Video Source: Face to Face: African CSOs confront ARIPO, SADC over Draconian Harmonised Seed Laws, African Centre for Biodiversity, 23 February 2018

In the context of the Seed Freedom Campaign, Navdanya was invited to participate in the discussion on Seed policy in sub-Saharan Africa, as Harmonised regional seed laws, pushed and promoted by the Seed and Chemicals Industry, influence the shaping of national seed legislation, including plant variety protection laws, while the very basis of agricultural systems on the continent, such as farmer managed seed systems (FMSS), is ignored, undermined and criminalised. The focus of the Seed Freedom workshop was about providing a broad perspective on the attack on seed through unjust seed laws internationally, as well as to bring a set of examples of similar struggles in other parts of the world aimed at blocking attempts of criminalising indigenous seeds (Europe, Colombia, California, to name a few), and empowering farmers and seed defenders network by establishing networks, sharing knowledge, in order to make the difference in the debate on seed at local, regional and national level. Participants included farmers and civil society organisations from 10 East and Southern African countries, namely, Angola, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Also read:

Towards socially just and ecologically sustainable seed policies for Africa: Farmers, CSOs meet in Harare, By Sabrina Masinjila, researcher and advocacy officer with the African Centre for Biodiversity
July 2017