Seeds are of paramount importance for developing sustainable and diverse agrifood systems adapted to specific social, economic, and ecological conditions. Access to a diversity of quality seeds is essential to fight against hunger and malnutrition, sustain and improve rural livelihoods and increase resilience to external shocks – today and in the future.

In all countries of the region, particularly in the centres of origin and crop diversity, farmers, and among them specifically women and indigenous communities, contribute to the conservation, development, and sustainable use of genetic resources for food and agriculture manifested in seeds. And their contributions are based, at their core, on traditional systems of seed exchange. It is, therefore, particularly important that they are recognised as custodians of crop diversity and carriers of traditional knowledge, and that the national seed systems address their needs equally, fairly, and inclusively.

The purpose of this workshop is therefore to raise the profile of farmers’ rights to seeds demonstrating the food and livelihood security benefits they bring and their contributions to countries’ commitments to biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation and adaptation, as well as share options for encouraging, guiding, and promoting the realization of these rights on national levels.