Capacity Building Material for the Realization of Farmers' Rights in Malawi

This capacity building material is developed in response to requests made by small-scale farmers and
relevant stakeholders in Malawi to support their capacity development for the implementation of Farmers’
Rights in the country. This capacity building material is intended, mainly, for small-scale farmers, local leaders
that live and depend directly on family farming; farmers’ organizations and decision makers, including the
Ministry of Agriculture; the Malawi Plant Genetic Resource Centre; agricultural research institutes; and the
Seed Certification Unit of Malawi as well as Civil Society Organizations.
This capacity building material on Farmers’ Rights is framed within the Capacity Building Programme on
the Implementation of Farmers’ Rights implemented by GFAR; and the Community Based Agro Biodiversity
Management Programme of the Development Fund of Norway undertaken in Malawi supporting small-scale
farmers to achieve and sustain food security, including through their empowerment and increased local capacity.
The aims of the capacity building material include to increase the capacity development on Farmers’ Rights
and their implementation at the national and local levels; increase awareness of Farmers’ Rights as crucial
for food security among small-scale farmers, relevant sectors and decision makers; increase the awareness of
the role women farmers’ play in agriculture and food security; provide policy direction and guidance for the
development of policies and legal instruments implementing Farmers’ Rights, and the review and adjustment
of national measures affecting those rights; promote the co-existence and mutual reinforcing of Farmers’
Rights and breeders’ rights.