Various agro-ecological practices have existed in the region, primarily as an alternative to conventional chemical-intensive farming based on Green Revolution prescriptions. These alternatives are often directed at enhancing soil fertility, through organic matter management and water conservation. Throughout Asia and the Pacific, different terms are used for specific practices including:...

La agricultura familiar en Colombia está representada por campesinos, indígenas, afrocolombianos, pescadores, agricultores urbanos y neo-rurales que viven, en general, en condiciones de pobreza y abandono. Las políticas y programas rurales del país la subordinan y no existen criterios de política diferencial que reconozcan sus particularidades y potencien sus capacidades;...

Efforts to rapidly increase on-farm biodiversity are a matter of urgency in an era of climate change. To do so, farmers need better access to the genetic material of research stations and gene banks. Collaboration with scientists who are willing and able to work together with family farmers is crucial....

The experiments in farming described in this book represent new social forms of agriculture which have arisen in recent years while traditional family farms have declined and industrial agriculture has increased. These new famers involve many local families directly in the decisions and labour which produce the vegetables, fruits, milk,...

USAID/Sweden FARMA II project is the third generation of USAID and Government of Sweden projects focused on the agricultural sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Previous projects assisted Bosnia and Herzegovina to increase sales and exports for certain crops and food products within the agricultural sector.

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...

This Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) Manual is designed as a tool for project practitioners of a broad range of projects and programmes of any development organization, by providing information about the right to FPIC and how it can be implemented in six steps. In an FPIC process, the “how”, “when” and...

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...