Impacts of International and National Regulatory Frameworks on Guaranteeing Farmers’ Right in Brazil

Abstract

As guardians of agrobiodiversity, farmers must have their rights to these resources recognized, rewarded, and supported by their unparalleled contributions in the development of landraces of cultivated plants and domestic animals. Thus, it is worth questioning to what extent multilateral treaties that deal with the use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture would ensure the protection of these rights. With this objective, we evaluated legal and administrative multilateral, and national mechanisms for the protection of Farmers’ Rights—FR regarding the sharing of benefits generated by the access to genetic resources and its implications for the conservation of agrobiodiversity. We conducted analyzes of official documents on norms, treaties, decrees, and regulations which enabled the understanding of the elements constituted by the agrobiodiversity conservation system. We demonstrated that the evaluated international regimes do not guarantee the FR but propose that the National States take decisions to implement them according to the needs of the country. The State, the competent bodies, and the Brazilian RD&I organizations must take effective measures and review the laws that should regulate FR, enabling the real participation of farmers in decision-making on conservation and the sharing of benefits derived from agrobiodiversity.