Farmers' Rights - Internationally and in Malawi

The presentation addressed Farmers’ Rights as they are recognized in the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, gave an overview of their implementation internationally and the negotiations on Farmers’ Rights under the Treaty to date, based on previous research. It proceeded by analysing the state of Farmers’ Rights in Malawi with particular emphasis on the Seed Bill, based on the latest version from 2019 and interviews with relevant stakeholders. The Seed Bill would in effect prohibit the operations of community seed banks if adopted as proposed in the 2019 version, and this was an important aspect of the presenation. Also, other aspects of the legislation and policy related to crop genetic resources and farmers’ rights were addressed, before opening the discussion about ways forward.