[Ngo-sanrm] Grabbing Africa's seeds: USAID, EU and Gates Foundation back agribusiness seed takeover

Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resources Management Working Group ngo-sanrm at ngocentre.org.vn
Sun Mar 29 06:51:29 BST 2015


Vietnam also needs to be very careful.  Just as with GMOs, there will
continue to be massive pressure from these global giants to dominate
agricultural production here.  CS


*​CHUCK SEARCY*

*Project RENEW / VFP Chapter 160*

*Agent Orange Working Group*
*71 Trần Quốc Toản, Hà Nội, Việt Nam*

*M    +8 490 342 0769*

*E     chuckusvn at gmail.com <chuckusvn at gmail.com>*
*Sk   chucksearcy*

The Ecologist
<http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2799927/grabbing_africas_seeds_usaid_eu_and_gates_foundation_back_agribusiness_seed_takeover.html>

23rd March 2015


*Grabbing Africa's seeds: USAID, EU and Gates Foundation back agribusiness
seed takeover *Stephen Greenberg & Oliver Tickell

*The latest salvo in the battle over Africa's seed systems has been fired,
writes Stephen Greenberg, with the Gates Foundation and USAID playing
puppet-masters to Africa's governments - now meeting in Addis Ababa - as
they drive forward corporation-friendly seed regulations that exclude and
marginalize the small farmers whose seeds and labour feed the continent.*



A battle is currently being waged over Africa's seed systems. After decades
of neglect and weak investment in African agriculture, there is renewed
interest in funding African agriculture.

These new investments take the form of philanthropic and international
development aid as well as private investment funds. They are based on the
potentially huge profitability of African agriculture - and seed systems
are a key target.

Right now ministers are co-ordinating their next steps at the 34th COMESA
<http://www.comesa.int/> (Common Market for Eastern and Southern
Africa)Intergovernmental
Committee meeting <http://www.au.int/en/content/18thCOMESA_SUMMIT> that
kicked off yesterday, 22nd March, in preparation for the main Summit that
will follow on 30th and 31st March 2015.


COMESA's key aim is to pave the way for a *"Continental Free Trade Area
(CFTA) in 2017 under the auspices of the African Union"* with uniform
regulations, including on agricultural products, seeds and GMOs.



A recent meeting on biotechnology and biosafety was held to establish
a *"COMESA
biotechnology and biosafety policy implementation plan"* (COMBIP) to roll
out from 2015-2019, *"leading to increased biotechnology applications and
agricultural commodity trade in the region."*



But read between the lines and its real purpose was to facilitate the
planting and commercialization of GMO crops in Africa all at one go,
instead of country by country. USAID Regional representatives for East
Africa, based in Nairobi, were present to monitor the process and ensure
the desired outcome.

And on the agenda for the main COMESA Summit next week is the approval of a
'Master Plan' for the implementation of the COMESA Harmonised Seed Trade
Regulations
<http://foodtradeesa.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/COMESA-Seed-Harmonisation-Regulations.pdf>
 agreed last year in Kinshasa.



The regulations, according to the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa
<http://www.seattleglobaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/AFSA.pdf>, *"will
greatly facilitate agricultural transformation in the COMESA member states
towards industrialization of farming systems based on the logic of the
highly controversial, failed and hopelessly doomed Green Revolution model
of agriculture."*



They *"promote only one type of seed breeding, namely industrial seed
breeding involving the use of advanced breeding technologies. The entire
orientation of the seed Regulations is towards genetically uniform,
commercially bred varieties in terms of seed quality control and variety
registration."*



*No place for small farmers!*



*"What is very clear is that small farmers in Africa, seeking to develop or
maintain varieties, create local seed enterprises or cultivate locally
adapted varieties are excluded from the proposed COMESA Seed Certification
System and Variety Release System, because these varieties willnot fulfill
the requirements for distinctness, uniformity and stability (DUS).*



*"Landraces or farmers' varieties usually display a high degree of genetic
heterogeneity and are adapted to the local environment under which they
were developed. In addition, such varieties are not necessarily distinct
from each other."*



COMESA's key agricultural objectives
<http://programmes.comesa.int/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=94&Itemid=111>
 are to raise production by 6% per year, *"integrate farmers into the
market economy"*, make Africa a *"strategic player in agricultural science
and technology development".*



To this end USAID is funding COMESA programmes for 'Coordinated
Agricultural Research and Technology Interventions' and 'A Regional
Approach Towards Biotechnology' - in other words, to create uniform
corporation-friendly regulations for seeds, agro-chemicals and GMOs across
the region.

