Indonesian Agency for Agricultural Research and Development - IAARD online
In the last Governing Body (GB) of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic and Resources for Food and Agriculture in Tunisia, Indonesia has announced to host the “Fourth Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic and Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA)”. The Fourth GB of ITPGRFA has been scheduled to take place in Bali on 7-11 March 2011. In relation to this, Dr.Shakeel Bhatti, Secretary of ITPGRFA accompanied by Dr. Haryono, Secretary of IAARD as Indonesian focal point, met Suswono, Indonesian Minister of Agriculture on November 30,2009 to report the initial preparation of the Session.
The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources is a critical tool to ensure food security despite the impact of climate change. It has a mandate from 121 member nations and is best placed to tackle MDG goals 1 and 7: Ending poverty and hunger and ensuring Enviromental Sustainability. The Treaty addresses food security at a time when more than 75% of all crop diversity has been permanently lost and the world’s population is moving rapidly. To keep pace with population growth, production must therefore be intensified, productivity increased and productive natural system must be optimally managed all in a sustainable manner. The success of this, will depends on the sustainable utilization of a broader range of species, and of the genetic material within each species, including genes from the wild relatives of domesticated species.
The Treaty establishes a gene pool of more than 1.2 million samples of genetic materials. Through its global network encourages millions of farmers around the world to use and conserve remaining plant genetic resources (PGR). By facilitating the exchange of PGR, multilateral system enables the agricultural sector to speed up the development of new crops that can ensure food security even in the face of global climate change and biodiversity erosion. International treaty contributes to the conservation and sustainable use of PGR through funding strategy of benefit sharing Fund and the multilateral system of access and benefit-sharing. As for Indonesia, that has a rich genetic diversity of food crops which has been developed by farmers and researches over many centuries, the Treaty will be a fair mechanism to share the benefits result from the use of Indonesia’s crop genetic heritage.