Delegates of the ninth session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) finalised a resolution here on Thursday on “celebrating the guardians of crop diversity.” It recognises the role of communities, farmers and women as “guardians of crop diversity”. During the discussions, India assumed a leadership role to steer the consultation on enhancement of the functioning of the multilateral system (MLS) of the ITPGRFA.
The session, on its third day, established a ‘contact group’ to guide a draft process for re-starting the negotiations which broke down since the last meeting of the ITPGRFA governing body held before the pandemic. “Delegates of GB-9 held the first informal meeting of the contact group to take the agenda forward in the plenary discussion,” the Union Agriculture Ministry said in a release.
