Deputy Director of Agriculture recently participates in a training course in Uruguay
29th August 2019
Deputy Director of Agriculture recently participates in a training course in Uruguay
Projects Coordinator and Deputy Director of Agriculture, Mr. Gregory Bailey participated in a training course which was held in Uruguay earlier this month.
The Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) Regional Training workshop focused on conservation, sustainable use of Plant Genetic Resources and Food and Agriculture (PGRFA) and Farmer’s Rights.
The training course was organized by the Secretariat of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources, with the support of FAO representation in Uruguay and hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries.
The objective of the training session was to enhance individual and institutional capacities to implement activities aimed at conservation and sustainable use of PGRFA and Farmer’s Rights in the context of national plans and programs on food security and sustainable agriculture and other relevant sectoral programs.
In 2017, Antigua and Barbuda joined the International Treaty of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), which worked in conjunction with PGRFA to host the training course, with the main objective of ensuring conservation ad sustainable use of all plant genetic resources for food and agriculture and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of their use.
Mr. Bailey supports this objective as he thinks, “the real foundation of crop production and by extension of agriculture and indeed life, is plant genetic resources, even more so than land, since crops can reproduce in the absence of soil or land.”
The treaty also facilitates access to genetic materials of the 64 crops in the multilateral system for research, breeding and training for food and agriculture.
It also prevents recipients from claiming intellectual property right over those resources in the form in which they received them.