INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND INNOVATION IN SOCIAL SCIENCE (IJRISS)

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Indonesia is a country with significant agricultural potential. Within the framework of national law, Indonesia

has established regulations to protect farmers' rights. At the international level, Indonesia has also demonstrated

its commitment by ratifying the CBD, ITPGRFA, and the Nagoya Protocol. However, despite the existence of

normative bases regulating the protection of farmers' rights, the implementation of these provisions in practice

remain suboptimal. Local farmers often do not receive adequate recognition for their contributions. The type of

research used normative legal research. Normative legal research is a type of research that analyzes and examines

secondary data or reference materials. The study's results indicate that the protection of farmers' rights in

Indonesia remains weak due to the dominance of an individualistic approach to intellectual property, as reflected

of 2024, but it has not been supplemented with technical implementation regulations. Therefore, Regulatory

reform is needed through a sui generis system that recognizes the collective rights of farmers, as well as a revision

of the PVT Law and the issuance of technical government regulations to ensure fair and contextual legal

protection.

Keyword – Farmers, Legal Protection, Local Varieties

Indonesia is located in the tropics with a favorable position and has great potential in the agricultural sector.

Known as an agrarian country with abundant natural resources and germplasm, it is relatively easy to produce

various high-quality agricultural products, which can have a positive impact on developing a more advanced and

efficient agricultural sector if managed optimally (BPN, 2025). Rapid growth and development in various other

overlook the role of farmers, who possess vital breeding expertise but lack access to research and financial

support. Effective protection of farmers' rights is crucial for sector sustainability and welfare. Indonesia's

regulations protecting biodiversity include laws on cultivation, farmer protection, and variety rights. The

ITPGRFA was also ratified. Still, on-the-ground implementation lags, and many smallholders remain unaware

or do not benefit from protections.

Japan and Thailand, which have also ratified the ITPGRFA, possess advanced agricultural sectors and more

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comprehensive legal frameworks for farmers' rights. Japan established a Participatory Plant Breeding (PPB)

program and updated its Plant Variety Protection law to reflect global developments, also promoting agricultural

education to engage youth. Thailand’s Plant Varieties Protection Act addresses farmers’ rights across

several provisions, increasing farmer and breeder participation in variety development.

solutions to all legal problems encountered (Marzuki, 2016). This scientific paper employs legal research

methods, including various research types, problem approaches, legal sources, methods for collecting legal

materials, and analysis of these materials. The type of research used in the preparation of this scientific paper is

normative legal research. Normative legal research is a type of research that analyzes and examines secondary

data or reference materials. In addition, normative legal research can also be understood as a type of research

that bases its analysis on applicable laws and regulations that are relevant to the legal issues at hand.

Conditions of Farmers and The Protection of Their Rights in Indonesia

Farmers in Indonesia face complex challenges that affect the sector's future, including unstable prices,

insufficient rights protection, and an aging workforce. Commodity prices are volatile, particularly for crops like

education compared to other sectors (Haryanto, Yoyon, Helmi Z, 2022).

The perception that life in the agricultural sector lacks prestige also influences the aspirations of the younger

generation in rural areas. Many of them choose to migrate to cities in search of jobs that are considered more

financially lucrative, as well as to pursue further education. Based on BPS 2023 data, the age group of farmers

is dominated by those aged 45-54 years, numbering 7,947,405 people, followed by those aged 55-64 years,

numbering 6,808,739 people. In contrast, those of productive age (25-34 years) number only 3,005,033 people.

Approximately 75% of the workforce in the agricultural sector in Indonesia only completed elementary school

education, while only about 1.82% had a bachelor's degree (Republika, 2023). This low level of education

contributes to several obstacles, including farmers' limited ability to access and apply modern agricultural

technology, low productivity and efficiency in running farming businesses, and a lack of innovation, as well as

2018). In addition, the welfare of farmers in Indonesia can also be measured through the Farmer Exchange Rate

(NTP), which describes the level of farmers' exchange capacity/purchasing power for products purchased/paid

for by farmers, including purchased consumption and production inputs (Faridah N, Syechalad MN, 2016). In

this case, farmers' rights are a crucial element in supporting the sustainability of the agricultural sector and

enhancing the welfare of farmers (Paminto, 2018).

