Scaling up seed sovereignty

Date: 4 December 2014

At a time when seed corporations are pressuring African governments to pass new laws which will create legally-binding seed monopolies (as in Ghana), it is critical that our campaigning efforts are directed at stopping these ‘Monsanto laws’ as well as supporting the alternatives to them. Although the playing field is about as level as a cliff face – just ten corporations own more than 75 per cent of all commercial seeds planted across the world – almost 80 per cent of all seeds used in Africa still come from farmer-managed seed systems. 

Commercial vs. traditional/local seeds

Commercial seeds are usually developed specifically for  single crop farming systems and are designed to produce higher yields when planted and treated with chemical fertilisers and pesticides. Traditional seed varieties, or local, indigenous and open pollinated seeds varieties, are selected, exchanged and conserved by farmers who want to maintain yields but are also interested in other characteristics such as taste, storability, shape, size, adaptability and appearance. These seeds are affordable to farmers, locally adapted and do not require high-inputs.

Farmers can benefit from both: 1. Support at the plant breeding stage (to help create new locally adapted varieties and; 2. Support with seed saving and distribution methods. ‘Participatory plant breeding’ (PPB) can help with the first; Community seed banks (CSB) with the second.

Participatory plant breeding (PPB)

In PPB, researchers and farmers work together to create varieties of plants that are better adapted to local soils, weather patterns, and the specific needs of farmers. PPB gives farmers more control over the development of plant varieties and therefore control over their livelihood. 

“For participatory breeding to work well, it is important that farmer communities are allowed to make decisions according to their own needs.” – Via Campesina

In Uganda, 500 farmers decided that instead of continuing to rely on food aid, they would replicate mosaic virus-resistant variety of cassava which they got from a local research station. By selectively breeding this new variety of cassava, farmers were able to produce six times as much cassava as usual. 

Community seed banks (CSB)

Community seeds banks (CSB) are locally governed and managed institutions that help to conserve local plant varieties, restore ‘lost varieties’, make seeds more accessible (usually at a lower price than commercial seeds) and increase seed sovereignty ( the right for farmers to replant their own seeds, and breed, save and exchange them with others). 

In Lude Hitosa, an area of the Oromia Region of Ethiopia, it is estimated that around half of households now have access to higher-yielding varieties of wheat, bean and local grain, teff seeds through seed banks. Yields from these seeds can be up to twice as high as those that were traditionally used before.  

“People considered it a miracle when traditional varieties were brought back to their doorsteps after having been considered lost completely.” Tadesse Reta, farmer and member of Ejere community seed bank, Ethiopia

There is increasing recognition of the important role that seed banks can play, in terms of food and seed sovereignty as well as biodiversity conservation. But there is still a huge gap between the potential to develop seed banks more widely and supportive government policies which can make this a reality. 

What needs to happen

There are positive alternatives to a corporate-controlled seed sector but these alternatives have little political and financial support. There needs to be more public sector investment in support of community and farmer-managed seed systems which are based on co-operation and common ownership and use appropriate and sustainable technologies free from corporate control. Plant breeding should also be based on co-operation between farmers and scientists, with an emphasis on access and affordability of newly developed seed varieties. 

The government should therefore stop supporting initiatives like the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition that promotes plant variety protection laws such as in Ghana. Instead, the government needs to support countries in the global south in the development of policies that strengthen community and farmer-managed seed systems which are integral to a sustainable and resilience food system.