The communal use of plant genetic resources (PGR) has contributed to the nurturing of agricultural biodiversity for millennia. Yet local and indigenous communities have not profited from more recent commercialization of these resources and are often not facilitated by the products of modern plant breeding. For these communities, community gene banks (CGBs) could not only provide back-up storage to increase food security, but also form a measure for putting the concept of Farmers’ Rights into practice. However, the success of CGBs strongly depends on a national legal framework