The relevant provisions on farmers’ rights are set out in Box 4 below. In the context of ABS and TK, it is important to note that the farmers' rights as codified in the ITPGRFA deal with benefit sharing but not with access aspects. During the ITPGRFA negotiations it was argued by some parties that farmers’ rights should also cover free access to and exchange of IP-protected plant material as acknowledgement of farmers' contribution to the creation of the existing diversity of plant genetic material without which modem plant breeding could not exist.