International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture

Geography glossary

Also called: ITPGRFA, Plant Treaty · Topic: Biodiversity and its Conservation · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA, or the Plant Treaty) is an FAO treaty that lets countries share the seeds and genes of food and fodder crops easily, and asks that some of the money made from them comes back to farmers and conservation. It was adopted by FAO in 2001 and came into force in 2004. India is a party.

It matters because no country grows only crops that started on its own soil. Breeders everywhere need genes from other lands. The Treaty keeps this sharing going and protects the farmers who saved those seeds over centuries.

Explanation

Why the Treaty was needed

  • Agro-biodiversity is shrinking
  • Agro-biodiversity means the variety of crops, livestock and their wild relatives. It is the base for all plant and animal breeding.
  • It is threatened when farmers give up their many local varieties and switch to a few high-yielding varieties.

  • Once a local variety is lost, its genes are lost too. That includes genes for drought tolerance or disease resistance.

  • Genetic diversity helps crops adapt

  • Genetic diversity is the variation of genes within one species, for example between crop varieties.

  • Breeders need this variation to make new varieties for a changing climate.

  • The CBD left a gap

  • The CBD (1992) treats genetic resources as the property of the country they come from. Each exchange then needs its own deal.
  • For food crops this is too slow, because breeding one variety can draw on material from many countries.
  • The Plant Treaty creates a special, simpler system just for food and fodder crops.

How it works: the main parts

  • Multilateral System (MLS)
  • Member countries put an agreed list of important food and fodder crops into one shared pool.
  • Any member's breeder or researcher can get material from this pool quickly and cheaply. There is no separate deal for each exchange.

  • "Multilateral" means many countries share with each other through one system, not country-by-country deals.

  • Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA)

  • The SMTA is one fixed contract used for every transfer from the pool.

  • Nobody bargains over terms. The same contract applies to every user.

  • Benefit-sharing rules

  • The SMTA has two kinds of payment: mandatory and voluntary.
  • The standard mandatory rate is 1.1% of sales. It applies mainly when the new product is restricted, meaning others cannot freely use it for further breeding.

  • If the new variety stays open for others to breed with, payment is only encouraged, not required.

  • Benefit-sharing Fund

  • Payments go into a Benefit-sharing Fund. The Fund uses the money for farmers and conservation in developing countries.

  • Farmers' Rights

  • The Treaty recognises that farmers, especially in centres of crop diversity, have conserved and improved seeds over generations.

  • Countries are asked to protect farmers' traditional knowledge, their share in benefits and their say in decisions.

  • Governing Body

  • All member countries meet in the Governing Body to run the Treaty and revise its rules.

The weak spot and the ongoing reform

  • Payment is rarely triggered
  • A company can profit from a variety built on shared germplasm (seeds and other genetic material kept for breeding) and owe nothing, if it leaves the variety open to others.

  • Very little money reaches the Fund, so farmers in giver countries get little back.

  • The subscription model

  • Countries have been negotiating a revised SMTA with a "subscription" model for mandatory payments.
  • Under it, users pay regularly in return for access, not only in rare cases.
  • In July 2025 the revised text was still in brackets, meaning it had not been agreed.

Conditions it needs

  • Gene banks that store seeds and send them out. This is ex situ conservation (protecting species outside their natural home).
  • Farmers who keep growing local varieties in their fields, which is in situ conservation.
  • Users who honestly report sales so that payments flow back.

Where it occurs

  • World level
  • It is an FAO treaty, and FAO is based in Rome. It has been in force since 2004.

  • It applies across all member countries for food and fodder crops in the Multilateral System.

  • CGIAR centres

  • International gene banks such as those of the CGIAR centres share crop material under this system.
  • ICRISAT was founded in 1972 and has its headquarters in Hyderabad (Patancheru). It works on sorghum, pearl millet and groundnut.

