24/12/2013

Le Sri Lanka a adhéré au Traité International sur les Ressources Phytogénétiques pour l’Alimentation et l’Agriculture et est  ainsi devenu une Partie Contractante à partir du 16 Décembre 2013, portant ainsi le nombre total des Parties Contractantes à 131.

Sri Lanka has ratified the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and become a Contracting Party as of 16 December 2013, bringing the total number of Contracting Parties to 131.

“We welcome Sri Lanka to our growing global membership,” said Shakeel Bhatti, Secretary of the Governing Body of the Treaty. “We look forward to working together with Sri Lanka and our other Contracting Parties to continue to strengthen international cooperation for the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources and the equitable sharing of benefits from their use worldwide.”

Becoming a Contracting Party will grant Sri Lanka a number of advantages, including facilitated access to a global gene pool of more than 1.6 million plants that belong to the most important food crops in the world, the right to submit project proposals under the International Treaty’s Benefit-Sharing Fund, and the right to be represented at the biennial meetings of the Governing Body. Sri Lanka’s ratification brings the total number of Contracting Parties from the FAO Asia Region to 15.

Agriculture in Sri Lanka

Agriculture plays an important role in Sri Lankan economy and accounted for 17.2% of their GDP in 2005. The wide variation in temperature, rainfall, topography and soils provide a diverse ecosystem and a rich diversity of plant species, which the Sri Lankan farmers have been able to maintain over 1000s of years. Major crops include rice; cereals such as finger millet, maize and sorghum; legumes such as cowpea and yard long bean, green gram, black gram, horse gram, beans and soya beans; root and tuber crops; fruits and vegetables.

Sri Lanka is also member of the Convention of Biological Diversity, the International Plant Protection Convention, and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the FAO currently holds the position of Chair of the FAO Asia Regional Group.