Protect Your Seeds, Protect Your Future

The Seed Treaty (International Treaty for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture) is being changed in ways that could harm farmer communities and indigenous peoples, worldwide. New proposals favour large corporations over small farmers, threatening food security, traditional seed systems and farming practices.

The Bharat Beej Swaraj Manch (India Seed Sovereignty Alliance), and other farmers organisations and civil society organisations have sent comprehensive letters to world leaders expressing critical concerns with ensuring transparency and accountability in the implementation of the International Seed Treaty.

What is the Seed Treaty?

The Seed Treaty is formally known as The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA). It is also known more widely as "Plant Treaty".

The Seed Treaty aims to bring countries together in conserving and sharing seeds and/or other propagating materials to improve food security. For this purpose, it has created a multilateral access and benefit sharing system (MLS), currently covering 64 important food and forage crops. With the MLS, countries and their researchers could get access to genetic diversity across the world in these selected crops and share benefits arising from their research, both in monetary and non-monetary terms.

64 Plants Covered
154 Countries Involved
28,000+ Users Worldwide
7.07 Million Accessions of Seeds
Healthy crops and seeds

Why Are We Concerned?

The Seed Treaty's MLS is currently working without transparency and accountability—once seeds leave their country of origin, contributing farmers and national authorities have very limited information on the recipients of seeds and what their research outcomes are.

Instead of improving accountability and transparency, there's now a push to expand the MLS to include seeds from all plants (currently 64 plants are included), further weakening oversight and governance.

Farmer working in field

The Current Problems:

Zero Transparency on sharing of seeds and subsequent research.
Seed Companies can claim IPRs on seed varieties developed using farmers' contributions, but without knowledge of farmers
Access and Benefit sharing not mutually reinforcing (More than 7.07 Million Accessions shared to more than 28,000 users, with only 6 users sharing monetary contributions to benefit sharing fund)
Anonymous sharing of genetic sequence data generated from seeds online
International Gene Banks, rather than national authorities, control transfer of seeds in Asia, Africa, Near East and Latin America
All food/feed industries benefit from MLS, but only seed industry is expected to share benefits
Laying pathways for development and deployment of GMOs and Gene-edited Seeds

Proposed Changes That Worry Us Even More

Recent proposals to change (amend) the seed treaty and MLS could make things worse for farmers and communities, while benefiting large corporations. The Working Group that proposed amendments, neglected the mandate to consider implication on farmers' rights of the proposed measures and worked on a single point agenda of making MLS attractive to Seed Companies.

Expanding without accountability

Proposals to expand from 64 crops to all plant varieties without fixing current problems in governance, accountability and transparency.

Missing Farmer Protections

While Farmers' Rights under the Seed treaty already remain rhetoric, no practical safeguards are proposed to ensure increased scope of MLS do not limit farmers' rights. With no information going to farmers on the exchange of seeds, there is not even scope for vigilance.

Legitimizing Digital Biopiracy

Sequence Information is being generated from seeds under MLS and shared anonymously via the internet regardless of national laws and farmers' rights. New proposals seek to legitimize this practice.

Eroding National Seed Sovereignty

Remember, Treaty MLS was designed as a limited exception to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Now it seeks to cover all plants. It's a complete wash out of national sovereign rights over plant genetic resources.

The Balance Problem

The new proposals create an uneven system:

Strong Rules on:

Expanding the plant genetic resources (seeds and other propagating materials) that countries must share

Weak Rules on:

Benefits sharing and payments from recipients of seeds

Bad Rules on:
  • Reporting to make confidentiality the rule, undermining transparency
  • Use of digital sequence information and sharing of benefits arising from use of such information, legitimizing digital biopiracy
No Rules on:
  • Protection of farmers' rights to seeds and their traditional knowledge
  • Promoting farmers' involvement and oversight on seed research and breeding
  • Vigilance against fraudulent IPRs, and biopiracy
  • Expanding scope of benefit sharing
Farmers working in fields

Farmers Worldwide Speak Out: It's About Rights, Not Just Revenue

Traditional seeds come back as expensive, patented varieties
Farmers aren't asked permission before their seeds are used
No way for farmers to protect against seed theft
Traditional farming practices being threatened
Explore Farmer Concerns

What We're Asking From FAO and Seed Treaty Secretariat

We're calling for fair and transparent changes to the seed treaty that protect farmers' rights and ensure benefits reach the communities that need them most.

1. Full Transparency
  • Make information about seed sharing open and accessible
  • At the bare minimum, national authorities and contributing farmers need to know who gives and receives seeds
  • Track the SMTAs, and record when the transfers happen
  • Share Digital Sequence Information on MLS seeds only through Treaty's Global Information System and accountable databases, subject to user registration and identity verification
  • Report who makes payments and how much
  • Ensure research results are published with the Global Information System of the Treaty linked to appropriate accessions
2. Open Consultation with Farmers
  • Ask farmers worldwide what they expect from the MLS
  • Share farmer concerns with all Parties to the Seed Treaty
  • Include farmers' text proposals in the negotiating draft for Governing Body and other Working Groups
  • Ensure real farmer voices are heard, not just company lobbyists
3. Reject the current package of measures, start over, do it right

Reject the current package of measures, as both the content of the package and the process in which it was developed are biased.

Restart the process to enhance MLS with better priorities:

  • Put farmers' rights first
  • Make MLS accountable and transparent; End Biopiracy including digital biopiracy
  • Ensure fair sharing of benefits and avoid diversion of seeds for purposes beyond the Treaty
  • Seek benefits from all purposes covered under the Treaty, not just from seed sales
  • Implement measures to prevent illegal or irregular movement of seeds without free, prior, informed consent of farmers
  • Stop pressurizing developing country governments from concluding a bad deal that wash out their sovereignty over plant genetic resources

Final Letters Sent to World Leaders

Update: Letters have been finalized and sent on September 12, 2025
Final Letters to World Leaders

The Bharat Beej Swaraj Manch (India Seed Sovereignty Alliance) has finalized and sent comprehensive letters to world leaders addressing critical concerns about the International Seed Treaty.

Letter addressed to:

Director General, FAO (Mr. QU Dongyu)

Secretary, ITPGRFA (Mr. Kent Nnadozie)

Letter Summary:

"We urge immediate attention to the Draft Package of Measures submitted to 11th Governing Body of the ITPGRFA (Seed Treaty)—without consensus—by the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group to Enhance the Functioning of the MLS. The package fails to address existing problems and introduces proposals that risk deepening current flaws.

Our demands:
• Publish and report to Governing Body details about MLS Seed Transfers until date.
• Organize worldwide consultation with Farmers Organizations
• Reject the present biased draft package and initiate new process prioritizing farmers rights and improvements in MLS governance
• Protect Farmers' Rights at every stage of MLS operations, as well as prevent biopiracy, and digital biopiracy
• Ensure fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of PGRFA
• Refrain from pressurizing developing country governments to accept proposals that compromise national seed sovereignty

The lack of accountability has fundamentally undermined not only benefit sharing, but also, promoted biopiracy and digital biopiracy, and more concerningly, reduced farmer's rights into mere rhetoric."

Letters Successfully Sent

The comprehensive letters have been successfully delivered to:

  • Mr. QU Dongyu
    Director General, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
  • Mr. Kent Nnadozie
    Secretary, International Treaty for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA)
Thank You to All Supporters!

We extend our gratitude to all individuals and organizations who signed and supported these letters. Your voices have been included in this critical advocacy for farmers' rights and seed sovereignty.

4 Languages
Letters available in English, Hindi, Spanish, and French
Sept 12, 2025
Final letters sent to world leaders