South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment (SAWTEE), Kathmandu and Fridtjof Nansen Institute (FNI), Norway jointly organized a two-day regional conference on Suitable Seeds for Food Security to disseminate the findings of the study “Suitable seeds for food security in fragile states” and initiate a discussion around seed security and climate change.
Background Note
The growing global population depends more and more on suitable seeds as climates get wilder, dryer or wetter, and warmer. For agriculture to sustain high yields, maintain quality, adapt to climate change, and resist diseases, it is essential to have access to a diversity of plant genetic materials. Growing urban populations depends on increased food production, while the available arable land is declining. The genetic diversity among and within plant varieties and other plant propagating material is shrinking rapidly all over the globe. These interlinked challenges must be addressed to maintain food security, especially in fragile states. Improvement of seeds and innovation in plant breeding is increasingly being carried out by commercial seed corporations at the expense of traditional on-farm developments, among farmers’ communities leading to a schism between short term gains in the form of higher yields and seed diversity as the prerequisite for food security in the long run.
FNI and SAWTEE conducted a study on “Suitable seeds for food security in fragile states” to provide solutions to the conservation of and access to suitable seeds with global, regional, and legal tools and policy options. Realizing the need for a timely discourse on the study, FNI and SAWTEE have again come together to organize the regional conference on “Suitable seeds for food security” to:
• Disseminate the findings of the study “Suitable seeds for food security in fragile states”.
• Conduct discussions around climate change and seed security.
• Bring South Asian perspective in fostering regional cooperation for seed security
• Discuss the role of policy, legal and institutional frameworks in conservation of and access to suitable seeds
Program Agenda
Press Release
2 November 2022: South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment (SAWTEE), Kathmandu and Fridtjof Nansen Institute (FNI), Norway jointly organized a regional conference on Suitable Seeds for Food Security to disseminate the findings of the study “Suitable seeds for food security in fragile states” and initiate a discussion around seed security and climate change. The discussions held at the two-day conference shed light on the roles of policy, legal and institutional frameworks with respect to access to suitable seeds in South Asia.
Dr. Paras Kharel, Executive Director, SAWTEE, Nepal, highlighted the activities of SAWTEE over two decades in the area of research and advocacy on farmers’ rights and food security.
Dr. Kristin Rosendal Senior Researcher, Fridtjof Nansen Institute (FNI), Norway, highlighted in her presentation that food security depends largely on access to a broad variety of suitable seeds since good quality food plants that are adapted to changing climate is necessary to fight climate change. She highlighted that domestic diversity and access to seeds are affected by international goals given that the top three corporations in the world control half the global seed market value. Such facets intensely undermine the trust in the global circulation of seeds, she added.
Given the changing climatic conditions, the importance of food security has grown multi-fold, said Dr. Jagadish Chandra Pokharel, Chairman of the Nepal Institute for Urban and Regional Studies (NIURS), and Former Vice-Chairman of the National Planning Commission, adding that seed diversity is integral to food security.
Dr. Posh Raj Pandey, Chairperson of SAWTEE, said that the overlapping global food and climate crises have left many people with multiple vulnerabilities, especially in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). Hence, when formulating seed policy to ensure food security, the ground reality of LDCs should be taken into account, by enhancing participatory and gender-sensitive approaches and improving the linkages of seed security, agri-productivity, and nutrition within households.
Dr. Vibha Dhawan, Director General, The Energy and Recourses Institute (TERI), India, shared that intellectual property rights (IPR) protection of genetic materials for plant breeders is needed for us to effectively stimulate innovation and secure returns on investments in genetic improvement.
Mr. Christian Prip, Senior Research Fellow, FNI, emphasized that there have been conflicting interests with regard to the industrialization of agriculture with major economic interests clashing with the objective of protecting the diversity of plant genetic resources to ensure long-term food security and farmers rights.
The two-day conference saw discussions on topics such as ‘Fostering Regional Co-operation for seed security: South Asian Perspective’, ‘Changes in EU Seed Regulations – Global Trends’, ‘Financing Climate Change Adaptation’ and ‘Impact of COVID-19 on agri input chain’. The event saw participation of researchers, academics, policymakers, representatives of farmers’ bodies, consumer rights activists, organizations working on climate change adaptation, and media, among others. There were participants from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Norway.
Presentations
Media Coverage
