Africa
AFSA (2022): Proposed legal framework for the recognition and promotion of farmer managed seed systems and the protection of biodiversity.
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About this document
This framework aims to ensure the recognition and protection of the right of farmers to define rules, based on their habits and customs, within their communities, networks, or other collectives, for the organisation of their seed activities, as well as the need for the State to accompany them in this.
The framework is based on the results of various farmers’ mobilisations that have taken place across Africa and the world, as well as on the reflections of farmers, experts and other national and international organisations that accompany them. The report was published in 2022 and is available on the AFSA website.
The report outlines the preliminary arrangements (e.g recognition of the past, present and future role of farmers in the selection, diversification, maintenance, and development of agricultural biodiversity), tools (e.g. national seed funds and regional farmers’ registers) and bodies (National/ Regional Farmers’ Seed Committees) to be put in place for the management of the farmers’ seed system, proposed rules for ensuring seed quality in farmers’ seed systems, proposed rules for the production and circulation of farmers’ seed and the promotion of farmers’ participation in decision-making and the protection of farmers’ innovations and knowledge
Peschard, K., Golay, C & Araya, L. (2023): The right to seeds in Africa. The United Nations Declaration on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas and the right to seeds in Africa
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Key messages
For over 10,000 years, peasants have freely saved, selected, exchanged and sold seeds, as well as used and reused them to produce food. Today, these customary practices remain essential to peasants’ right to food, as well as to global food secu - rity and biodiversity. However, since the mid-1990s, the promotion of commercial seed systems and the strengthening of intellectual property (IP) over plant variet - ies and plant biotechnology at the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Inter - national Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) have seriously undermined these customary practices and, consequently, peasant seed systems and agrobiodiversity.
To respond to these challenges, among others, the United Nations (UN) adopted in 2018 the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP). The UN Declaration enshrines peasants’ right to seeds in international human rights law. According to UNDROP, states shall, inter alia, “elaborate, interpret and apply relevant international agreements and standards to which they are party, in a manner consistent with their human rights obligations as they apply to peasants” (Article 2.4). States shall also “support peasant seed sys - tems, and promote the use of peasant seeds and agrobiodiversity” (Article 19.6). And they shall “ensure that seed policies, plant variety protection and other IP laws, certification schemes and seed marketing laws respect and take into account the rights, needs and realities of peasants” (Article 19.8).
The implementation of UNDROP represents a unique opportunity to redress the imbalance between, on the one hand, the lack of support for peasant seed systems worldwide, including in Africa, and, on the other, the massive support for indus - trial seed systems. This is essential for the protection of the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of peasants. It is also in the interest of all, to ensure the rights to food and food sovereignty, preserve crop biodiversity, and fight climate change.
In 2018, the great majority of African countries voted in favour of adopting UN - DROP. Following these votes, and in accordance with the need to apply interna - tional instruments adopted by the UN General Assembly in good faith, and to give priority to human rights norms in international and national laws, reflected in UNDROP Articles 2.4, 15.5 and 19.8, the African Union (AU) and African states shall ensure that their regional and national laws and policies, as well as the inter - national agreements to which they are party, do not lead to the violation but, on the contrary, to a better protection of the rights of peasants, including their right to seeds.
Andersen, R., Meixner Vásquez, V., and Wynberg, R. (2022): FNI Policy Brief. Improving Seed and Food Security in Malawi. The Role of Community Seed Banks
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This Policy Brief builds on field studies conducted in Malawi in March 2022, in which a total of 100 farmers and 48 key informants participated. Some of the main conclusions are that smallholder farmers in Malawi depend on a diversity of crops and varieties to meet nutritional needs and adapt to changes. However, this diversity is disappearing, a process to which official seed policies have contributed. Agrobiodiversity-based community seed banks have great potential to meet these challenges and significantly contribute to local seed and food security.
Kabau, Tom & Cheruiyot, Faith (2019): The Arusha Protocol on plant varieties protection: balancing breeders' and farmers' rights for food security in Africa
The adoption of the Arusha Protocol for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (Arusha Protocol) in 2015 created a harmonized regional legal mechanism for the protection of plant breeders’ rights (PBRs) in the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) member states. Regrettably, the Arusha Protocol, which is to enter into force after the requisite ratifications, reaffirms the often criticized International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants of 1991 (UPOV 1991) in its extensive limitation of the traditional farmers’ rights to freely save, replant and exchange seeds of protected plant varieties, while liberally conceptualizing PBRs. The stated farmers’ rights are essential for the food security of the developing ARIPO member states, as their agriculture is predominantly characterized by impoverished small-scale farmers who rely on informal seed exchanges. On that basis, this article is premised on the view that the legal regime for plant varieties protection established under the Arusha Protocol is inappropriate for ARIPO members as it fails to balance breeders’ and farmers’ rights in a manner that promotes food security. It proceeds to evaluate the appropriate approach that can suitably balance breeders’ and farmers’ rights for the purposes of promoting food security in Africa.