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND INNOVATION IN SOCIAL SCIENCE (IJRISS)

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The protection of farmers' rights is one of the fundamental things in realizing agrarian justice and the

sustainability of the national agricultural sector. According to Rusdiyana's research, farmers play a crucial role

in agricultural land conservation through practices rooted in local wisdom, which contribute to the preservation

of biodiversity and the environment. However, efforts to protect farmers in Indonesia still face several

challenges. Issues such as limited access to land, minimal legal protection, especially for small farmers, as well

as inequality in access to technology and market dominance, remain significant obstacles that have not been

fully overcome. Through traditional breeding practices based on local knowledge and generations of experience,

farmers make significant contributions to agricultural biodiversity, which is a crucial foundation for national

food security. In this case, farmers are not only users of agricultural technology, but also innovators who can

rights (IPR), farmers, as local breeders, play a crucial role in the development of plant varieties. However, this

role still lacks adequate recognition. In practice, small-scale farmers often face limitations in accessing legal

information, registering varieties, and obtaining the necessary technical support. This reflects that the rights

protection system has not fully reached all parties fairly, and tends to benefit groups with greater access to

resources. This system tends to limit farmers' ability to save seeds from their harvest, replant those seeds in the

next growing season, and freely exchange seeds among fellow farmers within their local communities

(Imanullah, Moch. Najib, 2017). The enforcement of intellectual property rights, both directly and indirectly,

has resulted in the marginalization of the strategic role of local farmers in protecting and preserving plant genetic

resources.

An example of weak protection for farmers is the case of Tukirin, a farmer from Ngronggot Subdistrict, Nganjuk

farmer named Kunoto, also known as Kuncoro bin Mirin, from Ngasem District, Kediri Regency, was sentenced

by the Kediri District Court through case number 188/Pid.N/2010/PN.Kdr on May 31, 2010. This case is similar

to the cases of other farmers who were also involved in seed production. Violations of farmers' rights to local

varieties constitute a failure on the part of the state to provide adequate legal protection. Legal protection is an

action taken with the aim of providing protection to legal subjects through various legal instruments. Legal

protection reflects the function of law, which is the concept that law is capable of providing justice, order,

certainty, benefits, and peace. According to Philipus M Hadjon, there are two types of protection: preventive

legal protection and repressive legal protection (Hadjon, 2007).

In preventive legal protection, the state should provide a legal framework that provides certainty and initial

protection for farmers' rights to local varieties. This includes regulations that not only recognize but also facilitate

community-based registration mechanism for local varieties that does not impose burdensome administrative

requirements and ensures that local seeds cannot be commercialized by outside parties without the community's

prior consent.

Indonesia has also established several legal instruments to ensure farmers' rights. One of the main regulations is

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Law Number 19 of 2013 concerning the Protection and Empowerment of Farmers (P3 Law), which emphasizes

the importance of protection in terms of the provision of means of production, price guarantees, certainty of

farming businesses, and protection against the risk of crop failure through the Rice Farming Insurance scheme.

However, in practice, this law still faces various challenges, including the imbalance in the distribution of

agricultural facilities, policy changes that impact Bulog's role in absorbing crop yields, and the limited number

of agricultural extension workers in several regions (Choirunnisa, 2022). At the global level, Indonesia has also

ratified international agreements in line with its national culture and customs, such as the World Trade

Organization (WTO), Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement, the

Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants

Folklore (IGC-WIPO) and the principle of Farmers' Rights in the International Treaty on Plant Genetic

Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) also provide normative pressure for developing countries,

including Indonesia, to make adjustments to their national legal systems (Pajrin R, 2023).

Several international agreements specifically regulate farmers' rights and the management of genetic resources.

