Our Stories

On November 26, 2025, at the Eleventh Session of the Governing Body (GB11), SEARICE joined long-standing partners from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD); Asociación ANDES – Association for Nature and Sustainable Development (ANDES), Peru, Community Technology Development Trust (CTDT), Zimbabwe, the Sprouts Collective, and the Farmer Seeds Network (FSN) in the side event “Technical and Institutional Reflections on Catalyzing Change in PGRFA Management.

Designing sustainable agricultural systems begins in fields where farmers experiment, adapt, and survive. Their evolving and even traditional practices are a crucial aspect of restoring soils, reclaiming seeds, and reshaping food systems, which neighboring practices can learn from.  The learning exchange from Vietnam has a total of 16 participants from Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines.

If farmers are the roots of our food systems, then collaboration must be the rain that sustains them — not the storm that washes them away. In her presentation at the 2nd Global Symposium on Farmers’ Rights, SEARICE Executive Director Normita Ignacio shared why partnerships must put farmers at the center.

At the 2nd Global Symposium on Farmers’ Rights, SEARICE Policy Advisor Atty. Joy Angelica Santos-Doctor served as rapporteur for Session 2 on the Update on the Draft Assessment of the State of Implementation of Article 9. The session revealed progress in some countries — but also persistent gaps. The message is clear: laws must reflect farmers’ lived realities, not just abstract commitments.

At the 2nd Global Symposium on Farmers’ Rights, young farmer Homidi Edsla from Kabacan, North Cotabato joined a global panel alongside advocates from Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America. Homidi spoke of heirloom rice, flood-resilient seeds, farmer-to-farmer exchanges, and the urgent need to bring more young people into farming. His message was clear: youth are not just the future of agriculture—they are its present actors.

“Youth is not only the hope of tomorrow — we are the strength of today.” At the Regional Workshop on Sustainable Food Systems and Farmers’ Rights (Sept 13–15, 2025), youth farmers showed that they are not just future leaders but key actors today — raising concrete proposals and shaping the path toward just and sustainable food systems.

SEARICE calls for a strong, binding treaty that reduces plastic at the source, holds polluters accountable, and protects farmers’ rights to produce food free from toxic pollutants. When farmers thrive, the world is fed. The time for action is now!