Esther Tola
Shopping for seed at an input trade fair in Swaziland. Credit: Mantoe Phakathi/IPS
MAPUTO, Mozambique – (IPS) Improved seeds are key to increasing farmers’ yields and profits, but the seeds sold by multinational seed companies cannot be replanted the next year. This is fine for the companies bottom lines, but farmers who must buy new seeds every year are vulnerable.
Companies such as Monsanto and Dupont develop improved seeds resistant to adverse conditions such as drought, flooding or pests. The companies patent these improved seed varieties, meaning they retain the exclusive rights to produce them. Buying seed of this kind only gives farmers the right to plant the variety for one growing season.
Companies sometimes make farmers sign contracts according to which they promise not to try to save the seed for the upcoming year or develop other breeds from these seeds under the principle of “intellectual property”.
Farmers who want to buy high-yielding, pest-resistant seed, have few options other than a few dominant companies, who have an effective monopoly.
When all goes well, this situation is profitable for both parties. The high-yielding seeds produce bumper harvests, bringing farmers enough profits to pay for new seeds the next season. But when the harvest fails – or if farmers spend their money before the next planting season – the results can be devastating.
“The problem is that many farmers are poor so they can’t afford to buy new seeds,” Stephen Muchiri, CEO of Eastern Africa Farmers Federation emphasised.
“African countries can follow the example of Malawi by not using genetically-modified seeds and still having good results. It’s just about supporting local farmers and giving them proper seeds. That’s what African governments should do and so far they’ve not done it.”
What Muchiri likes about Malawi, is that its government has prioritised local seed development. At an agriculture fair held in August, the government announced that priority would be given to seed grown by Malawians.
The move was praised by Grace Mijiga Mhango, chair person of the Grain Traders and Processors Association of Malawi. She explained that her association’s functioning is quite different from big seed companies’.
“We do what we call contract farming, consisting in identifying a market and then asking a farmer to multiply the type of seeds we need on behalf of that market so they have a direct link.”
Traders get high-quality seed developed by Malawian government researchers, and get local farmers to grow it in large quantities for sale. Mhango stressed that producing seed this way – instead of importing it from overseas – favours farmers by keeping the profits within the country at every stage.
Sindiso Ngwenya, secretary general of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), says it is up to governments to play their part.
“Governments are there to rule, to govern, they should put regulations preventing seed companies from practising monopoly,” he said. “Even in terms of intellectual property rights, there’s nothing preventing our own researchers from developing these seeds. We’ve had potato crops developed by African scientists but what has happened is that the patents have gone to those financing them. That’s why governments should start funding local research so that we’ll keep patents and become independent,” Ngwenya added.
The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa is planning to push strongly for the local development of seeds, insisting that more credit be made available to local seed companies as part of increased support from governments for farmers and agriculture.
Local seed development in Africa is definitely an issue, considering it could be a stepping stone to ensure profits for farmers and food sustainability on the continent.