More than 80% of Africa's seed supply currently comes from millions of
small-scale farmers recycling and exchanging seed from year to year. This
seed meets very diverse needs in very diverse conditions.

Farmers know the quality of 'recycled' seed, selected and saved from their
own crops. It is cheap and readily available. New varieties can be
introduced through informal trade within villages and beyond. This system
may not be perfect, but it has been broadly functional for generations.

The so-called 'formal' seed sector is a relatively new addition in Africa
and has a narrow focus on commercial crops, especially hybrid maize. This
commercial seed may offer yield advantages, but only in the right
conditions, e.g. when coupled with continuous use of synthetic fertilizer,
irrigation, larger pieces of land and mono-cropping - the Green Revolution
package.

Seed production in the formal sector goes through a number of stages,
starting with breeders' and pre-basic seed which has high varietal purity;
then foundation / basic seed, which is a bulking up of the breeders' seed;
then larger quantities of certified seed are produced for retail sale to
farmers.

In most countries in Africa, the public sector was responsible for
certified seed production and distribution. Lack of resources, especially
following structural adjustment imposed by the World Bank and IMF in the
1980s and 1990s, reduced the effectiveness of this system.

As a result, availability of certified seed was sometimes limited and
farmers often found it difficult to access this seed. Farmers continued
relying on the tried and trusted seed saved on their farms and exchanged
with one another.

*The new commercialisation agenda*



The new commercialisation agenda is based on the premise that the public
sector is inherently incapable of meeting farmer requirements for quality
seed.

This agenda is led by USAID and other G8 countries especially through the
New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, and philanthropic
institutions like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) working hand
in hand with multinational corporations (MNCs) including Monsanto,
Syngenta, Yara and others.

The EU also funded a key programme
<http://www.comesa.int/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=38>,
now concluded, the 'COMESA Regional Agro-Inputs Programme' (COMRAP), to the
tune of €20 million, which aims to *"reach farmers in each country to
improve their sustainable access to agro-inputs and services"*,* "strengthen
the capacity for the improvement of seed quality*" and *"harmonise seed
trade regulations throughout the COMESA region"*.



The first line of attack was to argue for the privatisation of certified
seed production and distribution, ostensibly to generate competition. This
was identified as a profitable niche in a sector otherwise characterised by
low demand, partly because farmers did not have the resources to pay for
commercial seed, and partly because their seed needs were already being met
through existing systems of production and distribution managed by farmers
themselves.

Over the past two decades, a long and slow process of seed law reviews,
sponsored by USAID and the G8, BMGF and others has secured this space for
private companies to profit
<https://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/270-general/52686-g8-new-alliance-for-food-security-and-nutrition-not-supportive-of-small-scale-food-producers.html>
 from seed production.



This opened the door to MNC involvement in seed production, including the
acquisition of every sizeable seed enterprise on the continent. The focus
remained on hybrid maize and a few other commercial crops with high demand
at national level, or niche on demand.

It now appears that phase two of the commercialisation agenda is being
launched. This begins the process of privatising the production of early
generation seed (EGS), the breeder and foundation seed.

Already plant variety protection laws are being enacted
<http://www.acbio.org.za/index.php/publications/seedfood-sovereignty/408-submission-by-acb-and-african-csos-to-aripo-on-its-draft-pvp-law-and-policies-november-2012>
 to allow for private ownership of germplasm previously in the public
domain. Now Green Revolution pundits are looking for opportunities to
remove public control of potentially profitable processes in EGS production.


