Our Stories

SEARICE Executive Director Normita Ignacio underscored the importance of recognizing and protecting farmers’ seed systems in advancing agrobiodiversity conservation, food security, and equitable Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) during a side event, Farmer-Led ABS for Ancient Staple Food Landraces, hosted by the Farmers’ Seed Network (FSN) and Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences (CRAES) during the 17th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Di

SURABAYA, January 28, 2026 —During the Workshop on Plant Variety Protection, Farmers’ Rights, and the Development of the Indonesian Seed Sector, Normita Ignacio, Executive Director of SEARICE, presented critical insights into the impacts of UPOV 1991, drawing on Vietnam's experience. Her presentation highlighted the complex realities behind plant variety protection (PVP) systems and raised important questions about their implications for farmers, public research institutions

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.

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.

SEARICE frames advocacy for farmers' rights against international treaties, such as the CBD, UNDROP and ITPGRFA.