MESSAGE FROM THE Farmers’ seeds NETWORKS TO MEMBER GOVERNMENTS OF THE GOVERNING BODY OF THE INTERNATIONAL TREATY ON PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES (ITPGRFA) meeting in Rome 5-9 October 2015

septembre 30, 2015

We want to tell you that you are in the process of destroying the Treaty (planttreaty.org). It is organising the theft of our seeds and our knowledge. We can no longer continue to give them to researchers and other prospectors that come and collect them in our fields, to then put them in the gene banks under the auspices of the Treaty. As long as you do not ban all bio-pirated patents, as long as farmers do not have a right to keep, use, exchange and sell seeds from their own harvests, then we will not collaborate with research and gene banks that serve the multinational seed companies. The grains kept in [genetic resource] gene banks run under the auspices of the multilateral system of the International Seed Treaty (ITPGRFA) are our seeds: they are our inheritance from many centuries of farmers selection, and they have been collected in our fields. However we are often refused access to seeds of peasant varieties because we are not researchers. Sometimes we obtain some seeds on the condition that we do not use them for agricultural production: they can only be used for research purposes. We have stated that their conservation in cold stores is not appropriate and that they need several years of new selection before being able to give  acceptable harvests  in the   current growing conditions. However those of us who undertake the collection and safeguarding of genetic resources are forbidden to exchange or sell them to other farmers, it is usually restrained by seed laws and regulations in the majority of the countries which have signed up to the Treaty. The treaty promised equitable sharing of the profit created by the industry using our seeds for their own breeding processes . After 10 years we have not seen this, rather a shift in the opposite direction. Farmers have effectively given seeds to industry; industry never paid for them, and the little money that governments donated has not been given to peasant organisations, but has consolidated the programmes of international  research centres that are useful to industry. We gave our seeds free of charge to the seed banks, and we accept that industry uses the useful varieties. But when we use these varieties, laws in the majority of signatory countries require us to pay royalties, or forbid us to use the seeds that have come from our own harvests, asserting that they are now property of the industry. We inherited our seeds from our parents, we have looked after them carefully, selected and conserved them for future generations. We have given them in trust to protection of the Treaty along with our knowledge, as we have always been proud to share the results of our work. We thought that would protect them against their being appropriated by industrial property laws, such as plant breeders’ rights and patents. But now you say that you are going to launch the Divseek programme, to scan the genetic sequences of the resources in the gene banks so as to publish them in electronic databases. This programme was not created for us, we do not grow genetic sequences, or megabytes, and we do not need this information. But industry has already programmed the search engines and software to process all of the ‘genetic information’ and  to identify in these databases all the « genetic information » that may subsequently be patented by associating them with any characteristics that might be useful for agriculture or the industrial processing of crops.. These patents on the ‘functional units of heredity’ are already legal in many countries and they will prevent us from keeping the opportunity to grow our seeds, the very seeds that we gave free of charge to the gene banks run under the auspices of the Treaty. We had a period of dialogue with the Treaty. But despite the Governing Body’s decisions in Bali in 2011 and in Oman in 2013, spaces for dialogue closed up, preventing us from participating in working groups or expert consultations in an efficient and formalized manner that respects our organisational autonomy. Peasants organisations that are working in their fields to implement articles 5 and 6 of the Treaty, on in situ conservation and the sustainable use of seeds, and those that fight for the implementation of article 9 on Farmers’ Rights are always considered as ‘observers’, with the same status as academics or journalists, while they are the main actors and on the front line of managing the very plant genetic resources that the Treaty defends! Yet Industry is courted and imposes its own solutions. As long as the Treaty is not reformed to fully apply articles 5, 6 and 9, we will continue to create our own multilateral exchange system between peasants.  We are calling on governments to support our movement which  is at the basis of Food Sovereignty.   governments to support our movement,  based on the principles of Food Sovereignty.   Farmers Organizations (and gardeners) / Organisations paysannes (ou jardinières)/ Organizaciones Campesinas (y jardinieras)  

