Loss of traditional plant varieties

Farmers in poor countries are losing traditional crop varieties due to the tight management of these companies, making it difficult for them to cope with climate change in cultivation.

(Artwork: Energyfarms)

The above is a warning issued by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), a consultancy organization based in London (UK), issued on September 6 before the conference on such plant varieties. gender in Rome (Italy).

IIED said that in some parts of the world, farmers use many different varieties to cultivate as a measure to cope with climate change. However, in many other places, traditional varieties have been replaced by some ' modern ' varieties developed by companies and subsidized by the state. This makes the variety of traditional crop varieties fall quickly and risk disappearing with valuable properties, such as resistance to drought and pests.

Krystyna Swiderska, head of IIED's research, said that Western governments and the seed industry are trying to take advantage of the International Convention to protect the diversity of new crops to protect privilege of seed traders. She stressed that this would deprive farmers of more rights and speed up the decline in diversity of plant varieties and means for poor countries to cope with climate change.