Association for Plant Breeding for the Benefit of Society
APBREBES is a global network of civil society organisations that advocates for plant breeding for the benefit of society, the full implementation of farmers’ rights to plant genetic resources and the promotion of agricultural biodiversity.
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The new APBREBES Report gives an overview of the negotiations and discussions of the Administrative and Legal Committee, the Consultative Committee, and the Council that took place during the last week of October 2020.
The new policy brief published by APBREBES speaks about the contradictions between the right that farmers have to save, use, exchange and sell farm-saved seed/propagating material and the Breeders Rights in line with the 1991 Convention of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV 91). Those contradictions are a major concern in the negotiations for the realization of Farmers' Rights under the ITPGRFA.
The clash between Farmers Right’s and Plant Breeders Right’s in line with UPOV 91 appeared at several occasions during the 8th Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) which was held at the FAO headquater in Rome from November 11 – 16th. This article intends to give a short overview on this dispute.