Oguamanam, Chidi (2018): Plant Breeders’ Rights, Farmers’ Rights and Food Security: Africa’s Failure of Resolve and India’s Wobbly Leadership
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Since 2000s, Africa and India severally rejected the notion that UPOV’s 1991 standard of Plant Breeders Rights (PBRs) is the only route to fulfill their obligations under Article 27 of the TRIPs Agreement. Objecting to the exclusive focus of the UPOV regime on formal plant breeders, African countries, insisted on a holistic approach to plant breeders’ rights to include protection for rights of communities, farmers and their indigenous knowledge, innovation and practices. Consequently, under the African Union’s (AU) auspices, Africa proposed the Model Law for the Protection of the Rights of Local Communities and Breeders, and for Regulations of Access to Biological Resources. Self-evidently, the law not only recognizes the centrality of the smallholder indigenous and local community farmers on the continent’s food production, it also underscores the interconnections of biodiversity conservation, farmers’ rights, traditional knowledge, access and benefit sharing over genetic resources within then emergent international regimes. Nearly two decades after, Africa’s resolve has proven to be fickle. The continent has reversed itself and fully embraced the UPOV regime. At about the same time as the Model Law, India enacted the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act, 2001 – an instrument consistent with the spirit of Africa’s Model Law. Both regimes take into account the role of local farmers as the backbone of agricultural innovation, food production and food security in the developing world, including Africa and India, thereby further enhancing the idea of farmers’ rights in food and agriculture law and policy. This Article juxtaposes the circumstances around Africa’s failure of resolve and India’s wobbly experience over farmers’ rights. It calls attention to farmers’ rights as a site for a missed and yet potentially redeemable opportunity for both Africa and India to advance South-South solidarity for food security.
Tuhairwe, Herman (2017): Farmers’ rights and plant variety protection in Uganda: considerations and opportunities
In 2014, Uganda passed the Plant Varieties Protection Act, which enhances the rights of commercial plant breeders. This article critiques the Plant Varieties Protection Act, showing that its letter and spirit does not adequately protect the rights of local farmers and farming communities. The article explores the inevitable problems that will arise due to the failure to adequately protect farmers’ rights through plant variety legislation. The article recognizes that whereas plant variety legislation is not the only option for protection of farmers’ rights, it lays a robust foundation for their protection if adequately utilized. The article then recommends that in light of the existing dynamics in Uganda, the following farmers’ rights should be specifically laid down in legislation, namely: right to participate in decision making; right to register traditional varieties; right to benefit sharing; right to seeds; and right to receive free services.
Wynberg, R., van Niekerk, J., Williams, R., and Mkhaliphi, L. (2012): Policy Brief. Securing Farmers’ Rights and Seed Sovereignty in South Africa
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This policy brief helps to inform policy debate by reviewing farmers' rights in South Africa, and the extent to which existing policies, laws and practices support seed security and the conservation of agricultural biodiversity. The focus of the brief is on small-scale farmers, their indigenous agricultural knowledge and practices, and the traditional varieties that they grow.
Thijssen, M.H., Bishaw, Z., Beshir, A., de Boef, W.S. (Eds.) (2008): Farmers, seeds and varieties: supporting informal seed supply in Ethiopia
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This book addresses strategies and approaches through which professionals can support informal seed supply, and link these with the conservation and use of the huge genetic resource base of crops and local varieties. The aim of all the strategies, case studies and reflections on experiences presented in this book is to improve the availability of and access to seeds and varieties, thereby improving the livelihoods of small-scale farmers in Ethiopia and beyond.
Feyissa, Regassa (2006): Farmers' Rights in Ethiopia. A Case Study
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This study highlights perceptions of different stakeholders, the achievements made, and existing barriers and opportunities regarding the implementation of farmers' rights in Ethiopia. It also proposes possible measures to be taken at the global level.
The study reveals that development of various legislative measures to implement the formulated policies is lagging, and the level of awareness among various stakeholders regarding the issues of farmers' or community rights is still found to be rather low. For these reasons, and because it involves diverse social, economic and cultural elements, the realisation of farmer rights is a challenging task in the Ethiopian context. To overcome the challenges at the national level, concerted support from the international community through the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture is critically important. The international community should support efforts to minimize the serious problems of erosion of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture which takes place in almost all countries. This requires clear commitments by states and intergovernmental actors to protect and support farm communities in order to ensure universal food security for the present and the future.Wakhungu, J.W., Ogolla, B. & Wafula, D. (2004): Whither Farmers' Rights? Reflections on Kenya's Seed and Plant Act
The authors begin by presenting the main features of the international regimes pertaining to seeds and farmers' rights, followed by a discussion of Kenyan legislation on plant variety protection and on seed certification. They find that this legislation acts to limit the prospects for farmers to maintain and develop their agricultural systems, and amendments to include farmers' rights are proposed.
In Kenya, as is the case all over Africa, the majority of farmers are small-scale and marginal. If their rights are not protected, agricultural productivity will decline and food security will be undermined. Therefore, a major priority must be to protect farmers' rights in legislation on seeds and plant varieties legislation, they conclude.Kameri-Mbote, Patricia (2003): Community, Farmers' and Breeders' Rights in Africa: Towards a Legal Framework for Sui Generis Legislation
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This article begins with an introduction to the concepts of community, farmers' and breeders rights, and goes on to present the main features of the international context for recognition of these rights, i.e. international agreements. On this basis, Kameri-Mbote discusses the African context and draws conclusions as to how a sui generis system could be designed.
She recommends that farmers' rights should be explicitly included in such a system. An important point is that such rights should not require prior declaration or registration. They should comprise the right to use, exchange and market farm-saved seeds; the right to protection of traditional knowledge; to benefit-sharing and participation in decision making at the national levels. They should also involve the right to information, which is a pre-condition for active participation in decision making. Finally, customary laws and practices of concerned communities should be applied in the protection of farmers' rights. The author concludes that the OAU Model Law provides a good basis for beginning for rethinking legal systems pertaining to the management of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture.