The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture is crucial in the fight against hunger and poverty and essential for the achievement of Millennium Development Goals 1 and 7.

No country is self-sufficient in plant genetic resources; all depend on genetic diversity in crops from other countries and regions. International cooperation and open exchange of genetic resources are therefore essential for food security. The fair sharing of benefits araising from the use of these resources has for the first time been practically implemented at the international level through the Treaty and its Standard Material Transfer Agreement.