*Gates, USAID and Deloitte study ways to commercialise early generation
seed production*


 To this end, BMGF and USAID commissioned US strategy consulting firm
Monitor-Deloitte
<http://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/strategy/solutions/monitor-deloitte-strategy-consulting.html>
to identify private business opportunities in EGS production. The study was
conducted in Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania and Zambia on maize, rice,
sorghum, cowpea, common beans, cassava and sweet potato.



BMGF and USAID have handpicked an elite group to meet behind closed doors
in London in March 2015 to discuss the consultant's report and to
strategise on how to open up another front in the battle to turn African
seed into a profit-making venture for MNCs.

What is remarkable about this meeting is that there are very few Africans
present. Those who are there mostly represent private sector interests,
including seed companies and traders' associations. There are no farmer
representatives.

This raises serious concerns about the transparency and accountability of
these processes. The image of colonial robber barons meeting in secret to
carve up the African continent arises unbidden in the mind.

*Private sector cherry picking with public subsidy*



The Deloitte report exposes a typical approach of private sector 'cherry
picking', where private companies identify profitable activities for their
own involvement.

While complaining incessantly about *"heavy state involvement"* they still
insist on selected heavy state involvement to cover unprofitable
interventions so that the private sector can take the profitable activities.



These include establishing systems, developing institutions, and even
engaging in some productive activities where profits are unlikely but which
are needed to allow the profit-making scheme to function.

The report uses cowpea production in Ghana as an example of where the
public sector should carry the extremely expensive breeder seed costs to
allow the private sector to profit in seed multiplication and distribution.

Breeder seed is prohibitively costly because of low multiplication rates
and low demand. But the demand that exists is nonetheless lucrative, so the
private sector wants to be involved in those parts of the production
process identified as profitable.

Where the whole chain is profitable, Deloitte proposes the public sector be
locked out of the production process. Examples are hybrid maize or closed
value chains where there is strong but limited demand and early production
processes are also potentially profitable, for example hybrid sorghum for
brewing.

Deloitte's proposal to *"channel government and donor financing into
supporting mechanisms for private investment in seed production"* is a
route to effectively subsidising MNCs at the expense of building farmer
capacity and resilience to produce quality seed to meet their own
context-specific needs.



*Active role for farmers disregarded*



A potential role for farmers in production or distribution of seed is not
even considered in the study, from conception to results. Indeed farmers
are viewed only as passive consumers of seed produced by others for a
profit.

While we can acknowledge that farmer-managed systems are not perfect, these
systems have survived through extremely adverse conditions. They
undoubtedly form a base for seed production and distribution that can be
built on. But they require support, especially from public R&D and
extension services.

There is a growing movement in Africa <http://afsafrica.org/> to reassert
the enduring importance of farmer-managed seed systems.
<http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2605389/ghanas_farmers_battle_monsanto_law_to_retain_seed_freedom.html>
 . Even under ideal circumstances, MNCs will not venture into the
production of many small crops where demand is fragmented nationally but is
very strong in local pockets.


The MNC business model of economies of scale and standardised products
cannot respond to the diverse needs of asset-poor but dynamic African
farmers.

Rather than engaging in partnerships with MNCs with dubious long-term
benefits for farmers, it will be far better for the public sector to orient
the capacity and resources at its disposal to work directly with farmers to
build on existing seed production and distribution activities.
 ------------------------------

*Stephen Greenberg** is a researcher at the African Centre for Biosafety,
based in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is currently coordinating a three
year research project in southern Africa to investigate the impact of Green
Revolution technologies on the livelihoods of small-scale farming
households.*


 *Oliver Tickell** edits The Ecologist.*


 *More information*

·         '*White men meet in London to plot ways of profiting off Africa's
seed systems*
<http://www.acbio.org.za/index.php/media/64-media-releases/475-white-men-meet-in-london-to-plot-ways-of-profiting-off-africas-seed-systems>',
African Centre for Biosafety media advisory.

·         African Centre for Biosafety <http://www.acbio.org.za/>.

·         Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa <http://afsafrica.org/>.




*​*
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