1. La Via Campesina
2. MAELA, Movimiento Agroecologico de LatinoAmerica y Caribe
3. COASP, Comité ouest africain des Semences Paysannes
4. International Indian Treaty Council (adding Indigenous Peoples and Indigenous Seeds)
5. FIMARC Fédération Internationale des Mouvements Adultes Ruraux Catholiques
6. World Forum of Fisher Peoples
7. Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance
8. Urgenci International Community Supported Agriculture network
9. US Food Sovereignty Alliance
10. European Coordination Via Campesina
11. African Centre for Biodiversity, South Africa and Tanzania
12. AJAC LUKAAL, l’Association des Jeunes Agriculteurs de Casamance « Plantons », Sénegal
13. All Nepal Peasants’ Federation
14. All Nepal Youth Peasants’ Federation
15. ANAFAE, Asociación Nacional de Fomento a la Agricultura Ecológica, Honduras
16. ANAMURI, Asociación Nacional de Mujeres Rurales e Indígenas, Chile
17. ANMI, Asamblea Nacional de Mapuches de Izquierda, Chile
18. Arche Noa, Austria
19. Articulação de Povos Indígenas do Brasil-APIB/Brasil
20. Articulação Pacari de Plantas Medicinais do Cerrado/Brasil
21. Articulação Rosalino de Povos e Comunidades Tradicionais do Norte de Minas, Brasil
22. Asamblea Nacional Mapuche de IzquierdaANMI/Chile
23. Asociación Nacional de Fomento a la Agricultura Ecológica-ANAFAE/ Honduras
24. Asociación Nacional de Mujeres Rurales e IndígenasANAMURI/Chile
25. ASPSP Association de Producteurs de Semences Paysannes, Senegal
26. Associação Estadual dos Pequenos Agricultores Catarinenses-AEPAC/Brasil
27. Associação Estadual dos Pequenos Agricultores de Rondonia//Brasil
28. Associação Estadual dos Pequenos Agricultores do Espírito Santo/Brasil
29. Associação Estadual dos Pequenos Agricultores do Piauí/Brasil
30. Associação Estadual dos Pequenos Agricultores Familiares de Minas Gerais//Brasil
31. Associação Estadual dos Pequenos Agricultores  da Bahia/Brasil
32. Associação Nacional da Agricultura Camponesa-ANA/Brasil
33. Associação para o Desenvolvimento da AgroecologiaAOPA/Brasil
34. Associación de Trabajadores del Campo – ATC/Nicarágua
35. Associazione Rurale Italiana
36. Bangladesh Adivasi Samity, Bangladesh
37. Bangladesh Kishani Sabha, Bangladesh
38. Bangladesh Krishok Federation, Bangladesh
39. BEDE
40. Bhartiya Kisan Union, India
41. Bio Burkina Faso, Burkina Faso
42. Campaña Semillas de Identidad, Colombia.
43. CCPA, Cadre de Concertation des Producteurs d’Arachides du Sénégal
44. CENESTA Centre for Sustainable Development and Environment, Iran
45. Centro Internazionale Crocevia, Italia
46. Çiftçi Sendikaları Konfederasyonu (Çiftçi-SEN) Turkey
47. Coalición nacional de Redes y organizaciones Ambientales (CONROA) Honduras
48. Comissão em Defesa dos Direitos das Comunidades Extrativistas (CODECEX). Brasil
49. CONAMURI Organización de Mujeres Campesinas e IndígenasParaguay
50. CONAPROCH, Confederación Nacional  de Pequeños Productores, Chile
51. Confederación Nacional de Asociaciones Gremiales CampesinasCONAPROCH/Chile
52. Confederación Nacional Sindical Ranquil/Chile
53. Confederation Paysanne, France
54. Conselho Nacional de Extrativistas-CNS/Brasil
55. Cooperativa de Agricultura Orgânica e Produção Agroecológica-COAOPA/Brasil
56. Cooperativa de Produção Camponesa-CPC/Brasil
57. Cooperativa Oestebio/Brasil
58. Coordenação Nacional Quilombola-CONAQ/Brasil
59. COPACO-PRP, Confédération Paysanne du Congo, République Démocratique du Congo
60. Copagen, Coalition for the Protection of African Genetic Heritage
61. ESAFF SWAZILAND-CIEAS
62. Fahamu Africa et le mouvement des femmes “ Nous sommes la solution”,  Afrique de l’Ouest
63. Farmworker Association of Florida USA
64. Ferme école Agroécologique Benkadibugu, Mali
65. FITA Gambia
66. FOOL AVOINE, pour une biodiversité sans OGM ni brevet, France
67. GIPA (Groupement Inter villageois des Producteurs d’Arachides des Communes de Thiomby/Gandiaye), membre CCPA, Sénégal
68. Gupo Semillas, Colombia
69. Jardín Botánico de Medellín, Colombia
70. Karnakata Rajya Raitha Sangha, India
71. Landworkers’ Alliance , Royaume-Uni
72. MAB Movimiento de Afectados por Reprezas Brasil
73. MABD, Mouvement de l’Agriculture Biodynamique, France
74. Millet Network of India, India
75. MMC -MOvimiento de Mujeres Camponesas de Brasil
76. Movement for Land and Agricultural Reform (MONLAR), Sri Lanka
77. Movimento de Mulheres Camponesas-MMC/Brasil
78. Movimento de Pescadores e Pescadoras Artesanais-MPP
79. Movimento dos Atingidos por Barragens-MAB/Brasil
80. Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra-MST/Brasil
81. Movimento Geraizeiro/Brasil
82. MPA, Movimento dos pequenos agricultores, Brasil
83. MST Movimiento Sim Tierra Brasil
84. National Movement for Protection of Seed Rights, Sri Lanka
85. Organización Boricuá – La Via Campesina Caribe/CLOC/Puerto Rico
86. Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum
87. Ranquil, Confederación Nacional Campesina  y de Pueblos originarios, Chili
88. RECAB ANTIOQUIA, Red Colombiana Agricultura Biologica, Colombia
89. Red de Semillas « Resembrando e Intercambiando », España
90. Red de Semillas Campesinas, Argentina
91. Red de Semillas Libres de Colombia
92. Red Nacional de Semillas Nativas y Criollas de Uruguay
93. Rede de Agrobiodiversidade do Semiárido Mineiro Brasil
94. Rede Ecovida de Agroecologia/Brasil
95. Redes de semillas campesinas (RSC), Colombia
96. RESACIFROAT, Réseau d’Appui à la Citoyenneté des Femmes Rurales d’Afrique de l’Ouest et du Tchad
97. Réseau Maghrébin d’Association de Développement Local en milieu Rural « REMADEL
98. Réseau Semences Paysannes (RSP), France
99. Rete Semi Rurali, Italia
100. SEED, Luxembourg
101. SPI Indonesian Peasant Union, Indonesia
102. Stop OGM Pacifique, New Caledonia
103. Torba, Association d’Agroecologie, Algerie
104. Unión Nacional Agropecuaria de Productores Asociados-UNAPA/Nicarágua
105. Union Paysanne, Canada.
106. Vazanteiros em Movimento/Brasil
107. Zimbabwe Smallholder Organic Farmers Forum

