Access and Benefit Sharing from Genetic Resources and Traditional Knowledge in Jordan; Final Technical Report

Abstract

The overall goal of the project was the empowerment of small resource-poor farmers by increasing their awareness of the plant genetic resources and enhancing benefit sharing among different stakeholders in Jordan. The project was successful in consolidating participatory plant breeding (PPB) programs in wheat and barley and in introducing a program on evolutionary plant breeding which beyond any legal framework will de facto guarantee a fair and equal access to genetic novelties. The PPB program identified and disseminated 34 barley promising lines in seven locations and 5 promising wheat lines in three locations. The project has been extraordinary successful in strengthening the capability of the local team to conduct PPB and evolutionary breeding programs and in increasing the awareness of farmers about their rights though a number of workshops in which articles 6 and 9 of the agriculture law were thoroughly examined. Eventually the project has contributed to raise the interest in participatory research (NCARE has established a Participatory Research Unit) and the awareness among Ministry Officials of the need of a new system of variety release to facilitate the diffusion of the varieties produced through PPB.