How the international treaty on plant genetic resources for food and agriculture can support effective germplasm exchange: four Colombian case studies

Abstract Global agricultural innovation and food security increasingly hinge on access to plant genetic resources that transcend national borders. Utilizing Colombia’s recent ratification of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) as a case study, this research explores how participation in the Treaty’s Multilateral System (MLS) can strengthen national agricultural innovation by mitigating legal and transactional barriers to germplasm exchange and conservation. We analyze four case studies encompassing cassava, forage grasses, bananas, and beans to quantify both realized and potential benefits derived from international germplasm flows. Two ex-post cases demonstrate that the adoption of foreign-derived materials has already yielded considerable economic gains in Colombia, including US$1.62 million from the TAI-8 cassava variety and significant productivity improvements from Brachiaria forages, which now cover 32% of the nation’s pastures. Two ex-ante cases illustrate that continued access to foreign genetic resources is crucial for addressing major emerging threats, with potential losses exceeding US$9 billion from cassava brown streak disease in Africa and up to US$700 million annually for Colombia’s banana sector under a scenario of full Fusarium TR4 spread. The analysis further reveals that Colombia is already deeply integrated into global germplasm exchange through CGIAR collections governed by Article 15 of the Treaty, accounting for approximately 87% of all MLS distributions worldwide. However, prior to ratification, national institutions faced considerable legal and institutional constraints concerning the exchange and safe duplication of their own collections, including an inability to deposit materials in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Collectively, these findings underscore that germplasm exchange has long been a pivotal driver of agricultural advancement in Colombia and that Treaty participation offers essential institutional infrastructure to secure, govern, and amplify these benefits within a more regulated and equitable global framework. Despite these advances, important challenges remain in ensuring fair and equitable benefit-sharing, particularly for farmers, highlighting the need for continued institutional and policy development within the MLS.