    Support/Soutien/Apoyo

1. Alianza Hondureña de Cambio Climático (AHCC)/ Honduras
2. Alkhalachofa, grupo de consumo responsable, Alcala de Henares, Espagne
3. Amigos de la Tierra América Latina y el Caribe (ATALC)
4. APEDEMA/Brasil
5. Articulação Nacional de Agroecologia – ANA/Brasil
6. Assembleia Permanente de Entidades em Defesa do Meio Ambiente do Rio Grande do Sul-APEDEMA/Brasil
7. Associação Brasileira de Agroecologia-ABA/Brasil
8. Associação Brasileira de Estudantes de Engenharia Florestal-ABEEF/Brasil
9. Associação Gaúcha de proteção ao Ambiente Natural-AGAPAN/Brasil
10. Association for Farmers Rights Defense, AFRD EUFRAS Georgia
11. Association pour le Développement Durable « ADDMedenine », Tunisie
12. Biowatch, South Africa
13. Burkinature, Burkina Faso
14. Campanha Permanente Contra os Agrotóxicos e Pela Vida/Brasil
15. Central Única dos Trabalhadores-CUT/Brasil
16. Centro de Apoio a Projetos de Ação Comunitária – CEAPAC/Brasil
17. Centro de Apoio ao Pequeno Agricultor – CAPA – Núcleo Mal. Cândido Rondon/Brasil
18. Centro de Apoio e Promoção da Agroecologia – CAPA Núcleo Verê/Brasil
19. Centro Ecológico/Brasil
20. Centro Hondureño de Promoción al Desarrollo Comunitario (CEHPRODEC)/ Honduras
21. Chile Sustentable, Chili
22. Coalición Nacional de Redes y Organizaciones Ambientales (CONROA)/ Honduras
23. CODECEX, Comissao em Defesa dos Direitos das Comunidades Extractivistas, Brasil
24. Comissão em Defesa dos Direitos das Comunidades Extrativistas-(CODECEX/Brasil
25. Comissão Pastoral da Terra-CPT/Brasil
26. Commons for Ecojustice, Malawi
27. Community Alliance for Global Justice, Seattle WA USA
28. Conselho Missionário Indigenista-CIMI/Brasil
29. Convergence Malienne contre le Accaparements de Terre (CMAT)
30. Deccan Development Society, India
31. Diverse Voices and Action for Equality, Fiji
32. Doman chalosse vivante, France.
33. Enda Pronat, Sénégal
34. Esvit-ONG, Espoir et vie pour Tous. En RDCONGO /Kinshasa
35. Family Farm Defenders, USA
36. Federação de Órgãos para Assistência Social e Educacional- FASE/Brasil
37. Federação dos Estudantes de Agronomia do Brasil-FEAB/Brasil
38. FIAN International
39. FIAN,  Colombie
40. Food First
41. Foro Agrícola/Honduras
42. Foro Ambiental Santiagueño,
43. Friends of the Earth International
44. Fundação Luterana de Diaconia – FLD/Brasil
45. Instituto Cultural Padre Josimo/Brasil
46. Instituto Gaúcho de Estudos Ambientais – Ingá/Brasil
47. IRPAD/Afrique, Institut de Recherche et de Promotion des Alternatives en Développement,  siège Mali.
48. JINUKUN : Réseau national pour une gestion durable des ressources génétiques , Point focal de la COPAGEN, Bénin
49. Núcleo de Cultura e Extensão PTECA da ESALQ/Universidade de São Paulo/Brasil
50. Núcleo Interdisciplinar de Agroecologia em Rede/Agrorede-UFBA/Brasil
51. OTROS MUNDOS-Chiapas/Amigos de la Tierra Mexico
52. Pacific Partnerships on Gender, Climate Change and Sustainable Development, Pacific/regional coalition
53. Sociedade Brasileira de Etnobiologia e Etnoecologia – SBEE/Brasil
54. Terra de Direitos/Brasil
55. Terra Nuova ONLUS, Italia
56. Vía Orgánica, Mexico
57. Watershed Systems Foundation

                                   Updated 3 October/ Actualización 3 de Octubre / Mise à jour 3 Octobre