On a global scale, significant developments have occurred in the recognition of farmers' rights, particularly in

the context of communal intellectual property and the implementation of Plant Variety Protection (PVP) systems

in various countries. In Indonesia, the response to these dynamics is reflected in the enactment of a number of

laws at the national level, as a form of adjustment to the obligations in ratified international agreements, including

adjustments to legislation in the field of intellectual property as a follow-up to the commitments in the TRIPs

Agreement (Pajrin R, 2023). On the other hand, plant variety protection is a crucial instrument for Indonesia in

preserving biological diversity and ensuring its utilization for the greatest well-being of the people. However, in

practice, there are significant challenges because several international agreements ratified by Indonesia have

conflicting normative tendencies. For example, the Law on Plant Variety Protection (PVT Law) refers to the

UPOV Convention, even though UPOV does not provide adequate space for the protection of farmers' rights.

This inconsistency creates disharmony in the national legal system, particularly in the sector of plant variety

contribution as guardians of biodiversity and developers of plant genetic resources. These rights include, among

others, the right to save, reuse, exchange, and sell traditional agricultural seeds, as well as the right to benefit

sharing from the utilization of genetic resources that they have preserved. Farmers' rights are inherent rights that

enable farmers to carry out traditional practices, particularly in terms of saving seeds from their harvests for

replanting, exchanging seeds with fellow farmers, and developing and preserving plant varieties that have been

passed down through generations. These rights are rooted in the historical role of farmers, who have consistently

contributed to the conservation and management of agricultural genetic resources. These resources remain an

important foundation for food security and the sustainability of agricultural systems to this day (Pajrin R, 2023).

Repressive legal protection has a role to play in providing remedies when rights are violated. This requires the

state to provide legal instruments and dispute resolution mechanisms that are not only formal but also

substantive, capable of delivering genuine justice for vulnerable groups, such as farmers. Repressive protection

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND INNOVATION IN SOCIAL SCIENCE (IJRISS)

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aid, and decisions that recognize farmers' rights to the origin of varieties and their rights to share in the economic

benefits of utilizing those varieties. However, in reality, repressive legal protection mechanisms against

violations of farmers' rights are still very limited and ineffective. Most farmers in Indonesia, particularly in rural

areas, lack sufficient legal knowledge to understand their rights within the framework of intellectual property

law. The community, especially farmers, needs protection that is not only legal but also economic to ensure the

sustainability of their agricultural activities. The protection of plant varieties, if managed in accordance with

principles of justice that take into account the rights of farmers, will provide double benefits, not only for the

local community but also for local governments that play a crucial role in natural resource management. The

protection of plant varieties cannot be separated from the involvement of local communities or farmers

fairly, and they receive equitable economic benefits.

problems in protecting farmers' rights in Indonesia, including farmers often facing difficulties in accessing the

land, capital, and agricultural technology needed to increase productivity. To address various structural and

implementation problems in the protection of farmers' rights, a multilevel and cross-sectoral, synergistic

approach is necessary. At the policy level, the state needs to strengthen the regulatory framework governing the

protection of farmers through efforts to harmonize legislation, simplify bureaucratic procedures, and enhance

the effectiveness of supervision of agricultural land protection and subsidy distribution. At the grassroots level,

community-based empowerment strategies such as the establishment of farmer cooperatives, the strengthening

of young farmer groups, and the development of agriculture through an agro-ecotourism approach are considered

capable of promoting farmers' economic independence while expanding their social and institutional networks.