  • An Indian groundnut sample conserved and shared by ICRISAT went into varieties now grown in Malawi, Uganda, Mozambique and Zambia. Sharing of this kind takes place under the ITPGRFA, using the SMTA.

  • India

  • India is a party. It is a major giver of germplasm.

  • Its main ex situ store is the National Gene Bank at NBPGR, New Delhi.

  • Farmer seed-saving in India (the kind of work Farmers' Rights recognise)

  • Beej Bachao Andolan in Tehri Garhwal (late 1980s, Vijay Jardhari) saves native seeds and barahnaja mixed cropping.

  • Navdanya (Vandana Shiva, 1987) runs community seed banks.

  • Global backup

  • The Svalbard Seed Vault (Norway, 2008) stores duplicate seed samples as a safety copy of the world's crop diversity.

Don't confuse with

  • Nagoya Protocol (2010, in force 2014): it falls under the CBD and covers all genetic resources through separate country-by-country benefit-sharing (ABS) deals. The Plant Treaty covers only listed food and fodder crops, through one shared pool and one standard contract (the SMTA).
  • Convention on Biological Diversity (Rio, 1992): this is the broad parent treaty on all biodiversity, with three aims (conservation, sustainable use and fair benefit-sharing). The Plant Treaty is a separate FAO treaty, made in harmony with the CBD, only for crops used for food and agriculture.
  • Cartagena Protocol (2000, in force 2003): it controls the movement of GMOs (genetically modified organisms) across borders for safety reasons. It has nothing to do with seed access or benefit-sharing.
  • CGIAR: this is a group of international farm research centres, set up in 1971. It is an institution, not a treaty. Its centres, such as ICRISAT, are users and holders of material under the Plant Treaty.

Prelims Hooks

  • ITPGRFA was adopted under FAO (not UNEP, not the CBD) and has been in force since 2004. India is a party.
  • Every transfer from the Multilateral System uses one fixed contract, the Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA).
  • Mandatory payment is 1.1% of sales, and only when the product is restricted from further breeding. Otherwise payment is voluntary.
  • Payments go to the Benefit-sharing Fund, which supports farmers and conservation in developing countries.
  • Trap: "The Plant Treaty is a protocol under the CBD" is FALSE. The CBD protocols are Cartagena (biosafety) and Nagoya (ABS).
  • Trap: "ICRISAT was a founding CGIAR centre" is FALSE. It joined in 1972 and is based in Hyderabad.

Mains Points

  • India gives its seeds away freely, but little money comes back (GS-III)
  • Indian germplasm, such as the groundnut sample shared via ICRISAT, now helps farmers in four African countries.
  • Payment is mandatory only for restricted products, so most commercial use owes nothing.

  • India should back the subscription-based revised SMTA at the Governing Body, which is still not agreed.

  • Agro-biodiversity loss and the role of farmers (GS-III, environment)

  • The switch to a few high-yielding varieties wipes out local crop genes.
  • The Treaty pairs gene banks (ex situ) with Farmers' Rights (farmers who keep varieties alive in their fields, i.e. in situ).

  • Community seed banks such as Navdanya and Beej Bachao Andolan show how farmers can be partners in conservation.

  • Food security and climate adaptation (GS-III)

  • No country is self-sufficient in crop genes.
  • Easy access through the Multilateral System lets breeders build climate-resilient varieties faster.
  • This makes the Treaty a global public good for food security.

Recent developments

  • Sep 2022: India hosted the 9th session of the Treaty's Governing Body (GB-9) in New Delhi from 19 to 24 Sep 2022. Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar opened it. This gave India, a major giver of germplasm (seeds and other genetic material kept for breeding), a stronger platform to push for fairer benefit-sharing.
  • Sep 2023: New Delhi hosted the first Global Symposium on Farmers' Rights from 12 to 15 Sep 2023. It was the first world-level meeting on putting the Treaty's Farmers' Rights into practice: protecting farmers' traditional knowledge, their share in benefits and their say in decisions. It strengthened India's role as a leader on farmers' rights.

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