Implementing farmers' rights in genetic resources: Approaches to benefit sharing

With the advent of biotechnology and the emergence of property rights in genetic materials, the distribution of benefits from genetic resources is an issue of growing importance. Farmer's Rights is a concept that has emerged to seek to insure appropriate compensation to farmers for their contributio...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Pachico, Douglas H.
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: 2001
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/43560
_version_ 1855540014983675904
author Pachico, Douglas H.
author_browse Pachico, Douglas H.
author_facet Pachico, Douglas H.
author_sort Pachico, Douglas H.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description With the advent of biotechnology and the emergence of property rights in genetic materials, the distribution of benefits from genetic resources is an issue of growing importance. Farmer's Rights is a concept that has emerged to seek to insure appropriate compensation to farmers for their contributions to crop improvement and genetic conservation. This paper evaluates crop genetic resources from two points of view: first in terms of royalty incomes that could be earned from seed sales of improved germplasm; and second, in terms of the potential increase in agricultural productivity that could result from improved germplasm. A model to calculate the upper limit of potential royalty incomes is developed and applied to the case of common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). The paper finds that high-income gene-poor countries in the North would indeed make payments under a royalty model system to low-income gene-rich countries in the South, but the magnitude of these payments is quite modest. Much greater payments would flow between gene-poor regions of the South to a few gene-rich countries. The main gainers from the system for beans would be Mexico, Peru and Ecuador, while Brazil and sub-saharan Africa would bear the brunt of the payments. Most countries in the south would have far more to gain from increases in productivity due to utilizing germplasm, than they would from receiving royalty payments for the ownership of germplasm. This model could serve as a basis for calculating benefits sharing formula for the International Fund for Plant Genetic Resources as envisioned by FAO as the mechanism for compensating for Farmers' Rights.
format Journal Article
id CGSpace43560
institution CGIAR Consortium
language Inglés
publishDate 2001
publishDateRange 2001
publishDateSort 2001
record_format dspace
spelling CGSpace435602023-06-13T05:13:02Z Implementing farmers' rights in genetic resources: Approaches to benefit sharing Pachico, Douglas H. phaseolus vulgaris genetic resources breeders rights farmers recursos genéticos derecho sobre producto cruzamiento agricultores With the advent of biotechnology and the emergence of property rights in genetic materials, the distribution of benefits from genetic resources is an issue of growing importance. Farmer's Rights is a concept that has emerged to seek to insure appropriate compensation to farmers for their contributions to crop improvement and genetic conservation. This paper evaluates crop genetic resources from two points of view: first in terms of royalty incomes that could be earned from seed sales of improved germplasm; and second, in terms of the potential increase in agricultural productivity that could result from improved germplasm. A model to calculate the upper limit of potential royalty incomes is developed and applied to the case of common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). The paper finds that high-income gene-poor countries in the North would indeed make payments under a royalty model system to low-income gene-rich countries in the South, but the magnitude of these payments is quite modest. Much greater payments would flow between gene-poor regions of the South to a few gene-rich countries. The main gainers from the system for beans would be Mexico, Peru and Ecuador, while Brazil and sub-saharan Africa would bear the brunt of the payments. Most countries in the south would have far more to gain from increases in productivity due to utilizing germplasm, than they would from receiving royalty payments for the ownership of germplasm. This model could serve as a basis for calculating benefits sharing formula for the International Fund for Plant Genetic Resources as envisioned by FAO as the mechanism for compensating for Farmers' Rights. 2001 2014-09-24T08:42:19Z 2014-09-24T08:42:19Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/43560 en Open Access Pachico, DH. 2001. Implementing farmers' rights in genetic resources: Approaches to benefit sharing. Biopolicy Journal 4(1).
spellingShingle phaseolus vulgaris
genetic resources
breeders rights
farmers
recursos genéticos
derecho sobre producto cruzamiento
agricultores
Pachico, Douglas H.
Implementing farmers' rights in genetic resources: Approaches to benefit sharing
title Implementing farmers' rights in genetic resources: Approaches to benefit sharing
title_full Implementing farmers' rights in genetic resources: Approaches to benefit sharing
title_fullStr Implementing farmers' rights in genetic resources: Approaches to benefit sharing
title_full_unstemmed Implementing farmers' rights in genetic resources: Approaches to benefit sharing
title_short Implementing farmers' rights in genetic resources: Approaches to benefit sharing
title_sort implementing farmers rights in genetic resources approaches to benefit sharing
topic phaseolus vulgaris
genetic resources
breeders rights
farmers
recursos genéticos
derecho sobre producto cruzamiento
agricultores
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/43560
work_keys_str_mv AT pachicodouglash implementingfarmersrightsingeneticresourcesapproachestobenefitsharing