Active participation from academics, research institutions, and civil society organizations is also an important

element in supporting inclusive and equitable agricultural development. Comprehensive protection from a legal,

economic, and socio-cultural perspective will enable Indonesian farmers to obtain their rights in a more fair and

in Indonesia. The urgency of the formation of Law No. 19 of 2013 concerning the Protection and Empowerment

of Farmers can be traced through the “considering” section of the law, which explicitly mentions several strategic

schemes.

responsibilities in providing protection to farmers. Basically, every public policy does not stop at the formulation

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stage, but must be followed up through a systematic implementation process (Haedar, 2008). Policy

implementation is a crucial stage that reflects the actual realization of policy decisions in the form of a series of

operational activities. According to Ripley and Franklin, as quoted by Winarno, policy implementation refers to

the entire series of processes that occur after a law is passed, legitimizing the implementation of programs,

policies, and the provision of concrete benefits or outputs. This process is not merely administrative in nature,

but includes various forms of action taken by policy implementers, especially bureaucrats, who are responsible

for ensuring that the policy can be operationalized and produce real impacts in accordance with the objectives

that have been set (Ripley, Rendal B, Grace A. Franklin, 1998). When discussing the implementation of Law

No. 19 of 2013, several previous studies can be referred to. Research by Siagian indicates that the implementation

that one of the main obstacles lies in budget constraints (Heri Fransisco Siagian, Damanhuri, & Ronni Juwandi,

2022).

farmers as stated in Article 1 Paragraph 2, which defines Farmer Empowerment as all efforts to improve the

ability of farmers to carry out better farming practices through education and training, extension and assistance,

the development of agricultural product marketing systems and facilities, the consolidation and guarantee of

agricultural land area, easy access to science, technology, and information, and the strengthening of farmer

institutions. This definition covers a number of important elements that reflect the strategic dimensions of farmer

empowerment, namely a) an emphasis on a series of systematic efforts aimed at comprehensively improving the

capacity and competence of farmers, b) this capacity building is directed at more productive, efficient, and

sustainable agricultural business management, c) the approach used includes various intervention mechanisms,

such as the implementation of education and training programs, extension and assistance activities, and the

development of infrastructure and agricultural product marketing systems. In addition, empowerment is also

achieved through the consolidation of ownership and guarantees for the sustainability of agricultural land,

expanded access to relevant science, technology, and information, and the strengthening of farmer institutions

specifically regulate intellectual property rights in agriculture. In this case, Law Number 29 of 2000 concerning

Plant Variety Protection (PVT Law) is very relevant. The PVT Law provides legal protection for plant varieties

produced by breeders through the granting of exclusive rights. Although initially focused on protecting the

results of scientific innovation and modern technology, this law also opens up space for the recognition of local

varieties developed by farmers using traditional methods. Traditional knowledge is not a new issue at the

international level; however, at the national level, public understanding of traditional knowledge remains

underdeveloped and incomprehensively understood (Djulaeka, 2014). Protection of traditional knowledge

should be a necessity, but local communities often feel that they do not need it because they do not understand

characteristics of such traditional knowledge. The absence of written documentation of traditional knowledge

results in a lack of references that can be used as prior art in the patent application examination process. As a

result, inventions derived from traditional knowledge can be patented by other parties without the knowledge or

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potential to harm indigenous or local communities, as they are the holders of moral and historical rights to

traditional knowledge (Schuler, 2004). Although local knowledge plays a strategic role in the conservation and

development of plant varieties, its protection has not been explicitly accommodated in Law No. 29 of 2000

concerning Plant Variety Protection (PVT). The regulation tends to focus on protecting new varieties that meet

certain criteria and grants exclusive rights to plant breeders, without providing adequate legal recognition of the

collective contribution of indigenous peoples as guardians and preservers of local varieties from one generation

to the next (Reh Bungana Add All, 2020).

recognizes traditional cultural expressions as objects of copyright protection. However, this protection focuses

more on aspects of cultural expression, such as art and literary works, and does not specifically regulate

traditional knowledge in the context of agriculture (Reh Bungana Add All, 2020). Then Law Number 13 of 2016

concerning Patents. In this law, traditional knowledge can be part of the background of a patented invention.

However, protection for traditional knowledge that does not meet the criteria for a new invention remains

suboptimal. In the context of genetic resources, the term “protection” is highly relevant to the issues of

conservation and the granting of licenses for the use of genetic resources at the request of other parties, as well

as the procedures for sharing profits (fee, royalty) from their use with the owners of the genetic resources.

