Farmers' Rights are critical to ensuring the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture and consequently for food security – today and in the future. In Article 9, the International Treaty recognizes the enormous contribution that local and indigenous communities and farmers in all regions of the world – particularly those in centres of origin and crop diversity – have made and will continue to make for the conservation and development of plant genetic resources, which constitute the basis of food and agricultural production throughout the world. It leaves the responsibility for implementing Farmers' Rights with national governments, and lists measures that could be taken to protect, promote and realize these rights, including:

• Recognition of the enormous contribution that local and indigenous communities and farmers of all regions of the world have made and will continue to make for the conservation and development of plant genetic resources (Article 9.1);

• protection of traditional knowledge relevant to plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (Article 9.2.a);

• the right to equitably participate in sharing benefits arising from the utilization of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (Article 9.2.b);

• the right to participate in making decisions, at national level, on matters related to the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (Article 9.2.c); and

• the right that farmers have to save, use, exchange and sell farm-saved seed/propagating material, subject to national law and as appropriate (Article 9.3).