Talk:Farmers' rights
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Discussion
Sources
- Instruments: the plant treaty (2001), preamble and articles 3, 9 and 11 and Annex I; the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants, A/RES/73/165, articles 1 and 19; India's Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, 2001, sections 2, 3, 26, 29, 39 to 42, 44 and 45; Council Regulation 2100/94, article 14; Commission Delegated Regulation 2022/126, article 2; Morocco's Law 13-21, articles 8 and 50; India's Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, sections 8, 10 and 14.
- Official documents: FAO's Options publication (2023) and its questions and answers on the subject; UPOV's explanatory notes on exceptions (2009); the Indian authority's annual report for 2023–24.
- Commentary: Moore and Tymowski (2005), a guide to the treaty published by IUCN. Andersen (2005), a guide to the documents, which quotes Resolution 5/89 in full. The article takes the wording of the 1989 and 1991 resolutions from it.
- Policy papers: Jelsma and colleagues (2021) is a report by the Transnational Institute, which argues for a place for small and traditional farmers in legal cannabis markets. Peschard, Golay and Araya (2023) and Golay and colleagues (2022) are briefings from the Geneva Academy, the second with APBREBES. They argue for the rights they describe.
- Scholarship: Chouvy (2024) on cannabis; Clarke and Merlin (2016) on cannabis; Negri and colleagues (2009) on European landraces. Andersen (2010) writes for a development magazine about crops in general.
The reading of article 9.3
Moore and Tymowski call the text neutral and say it would not be a sufficient legal basis for claiming rights. Peschard, Golay and Araya say the provisions aim at protecting customary rights. The treaty's preamble lists the seed rights among those "recognized in this Treaty", while article 9.3 adds "subject to national law and as appropriate". Moore and Tymowski note the difference between the two passages.
Whether cannabis falls under article 9
Article 9 speaks of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture and does not cite Annex I. The treaty names no test for a crop outside Annex I, and none of the sources here applies article 9 to cannabis by reasoning from the text. Jelsma and colleagues assume that the seed rights in the treaty reach cannabis farmers and do not argue the point.
"Peasant", "farmer" and "traditional farmer"
The declaration defines a peasant by small-scale production, family or household labour and attachment to the land. The treaty does not define a farmer. Chouvy uses "traditional farmers" for small-scale farmers who rely on local seed varieties, often landraces, and on multi-generational knowledge. Neither instrument says whether a licensed cannabis grower or an illicit one fits its term.
India's two Acts
Section 39 of the Act of 2001 measures the seed right by what a farmer was entitled to do before that Act. The Act of 1985 governs cultivation of the cannabis plant. No source here reads the two together. The authority's annual report for 2023–24 does not mention cannabis or hemp.
The European Union's list
Article 14(2) of Regulation 2100/94 lists the species in the 1994 text, and the same list stands in the United Kingdom's retained copy of the regulation as at 2020. Neither names Cannabis sativa. No source here discusses what this has meant for growers of protected hemp varieties. The rule in Regulation 2022/126 is a condition on payments for hemp.
Beldia in Morocco
The research institute's notice of 11 March 2024 credits the news to Le360 and to the head of the cooperative concerned, who said the authorisations had been issued. It says the agency had not confirmed the news when the notice was written, and that wider cultivation depended on tests and biological analyses. The notice describes a first experiment in the Al Hoceima region.
Kenya
Reports give the appeal hearing as due between May and July 2026. The report of August 2026 gives no outcome.
Open question
Who would hold a benefit-sharing claim for a cannabis landrace is unsettled. Chouvy raises it for intellectual property in the Rif, where he says different tribes claim the heritage of cultivation. India's Act lets a claim be made for a village or local community. No source here applies that route to cannabis.