Regulations on this matter have been accommodated globally through an international legal instrument, namely

the 2010 Nagoya Protocol, which is part of the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity. This

protocol is designed to address the primary challenges in protecting genetic resources, particularly in relation to

efforts to preserve and prevent the extinction of biological diversity, which is the foundation of life and

Protocol on May 8, 2013, which was then formally incorporated into Law No. 11 of 2013 of the Republic of

Indonesia as a means of integrating international principles into the national legal system. National regulations

on access and benefit sharing in the utilization of genetic resources are still sectoral or partial in nature and are

regulated in several laws. In this context, the principle of benefit sharing is a crucial instrument to ensure that

the benefits of utilizing plant genetic resources are not only enjoyed by users (companies, research institutions),

but also by farmers, as the original owners and guardians of these varieties. When analyzed normatively through

the perspective of the theory of justice developed by John Rawls. In A Theory of Justice (1971), Rawls presents

two main principles: the principle of equal liberty and the difference principle, which states that social and

international law. Basically, the CBD has three objectives, namely, a) conservation of biological diversity, b)

promotion of the sustainable use of diversity, and c) ensuring increased commercial benefits from the use of

genetic resources shared in a fair and equitable manner. Internationally, traditional knowledge remains

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and ensure that local communities receive equitable benefits from their use. The Intellectual Property Rights

(IPR) system plays an important role. The IPR system, as regulated in the TRIPs Agreement, provides legal

protection to intellectual property rights holders, allowing them to exercise their rights or grant permission to

others to exercise them, and prohibits others from using these rights without permission. This provides a strong

legal basis for regulating the use of genetic resources and ensuring that the benefits of such use are shared fairly

among the parties concerned.

concerning Patents, the state aims to enhance legal protection not only for inventors but also for the broader

community, thereby supporting national interests. Protection of biodiversity, particularly local varieties, through

the Access and Benefit Sharing mechanism can provide significant benefits for Indonesia. To that end, it is

essential to optimize regulations in the field of Genetic Resources and enhance public education, with the full

support of all relevant parties (Zulia and Zainol, 2013). In practice, the implementation of ABS policies in

Indonesia does not yet fully reflect the principle of distributive justice as formulated by Rawls. The mechanisms

for access licensing and benefit-sharing negotiations are often still dominated by state and corporate actors, with

minimal meaningful participation from resource communities. Therefore, the national legal system in terms of

ABS regulation needs to undergo normative and institutional reformulation to be more in line with Rawls'

principles of social justice.

save, reuse, and sell their own harvest, remains very limited. The lack of explicit recognition of traditional

agricultural practices, including the practice of saving seeds from one harvest to the next, makes farmers

vulnerable to criminalization. Synergy between the P3 Law and the PVT Law is crucial in enhancing the legal

protection of farmers' rights to local varieties. The P3 Law creates a framework for socio-economic

empowerment and protection, while the PVT Law provides formal legal recognition of rights to varieties as a

form of communal intellectual property. However, several obstacles still need to be overcome in the integrated

implementation of these two laws, including a lack of legal literacy among farmers, minimal government

facilitation in the registration process of local varieties, and a complex bureaucracy that makes it difficult for

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and Benefit Sharing in the Nagoya Protocol and the Convention on Biological Diversity have been incorporated

into national law through Article 26 of Law Number 65 of 2024 concerning Patents. However, there is no

concrete and operational technical mechanism to ensure fair benefit sharing between users of genetic resources.

This is in contrast to Thailand's PVT Law B.E. 2542, which explicitly regulates a profit-sharing scheme with

clear proportions specified in Article 49. The Indonesian PVP Law tends to be incompatible with the collective

and hereditary nature of varieties developed by traditional farmers, thus failing to provide effective legal

protection. Therefore, drafting a Government Regulation as an implementing regulation is urgent to ensure the

effective protection of farmers' rights under this scheme.