Industry experts look to improve the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture’s Access and Benefit-sharing Mechanism.
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Under the auspice of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) sets out to accomplish three things. First, it aims to conserve plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. Second, the genetic resources should be used in a sustainable manner. And third, access and benefit-sharing should be managed._x000D_
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“The treaty has been making rapid progress in addressing these goals by integrating and further developing its operational mechanisms, its open initiatives and its governance function throughout the entire value chain derived from plant genetic resources,” says Matthew Worrell, ITPGRFA chair of the Sixth Session of the Governing Body._x000D_
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There are 135 contracting parties to the treaty, and 64 crops — accounting for 80 per cent of all human consumption — are exchanged under the treaty. With the treaty in place, plant breeders, farmers and scientists of contracting parties have access to the world’s genetic resources._x000D_
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Resource Boom_x000D_
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According to data from CGIAR, more than 8,500 transfers are made every week, adding up to 440,000 accessions in one year from international research centers alone. Farmers, donors, scientists and genebank managers all contribute to the success of the treaty’s multilateral system — a system, whereby countries that have ratified the treaty, agree to make their genetic diversity and related information about the crops stored in their gene banks available._x000D_
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“It’s important to realize that we are all dependent on each other for genetic resources for food and agriculture,” says Anke van den Hurk of Plantum. “There’s not a single country that has all the genetic resources needed for food production originating in their own country.”_x000D_
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Rice is one of the key crops exchanged under the treaty. In the Philippines, the International Rice Research Institute has collected more than 100,000 varieties of rice. Its staff of plant breeders at the IRRI gene bank improve rice varieties to help farmers prepare for future challenges. On average, IRRI sends out 200 samples a day, using the treaty’s Standard Material Transfer Agreement._x000D_
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According the treaty, the Standard Material Transfer Agreement is a mandatory model for contracting parties wishing to provide and receive material under the multilateral system._x000D_
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“Everyone recognizes that it’s very important to send rice from one country to another, but there is a big difficult question of fairness,” says Ruaraidh Sackville Hamilton, head of IRRI’s Genetic Resources Center. “It needs to be used, but it needs to not be misused. The treaty, in general, and the Standard Material Transfer Agreement give us the confidence that we are not sending rice like that, and the benefits will be shared fairly.”_x000D_
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Benefits Not Realized_x000D_
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Under the current system, van den Hurk says that benefit-sharing can be monetary and non-monetary; however, non-monetary sharing is not always felt as sufficient, particularly by developing countries._x000D_
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“In principle, when accessing genetic resources from another country, the accessing party must abide by the Standard Material Transfer Agreement, which has minimal upfront fees,” she says. “Under the agreement, if the developed variety is not free for research and breeding, then the accessor is obligated to pay 1.1 per cent of gross sales minus 30 per cent. If the variety is available for research and breeding, accessors are asked to voluntarily contribute the same amount.”_x000D_
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To date, van den Hurk says this has been done on a very limited scale. She says that there’s also an alternative form of benefit-sharing for individuals or companies where they can pay .5 per cent of gross sales for a complete crop. No parties have chosen this option, as it’s relatively expensive._x000D_
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As such, in 2013, an Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group to Enhance the Functioning of the Multilateral System of Access and Benefit-sharing was formed to develop a range of measures for consideration and decision by the Sixth Session of the Governing Body, which will be held Oct. 5-9 in Rome, Italy._x000D_
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Plantum’s van den Hurk, chair of the International Seed Federation’s Sustainable Agriculture Committee, which works under the Breeders’ Committee; and Tom Nickson of Monsanto, committee co-chair; represent the interests of the ISF on the ad hoc working group._x000D_
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Through the work of van den Hurk, Nickson and other committee members, a first discussion paper was developed, approved by the Breeders’ Committee and presented to the ad hoc working group in December. A more elaborate document was approved in March and sent to the working group for discussion in June._x000D_
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“The system as it is now is not appreciated for different reasons and that’s why there is a working group that’s trying to improve the multilateral system,” van den Hurk says. “One of the rules of the treaty is that if you are contracting party, you should make your genetic resources of those 64 crops available in the multilateral system. In practice, a lot of countries have not made those resources available.”_x000D_
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On the other hand, some countries indicate that they will not make their genetic resources available as there is no benefit sharing coming through the Benefit-sharing Fund._x000D_
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“It might be true that there’s not a lot of direct benefit sharing, but there is a lot of non-monetary sharing through developed varieties, the breeding exemption and all sorts of support to maintain and improve genebank collections worldwide,” she says. “It should be recognized that the breeding exemption is a big benefit on its own.”_x000D_
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As part of the discussion paper, ISF proposes a multi-optional approach to enhance benefit sharing._x000D_
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One element of the approach is a subscription model that would be based on the crop accessed over multiple years. To encourage researchers and breeders to subscribe, the recommended payment would be much lower than the current percentage. If accepted by the governing body, different rates would apply for different crops, taking into account a crop’s commercial value._x000D_
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In the discussion paper, ISF also recommends a minimum incorporation threshold for consideration by the ad hoc working group. ISF proposes that if a product incorporates at least 3.125 per cent of the plant genetic resources for food and agriculture from the multilateral system by pedigree (five crosses) and/or incorporates a trait of value derived from the multilateral system, then benefit-sharing obligations should be triggered._x000D_
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Trait of value is described as “any trait that confers commercial value to a product, including but not limited to agronomic traits, traits conferring resistance to biotic or abiotic stresses, traits that enhance the nutritional or processing value of harvested commodities, and any other traits used to describe a product for the purpose of promoting its commercialization.”_x000D_
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ISF believes that the benefit-sharing obligations linked to per cent incorporation based on pedigree could be a graduated scale, where the payment is greater for a higher per cent incorporation on a sliding scale to no payment when per cent incorporation is less than 3.125 per cent._x000D_
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Other elements of the discussion paper include royalty payments, upfront payments and termination clauses for a Standard Material Transfer Agreement. Van den Hurk hopes the ad hoc working group will come to some resolution, as whatever comes from it will say a lot about the future outcome of the treaty._x000D_
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“It’s important that the seed business understand that there is a new concept of thinking internationally, and that rules for access and benefit-sharing exist,” she says. “The treaty approach for access and benefit-sharing is reasonable — it might not be ideal, but in principle, it creates a level playing field for companies no matter the size.”
