Business profits or diverse food systems?

88 Pages·2017·3.17 MB·English

Report
Business profits
or diverse food
systems?
Threats to peasant seeds and implications in West Africa
Published by FIAN International for the Global Network for the Right
to Food and Nutrition, and the Global Convergence of Land and Water
Struggles – West Africa
February 2018
Research Team:
Ms Rosalie Ouoba (Réseau d’appui à la Citoyenneté des Femmes rurales
d’Afrique de l’Ouest et du Tchad, RESACIFROAT), Mr. Noufou Koussoubé
(Fédération Nationale des Groupements Naam, FNGN), Mr. Ousmane
Tiéndrébeogo (Syndicat National des Travailleurs de l’Agropastorale du
Burkina Faso, SYNTAP), Mr. Ali Tapsoba (Terre à Vie), Mr. Pierre Dayamba
(Mouvement Africain pour les Droits Environnementaux de la Région
de l‘Est, MADEE), Mr. Lucien Silga (FIAN Burkina Faso), Mr. Souleymane
Yougbaré (Conseil national pour l’Agriculture biologique, CNABio), Mr.
Samuel Somda (Coalition pour la Protection du Patrimoine génétique
Africain, COPAGEN) , Ms Chantal Jacovetti (Coordination Nationale des
Organisations Paysannes du Mali, CNOP-Mali), Mr. Omer Agoligan (Comi-
té Ouest-Africain pour les Semences Paysannes, COASP), Mr. Daniel Fyfe
(FIAN International), Mr. Philip Seufert (FIAN International).
Coordination of the drafting of this report:
Philip Seufert and Daniel Fyfe (FIAN International)
The research team would like to thank the following persons for their
contributions during the research process:
Mr. Richard Minougou (Association pour la Protection de la Nature
au Sahel, APN-Sahel), Ms Aline Zongo (Coalition pour la Protection du
Patrimoine génétique Africain, COPAGEN), Ms Corine Duc (Fédération
Nationale des Organisations Paysannes du Burkina Faso, FENOP),
Mr. Christian Legay (Autre Terre), Mr. Guy Yemeogo (Centre d’Etudes
Economiques et Sociales de l’Afrique de l’Ouest, CESAO-AI), Ms Anne
Berson Déna (Biodiversité : Échanges et Diffusion d’Expériences,
BEDE), Mr. Mohamed Coulibaly (legal advisor), Mr. Guy Kastler (La Via
Campesina), Mr. Antonio Onorati (International Planning Committee for
Food Sovereignty, IPC), Mr. Robert Ali Brac de la Perrière (Biodiversité :
Échanges et Diffusion d’Expériences, BEDE), Mr. Bernhard Walter (Bread
for the World), Ms Mariam Mayet (African Centre for Biodiversity), Mr.
Agostinho Bento (African Centre for Biodiversity), Ms Sofia Monsalve
Suárez (FIAN International), Ms Denisse Córdova (FIAN International), as
well as all the participants of the restitution workshop that was held on
22 to 24 November 2017 in Ouagadougou.
FIAN International,
Secretariat of the Global Network
for the Right to Food and Nutrition
Willy-Brand-Platz 5
69115 Heidelberg/Germany
Photos: FIAN
With the financial support of:
This publication has been produced with the financial supportf
of the European Commission (EC). The points of view contained
in this publication are the sole responsibility of the authors and
can in no way be taken to represent the views of the EC.
Report
Business profits
or diverse food
systems?
