Diritti degli agricoltori

Two of the main issues raised by the modern agricultural technologies are the sharp reduction of the plant genetic resources (PGR) due to the development of advanced varieties and the international seed market increasingly managed by the multinational seed companies. As a consequence, since the 1980s, the farmer’s rights have been highlighted. The farmer’s rights are actually considered in two different manners, a restrained and a wider one. In the restrained interpretation the farmer’s rights are those defined in 2001 by the International Seed Treaty, i.e. the right to keep, use, exchange and sell seeds and other propagation materials and to be part in the decisions concerning the use of PGR for food and agriculture as well as in the sharing of the benefits arising thereof. In the wider sense the rights of peasants and of other people working in rural areas, besides the above reported ones, concern the access to: land, water and sanitation, means of production, markets for a fair income, basic and permanent education. All these rights must be considered in a perspective of gender equality. On these foundations it would be possible to develop a more equitable and food reliable world.