FONTAGRO organizó un concurso con el fin de identificar casos exitosos de adaptación al cambio climático en la agricultura familiar, y difundir las lecciones aprendidas. El concurso fue realizado en alianza con el proyecto llamado “Mecanismos y Redes de Transferencia de Tecnología Relacionada con el Cambio Climático en América Latina y el Caribe” financiado por el Fondo...

Rural development and agriculture are well placed to make a central contribution to the jobs growth and investment priority at the heart of the European Commission’s economic agenda.

Increasingly, seeds are the domain of professional breeders, agribusiness and policy makers. They decide what makes for a good variety and they develop legislation that excludes other varieties. Despite this, family farmer organisations and social movements in Paraíba, Brazil, have managed to strengthen decentralised farmerdriven seed selection and distribution systems...

Esta guía ha sido diseñada con el objetivo de desarrollar en los pueblos indígenas capacidades para la gestión de sus bosques de forma eficiente y competitiva, pero respetando sus propios intereses como pobladores, administradores y usuarios de los bosques y sus recursos, así como su identidad cultural marcada por tradiciones...

Genetic diversity in food and agriculture is vital for ensuring high quality food production and for making animal breeds, forests and plants more diverse and better adapted to cope with changing environments, the impacts of climate change (such as drought), and new pests and diseases. To reverse the loss of...

La preservación de granos representa, desde tiempos ancestrales, un elemento clave para asegurar la subsistencia de los seres humanos. La búsqueda de saberes a base de prueba y error con elementos de la misma naturaleza como las plantas y los minerales, permitió que los pueblos contaran con técnicas rústicas de...

The Dutch potato breeding model, which involves a partnership between family farmers and commercial breeding companies in a modern, Western context, is unique. While there are other examples of collaborative relationships between farmers and breeders in Europe, the Dutch potato breeding model stands out in terms of its long track...

Em Campo Grande (MS), a comunidade indígena Água Bonita tem concentrado esforços na transição para tornar a produção totalmente orgânica. Para isso, buscou apoio da Assistência Técnica e Extensão Rural (Ater), uma das políticas públicas que a Secretaria Especial de Agricultura Familiar e do Desenvolvimento Agrário (Sead) realiza em parceria...

Since 2012, national teams in eight countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America have been identifying options for policy, legal and administrative mechanisms for the implementation of the multilateral system of access and benefit sharing (MLS) for plant genetic resources. This article summarises if and how access and benefit sharing...

François Meienberg has worked for the Berne Declaration since 1991, with a focus on access and benefit sharing (ABS), intellectual property rights, and agriculture. In this interview, Mr Meienberg reflects on the implementation of the ABS system so far.

Patents increasingly undermine the strong legal edifice patiently constructed by UPOV (1).The Treaty guarantees free access to the main industrial resource of plant breeders - peasants’ seeds collected from farms across the world. This article argues that broadening the reach of patents over genetic resources is increasingly replacing benefit sharing,...

Representantes de instituições do governo e da sociedade civil de cinco estados mais o Distrito Federal (DF) se preparam para a criação do Plano de Ação Estratégico para o Apoio às Cadeias de Valor de Plantas Medicinais e Fitoterápicos. Um encontro realizado nesta semana, em formato de oficina, deu o...

In the Ecuadorian provinces of Bolivar, Chimborazo, and Cotopaxi, family farmers are building new capacity to conserve and use the biodiversity on their farms. By participating in action research they gain a greater understanding and control of their plant genetic resources. This results in increased resilience to climatic and other...

A Coleção Terras de Quilombos reúne um conjunto de narrativas a respeito da formação, do modo de vida e das lutas travadas por comunidades quilombolas brasileiras para se manter em seus territórios tradicionais. Em cada livreto, uma comunidade quilombola é apresentada em sua singularidade. Ao todo, a Coleção oferece um panorama...

Video sobre la experiencia en Agricultura Familiar en Alajuela, Costa Rica. Producido por el Ministerio de Agricultura de Costa Rica y la oficina nacional de la FAO.

The agriculture sector is the largest employer in developing countries of Asia and in Pacific Island Countries (PICs). Smallholders, landless and marginal farmers and their families, who comprise the main category of the rural self-employed in the sector, face a large number of economic, demographic, social and technical constraints. Strengthening...

What is successful access and benefit sharing’ for smallholder family farmers? This contribution argues it is not about legal contracts or mechanisms that regulate the international transfer of plant genetic resources. It is about farmers’ access to seed diversity and the ability to share in the benefits of the continuing...

Ministers of Agriculture from OECD countries and partner economies around the world will meet at OECD headquarters in Paris on 7-8 April 2016, to discuss Better Policies to Achieve a Productive, Sustainable and Resilient Global Food System. Ministers will explore the new policies needed to achieve this widely shared interest,...

Este número de Mundo Rural incluye artículos sobre: alcances de la nueva institucionalidad indígena, vigencia y futuro de las organizaciones campesinas, INDAP abre primera tienda Mundo Rural, 2016 año internacional de las legumbres, entre otros artículos de interés.  

This special issue of Farming Matters magazine has explored the ways in which access and benefit sharing of plant genetic resources can work for family farmers. On one hand it presents cases that demonstrate the limited extent to which family farmers have been able to benefit from the ‘formal’ ABS...