PRESS
RELEASE
NEW SEED LEGISLATION SPELLS DISASTER FOR SMALL FARMERS IN AFRICA
3 April 2013
Civil society organisations from the SADC region, and around the world
have condemned the SADC draft Protocol for the Protection of
New Varieties of Plants (Plant Breeders’ Rights) as spelling
disaster for small farmers and food security in the region. These
groups, representing millions of farmers in Africa and around the
world have submitted their concerns to the SADC Secretariat. They
are calling for the rejection of the Protocol and urgent consultations
with farmers, farmer movements and civil society before it’s too late.
According to the groups, the Protocol is inflexible, restrictive and
imposes a “one-size-fits-all” plant variety protection (PVP) system
on all SADC countries irrespective of the nature of agricultural systems,
social and economic development. It is modelled after the 1991 International
Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV 1991),
an instrument which was developed by industrialized countries to address
their own needs. UPOV 1991 grants extremely strong intellectual
property right protection to plant breeders, and disallows farmers
from continuing their customary practices of freely using, exchanging
and selling farm-saved seeds.
According to Moses Shaha, regional chairman for the East and Southern
African small-scale Farmers’ Forum (ESAFF): “The proposed legislation
gives big-business breeders significant rights, but in doing so, disregards
and marginalizes small farmers and their plant varieties. It fails
to recognize that small-scale farmers and their customary practices
of freely exchanging and re-using seed for multiple purposes, constitute
the backbone of SADC’s agricultural farming systems.”
About half of SADC members are Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and
are not currently under any international obligation to put in place
any such PVP system. Indeed, the majority of SADC members have limited
or no experience with PVP systems, or the impact these systems will
have on food security, farmers, farming systems and livelihoods in
the region.
According to Elizabeth Mpofu, a small farmer from Zimbabwe: “Small
farmers in Africa play a vital role in keeping food costs down, and
contribute immensely to the development of locally appropriate and
adapted seeds, and to the diversity of crops. Any PVP system that
fails to support and promote these farmer managed systems, and instead
adversely impacts on them, is clearly a recipe for disaster for the
region’s farmers.”
Like UPOV 1991, the Protocol is severely lacking in flexibilities
to allow vulnerable states to address their particular socio-economic
problems. The Protocol imposes a “one grant system” whereby the SADC
Plant Breeders’ Rights Office will have the full authority to grant
and administer breeders’ rights on behalf of all SADC members. “This
top-down approach effectively undermines the rights of SADC member
states to take any decision related to the protected plant varieties;
decisions that are at the very core of national socio-economic development
and poverty reduction strategies. The Protocol also does not
contain concrete measures to prevent misappropriation of plant genetic
resources and does not live up to international commitments of the
majority of SADC members to promote the sustainable use of plant genetic
resources and plant breeding with the participation of farmers”
pointed out Andrew Mushita, of the Community Trust for Development
and Technology, in Zimbabwe.
“The whole rationale and underlying premise for the Protocol is
unknown to us because we, as civil society, have been locked out of
the process. What specific consultations have taken place, and with
whom? What data and impact assessments have guided the development
of the Protocol?” asks Mariam Mayet, of the African Centre for
Biosafety.
The submission can be downloaded at www.acbio.org.za
Contact:
Moses Shaha: moses_388ke@yahoo.com
Elizabeth
Mpofu: ezimmpofu@gmail.com
Andrew
Mushita: andrew@ctdt.co.zw
Mariam
Mayet: mariammayet@mweb.co.za
Notes to Editors:
SADC = Southern African Development Community. It is an inter-governmental
organisation. Its goal is to further socio-economic cooperation and
integration as well as political and security cooperation among 15
southern African states. The 15 members states are: South Africa,
Mozambique, Malawi, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland, Mauritius,
Madagascar, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Democratic Republic of Congo,
Seychelles, and Angola.
Agriculture is the primary source of subsistence, employment and income
for a majority of SADC’s population, which consists mainly of the
rural poor. The agricultural population in the southern and eastern
African regions ranges from 39% in Lesotho to 76% in Mozambique in
2010[1] , and constitutes more than half the population in more than
half the countries in southern and eastern Africa. Farms of less than
2 hectares account for 70-90% of all farms in most African countries.[2]
Agriculture is also fundamental to addressing nutrition and food security
issues, which remain a critical challenge in the SADC region. The
current status of food insecurity in the region can be measured by
the prevalence of undernourishment, which is “high” to “very high”
(i.e. above 25% of the population) in 8 SADC countries (DRC,
Angola, Malawi, Madagascar, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe).[3]
Further progress towards Millennium Development Goal 1 to halve between
1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger has
been mixed in the SADC region, with 7 SADC countries not being on
track: (Tanzania, the DRC, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Zambia and
Madagascar).[4]Variable weather patterns as a result of climate change
including increased incidence of drought and floods, are key factors
for continuing chronic vulnerability and food insecurity, particularly
in the rural areas.
An estimated 80% of all seed used in Africa originates from the informal
seed systems (also known as “farmer-managed seed systems”).[5] or
many crops, the estimate is close to 100%.[6] Farmers rely heavily
on farm saved seed, exchanges with relatives and neighbors, bartering
with other farmers or local markets to access seeds. Reliance on informal
seed sources is independent of whether farmers cultivate local or
modern varieties.[7] The reasons for this include: inadequate access
to markets; the market channels are unfavourable to farmer living
in remote areas; limited access to financial resources or credit to
buy seeds; the inability of formal system to provide timely and adequate
access to quality seeds of improved varieties and to varieties that
are specifically adapted to local conditions.[8]
[1] World Bank, “World Databank”, http://databank.worldbank.org/data/home.aspx
[2]Hazell, P. & Poulton, C. 2007 “All-Africa review of experiences
with commercial agriculture: case study on food staples”, background
paper for World Bank’s Competitive Commercial Agriculture in Sub-Saharan
Africa study, p.12
[3]SADC Regional Agricultural Policy, Priority Policy Issues and Interventions,
July 2012, p.8
[4] SADC Regional Agricultural Policy, Priority Policy Issues and
Interventions, July 2012, p. 8
[5] Smale, M., Byerlee, D. & Jayne, T. 2011 “Maize revolutions
in sub-Saharan Africa”. Policy Research Working Paper 5659.
Washington DC, World Bank, Development Research Group, p.7
[6]Louwaars, N.P., and De Boef, W. S., “Integrated Seed Sector Development
in Africa: A Conceptual Framework for Creating Coherence Between Practices,
Programs and Policies, Journal of Crop Improvement 26:39-59, 2012
[7]Louwaars, N.P., and De Boef, W. S., “Integrated Seed Sector Development
in Africa: A Conceptual Framework for Creating Coherence Between Practices,
Programs and Policies, Journal of Crop Improvement 26:39-59, 2012
[8]Louwaars, N.P., and De Boef, W. S., “Integrated Seed Sector Development
in Africa: A Conceptual Framework for Creating Coherence Between Practices,
Programs and Policies, Journal of Crop Improvement 26:39-59, 2012