Threats to peasant seeds and implications in West Africa
Table of Contents
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 6
KEY MESSAGES 7
1. INTRODUCTION 10
2. METHODOLOGY 12
3. OBSERVATIONS: THE SITUATION WITH RESPECT TO SEEDS USED
BY PEASANT COMMUNITIES 16
3. 1. Types of seed used by peasant communities 17
3. 2. Consequences of the use of different types of seed for peasant communities 20
3.2.1. Seed access, saving, selection, and use 20
3.2.2. Yields and production methods 25
3.2.3. Economic implications 27
3.2.4. Diversity of agricultural production 28
3.2.5. Food and nutrition 29
3.2.6. Impacts on human and animal health 30

4. BACKGROUND: THE PUSH FOR A COMMERCIAL SEED SYSTEM
AND THE DESTRUCTION OF PEASANT SEED SYSTEMS 34
4. 1. Promotion of commercial seeds and GMOs by current policies 35
4.1.1. Promotion of a commercial seed system
in Burkina Faso and West Africa 35
4.1.2. The introduction of GMOs in Burkina Faso 41
4. 2. A legal framework that marginalizes peasant seed systems
and promotes the commercial system and GMOs 45
4.2.1. The Burkina Faso seed law and the West African harmonization framework 45
4.2.2. The Burkina Faso national and subregional biosafety frameworks 51
4. 3. An official discourse denigrating peasant seed and peasant seed systems 52
5. HUMAN RIGHTS ANALYSIS 56
5. 1. Seed-related human rights obligations of states 57
5.1.1. The right to food and nutrition 57
5.1.2. Peasants’ right to save, use, exchange, and sell seeds 60
5.1.3. Obligations concerning the preservation of biodiversity 63
5.1.4. Obligations regarding biosafety 64
5. 2. Extraterritorial obligations 65
5. 3. Application of obligations to the transformation of seed systems
in Burkina Faso and West Africa 66
5.3.1. Obligation to respect, protect, and fulfil peasants’ access to and use of seeds 66
5.3.2. Obligation to preserve biodiversity 70
5.3.3. Obligation to protect the population from the risks and hazards of biotechnologies 72
5.3.4. Extraterritorial obligations 73

6. RECOMMENDATIONS 76
BIBLIOGRAPHY 80
ANNEX 84
List of abbreviations
AATF African Agricultural ICESCR International Covenant on Economic,
Technology Foundation Social and Cultural Rights
ACHPR African Charter on Human INERA Environment and Agricultural
and Peoples’ Rights Research Institute
AGRA Alliance for a Green Revolution IPR intellectual property rights
in Africa
IRSS Institut de recherche en sciences
AICB Interprofessional Cotton Association de la santé
of Burkina Faso
ITPGRFA International Treaty on Plant Genetic
AIPO African Intellectual Property Resources for Food and Agriculture
Organization
LMO Living modified organism
ANB National Biosafety Agency (Burkina
NAFASO Neema Agricole du Faso S.A.
Faso)
ASIWA Alliance for a Seed Industry NAFSN New Alliance for Food Security
and Nutrition in Africa
in West Africa
CBD Convention on Biological Diversity OECD Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development
CEDAW Convention on the Elimination
PBR Plant breeders’ rights
of all Forms of Discrimination
against Women PNSR National Program for the Rural Sector
CESCR United Nations Committee on PPP Public-private partnership
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
PVC plant variety certificate
CILSS Comité permanent inter-états de lutte
SNS National Seeds Service
contre la sécheresse dans le Sahel
SDDSS Sustainable Development Strategy
CONAGREP National Commission
for the Seed Sector
for the Administration
of Plant Genetic Resources TRIPS Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects
of Intellectual Property Rights
CSO civil society organization
UDHR Universal Declaration of Human Rights
DUS distinctness, uniformity, and stability
UNPSB National Union of Seed Producers
ECOWAS Economic Community of Burkina Faso
of West African States
UPOV International Union for the Protection
FAO United Nations Food of New Varieties of Plants
and Agriculture Organization
USAID United States Agency
FNGN Fédération nationale for International Development
des groupements Naam
WAEMU West African Economic
GC General Comment and Monetary Union
GCLWS-WA Global Convergence of Land WASP West African Seed Program
and Water Struggles – West Africa
WECARD West and Central African Council
GM Genetically modified for Agricultural Research and
GMO Menetically modified organism Development
GR General Recommendation WTO World Trade Organization
ICCPR International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights
Key messages
1. Peasant seeds1 and peasant seed systems2 play particularly more irregular and unpredictable
a key role in feeding the people of Burkina Faso rainfall.
