designed primarily to govern commercial seeds. Innovation Policy Labs (IPL), FAO’s newest policy-innovation tool, provides a structured, co‑creative approach to policy design, de‑risking, and implementation that can change that dynamic. 

Nevena Alexandrova-Stefanova, Lead Technical Officer of the Innovation Policy Lab project said: "Thanks to the Flexible Voluntary Contribution (FVC) funding and our collaboration with FAO office in Colombia and the Ministry of Agriculture, local producers are finally in the driving seat of policy making." 

A Nariño workshop participant reported that “The IPL process is giving farmers real voice and practical tools to shape policies that recognize and reward their seed innovations." 

In two recent events organized by FAO, Colombia's Ministry of Agriculture (MADR) and the Colombian network Agroeconur, on 7 November in the city of Pasto, Nariño Department, participants showcased how the IPL process led to concrete recommendations and stronger engagement. 

Using FAO IPL approach, participants identified critical challenges and opportunities in four thematic areas: seed production, conservation, exchange, commercialization, and governance. A detailed typology was established to differentiate native, creole, and modern seed varieties, crucial for targeted policy. 

The workshop generated concrete proposals across these areas, emphasizing adapting quality criteria, strengthening community seed banks, protecting ancestral knowledge, fostering local markets, and ensuring robust institutional support and funding. 

The Ministry of Agriculture committed to integrating these collective insights into the national public policy for seeds, marking a crucial step towards an inclusive and effective framework. 

This workshop highlights Colombia's dedication to creating a policy that recognizes and supports local communities and traditional knowledge and to safeguarding seeds as biocultural heritage and a pillar of food sovereignty.  

Following the workshop in Pasto, FAO, in partnership with Colombia's Ministry of Agriculture, ICA, and Agrosavia, convened an "Institutional Workshop" in Bogota on 24 November 2025, to further diagnose barriers and opportunities for public policy on native and creole seeds. 

The workshop’s impact was clear and catalytic: it reframed the native seed challenge as a structural issue that demands a shift from control to recognition. Concrete recommendations—mindset transformation to honour traditional knowledge, tailored regulations and incentives, long‑term conservation programs, and a participatory national seed inventory—now feed directly into the Ministry’s national seed policy. This gathering marked a pivotal moment: institutions committed to listening, learning, and co‑creating an inclusive framework that blends scientific and ancestral wisdom to protect Colombia’s agro‑biodiversity and secure sustainable food systems for generations to come. 

"Innovation Policy Labs offers a replicable pathway for transforming top‑down regimes into participatory, evidence‑based policymaking. By centring local knowledge and sharing risk across stakeholders, IPLs can help ensure that seed systems policies both protect biodiversity and fairly reward farmer-led innovation.", concluded Nevena Alexandrova-Stefanova on the project implementation in Colombia.