The History of Farmers' Rights - Fridtjof Nansens Institutt

24 Regine Andersen
custodians of the plant genetic heritage and as innovators in agriculture.
Measures to conserve plant genetic resources and the related
knowledge, and to stimulate innovations were therefore seen as essential.
These measures were sometimes addressed in the context of rewards
and benefit sharing, as indicated above. However, they were
also deemed important as an independent component of farmers’
rights, vital to present and future food security.
• International fund: All parties agreed to establish an international fund
for farmers’ rights which would provide the necessary muscle to reward
and support farmers for their continued contributions to the conservation
and development of plant genetic resources for food and
agriculture.
These stand as the foundations of farmers’ rights. They represent the fruit
of long and complex negotiations, and need to be taken into consideration
when implementing the International Treaty at the national as well as the
multilateral level.
3 Acts of legislation and policies on farmers’ rights
Several countries have drafted or adopted acts of legislation regarding
farmers’ rights. These are the first examples of legislative efforts in this
regard, and as such they are highly pertinent for other states seeking to
implement the International Treaty. The lessons from these experiences
may also help the implementing states to improve their policies on farmers’
rights. Some of these lessons and the new questions arising from the
experiences with farmers’ rights legislation are indicated in the presentation
of literature below. There are in particular two acts of legislation that
have been debated in the literature:
• India: Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act (2001, in
force) with the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Rules
(2003, in force)
• Africa: The African Union Model Law on Rights of Local
Communities, Farmers, Breeders and Access (Formally endorsed by
the heads of state of the African Union in 2000, to be used as a model
for the design of national legislation in AU member countries)
In Background Study 2 from the Farmers’ Rights Project, which presents
the results from an international stakeholder survey, we have compiled a
range of further legislation which our respondents deemed relevant to
farmers’ rights (pp. 18–35). 31 Some of these have been adopted, other are
still in draft form at various stages in the negotiation process. They differ
greatly in their approach to farmers’ rights, but it is beyond the scope of
this report to flesh out their contents and differences further. We also
found that farmers’ rights are being realized through programmes and
policies not covered by specific legislation. Already there are examples of
realization of all components of farmers’ rights addressed in the Interna-
31 Some of these can be downloaded from GRAIN’s website: www.grain.org/
brl/typeid=45