Seed monopoly put food security at risk

… Caritas Zambia is of the view that the current seed systems are not providing farmers with effective and timely access to an adequate supply of good quality resilient reproductive seeds materials food security crops

By Francis Maingaila

Lusaka – (22-07-2021) – The Civil Society Organisation (CSO) advocating for the seed sovereignty have joined hands to champion not only the rights of farmers to plant choice seeds choice but also wants to see the activation of a national seed bank system for food security and seed management.

Climate resilience and seeds in Zambia

CSO leaders spoken to in separate exclusive telephone interviews expressed fear that monopolies dominating the seed industry coupled with oppressive seed laws are compromising food production.

“There is a steady erosion of crop germplasm in Zambia today. These are being replaced by standardized varieties which require the services of expensive chemicals to which compromises the soil,” Participatory Ecological Land Use Management  (PELUM) Country Director, Wamumyima Muketoi, said in an exclusive telephone interview.

PELUM Country Director

Muketoi expressed worry that the introduction of a law criminalizing the use of diverse crops adaptive to climate change which farmers used since time immemorial in preference for the bioengineered seed is threatening food security.

Muketoi observed that Zambia is a signatory to some international seed laws that place limits on the production, sale, and exchange of uncertified seeds.

“With these regulations in place, indigenous seeds  that do not meet the specified standards are systematically phased out of circulation to the detriment of small-scale farmers whose only legal option remaining is to buy seeds from corporate agribusinesses which require additional cost for chemicals to support the growth.”

“Those farmers who cannot afford to buy expensive seeds and chemicals have an option to either stop growing food crops or reduce the production,” Muketoi suggested.

As a measure to protect the endangered seed species, Caritas Zambia suggested the revamping of seed banks which has remained dormant for some time now.

Caritas Zambia Executive Director Eugene Kabalika said in an exclusive interview that that farmer today faces unprecedented challenges caused by acute climate change which has led to increased pests and diseases, low agricultural productivity, food insecurity, and related crop management problems.

Community Technology Development Trust-Zambia.

He expressed concern that besides the progressive privatization and control of land, seeds, as well as markets are threatening the economic benefits associated with the agriculture industry, Zambia is already facing severe ecological pressure resulting from the unstable climate being experienced in Zambia.

He said the seed banks and farmer education would not only ensure the production of high-quality seeds to increase productivity while maintaining the genes but also enhance seed access to farmers, including promoting system diversity for food and nutrition security.

Kabalika is of the view that a resilient seed system will contribute to the greater availability of diverse food crops throughout the year, production of more nutritious health crops, income generation, and a sustainable resource base.

“Seeds that risked being extinct are stored in the seed bank for future use and made available to farmers that could not have them on account that they are either too expensive or unavailable at agro-vets,” said.

Kabalika is of the view the current seed systems are not providing farmers with effective timely access to an adequate supply of good quality resilient reproductive seeds materials food security crops.

He suggested that the revamping of seed banks will help not only to retain the high-value crops that did not have many diseases and were resisting pests but also research and develop biologically rich climate-resilient seed systems and mobilize knowledge on the need to save and exchange seeds among the farmers.

He also suggested a need for alternative seed variety registration and certification mechanisms to strengthen farmers’ seed systems.

And the Zambia Alliance for Agroecology and Biodiversity (ZAAB), is opposed to the law that imposes uniform seeds because this is tantamount to pushing the smaller-scale farmers out of the agriculture industry. 

An Official from ZAAB, Frances Davies, said in an exclusive telephone interview that standardized seeds favor big agribusinesses that also produce fertilizers and pesticides that farmers buy to ensure high yield.

She expressed an urgent need for exceptions to seed legislation that will allow farmers the autonomy to preserve the indigenous agriculture that is “the bedrock of ensuring ecological integrity, sustainability of nature, biodiversity, landscapes, and ecosystems.

Additionally, a recent report by the Institute of International and Development Studies on biotechnology, food, and seed sovereignty criticized the idea of creating a genetically distinct and uniform seed on account that the more uniform the genetic pool is, the more vulnerable the country will be to all sorts of environmental stresses provoked by climate change.

“Changing climatic conditions mean farmers’ carefully attuned agricultural systems are thrown out of whack. Particular crops need particular conditions, as well as temperature and rainfall shift, so, too, do the areas in which a plant can thrive,” report read in parts

According to the report, by planting a range of different crops, each with its genetic diversity and potential for change, the plants themselves can adapt, and if one crop fails, farmers don’t necessarily lose their whole harvest because some plants can adapt to the problematic climatic environment.

According to the World Trade Organization (WTO) on seed regulations and distributions, member states are required to have some form of property legislation that strictly controls and protects plant varieties.

In the process, agro-bio-diversity and culturally appropriate nutritious food systems are not only devalued but also destroyed to the disadvantage of communities.

But Seed-Co Managing Director Chance Cabbage defended the restrictions imposed on seed production that the laws are necessary not only to encourage innovation for breeders to come up with a genetically distinct and uniform seed but also to give them the right to control variety for commercial purposes.

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