Abstract: This book
examines policies that aim to increase the share of benefits that farmers
receive when others use the crop varieties that they have developed and
managed, i.e., ‘farmers varieties’. In so doing, the book addresses two
fundamental questions. The first question is ‘how do farmer management
practices – along with other factors such as environment and the breeding
systems of plants – affect the evolution and maintenance of discrete farmers’
varieties?’ The second question is ‘how can policies that depend on being able
to identify discrete plant varieties accommodate the agricultural realities
associated with the generation, use and maintenance of farmers’ varieties?’
This focus on discreteness is topical because there are no fixed,
internationally recognized taxonomic or legal definitions of farmers’
varieties. And that presents a challenge when developing policies that involve
making specific, discrete farmers’ varieties the subject of legal rights or
privileges.
Full text: https://cgspace.cgiar.org/bitstream/handle/10568/73252/Farmers%20crop%20varieties-Halewood.pdf