and West Africa with healthy and nutritious
food based on agroecology and ensuring their 3. Peasant seed systems and the commercial
food sovereignty. The vast majority of seeds used system are two very different regimes of seed
by peasant communities are selected by them management and use, involving fundamentally
from traditional/peasant varieties. Peasants different conceptions of what a seed is, and about
appreciate these varieties for their qualities, the relationship between peasants and seeds. While
including the possibility to conserve them, their peasant seed systems are rooted in the way of life,
adaptability to local conditions, the great diversity the social relations and the knowledge of peasant
of crops and varieties, and the nutritional and communities, and are based on their customary and
taste qualities of the foods produced from them. collective rights that guarantee their autonomy,
Peasant seed systems are also the guarantors of the commercial system considers peasants as users
agricultural biodiversity, a key issue for addressing of “genetic material” that is developed outside the
climate change and for the realization of the communities and then made available to them
right to food. Rural women play a crucial role primarily through sale. The use of such seeds by
in seed management, including their selection, peasants is also limited by intellectual property
conservation and use. rights (IPR) over these varieties.
2. The majority of peasant communities in Burkina 4. The promotion of genetically modified organisms
Faso also use commercial seeds, which are offered (GMOs) in West Africa must be seen in this context
to them through projects and programs, either as of privatization of seeds. Burkina Faso was the first
donations or with subsidies. The introduction of West African country to introduce GMOs, and Bt
these seeds is a gradual process with significant cotton was grown on a large scale between 2008 and
differences in the rate of use from one community 2016. Because the cotton sector is highly centralized
to another and from one crop to another. The use and dominated by three cotton companies,
of these seeds is the result of an offensive, led by the producers state that they have not had the
different actors (government, agricultural research opportunity to refuse GMO cotton. GMOs thus
institutes, development cooperation partners, represent an extreme case of the dependence of
initiatives supported or supported by the private peasants on varieties that are protected by patents,
sector) with significant financial resources, which that are accompanied by a specific technological
aims to put in place a commercial seed system that package and for which producers have to pay
is based on certified seeds of so-called “improved royalties to the companies holding these patents.
varieties,” including hybrid seeds. One of the In addition, GMOs expose farming communities
main pretexts for encouraging peasants to use to risks of contamination as well as risks for
these seeds is the difficulty many peasants face in ecosystems and human and animal health.
dealing with the consequences of climate change, GM cotton was introduced with the aim of making
Burkina Faso a showcase for GMOs in West Africa
and the strong political will prevailed over an
1 Peasant seeds (and peasant seedlings) are selected and multiplied
adequate risk assessment. To date, there has been
by peasant communities or collectives in their fields, with peasant
no official study of the impact of Bt cotton on health
methods that are non-transgressive of the plant cell and within the
reach of the end user. These seeds and plants are renewed by suc- and ecosystems. Despite the failure of Bt cotton – in
cessive multiplications in free pollination and/or in mass selection.
2016, cotton companies announced its suspension
They can be exchanged freely as long as the rights of use defined by
– Burkina Faso is preparing the launch of GMO
the communities or collectives that give life to them are respected.
cowpea and mosquitoes.
2 In this study, we refer to peasant seed systems as the set of peasant
practices and knowledge related to seed use and management.
7
5. The introduction of commercial seeds and GMOs 7. Given that peasant communities in Burkina Faso
fundamentally changes the practices and lives of and West Africa exercise their rights to seeds
peasant communities. The access of peasants to through peasant seed systems, the exclusive
seeds happens increasingly through the sale, and promotion of commercial seeds and a seed system
the production of seeds is gradually dissociated based on IPRs through the government of Burkina
from the agricultural activities and the daily life of Faso and donors of development cooperation
peasant communities. In addition, seeds produced threatens the realization of the human right
from commercial varieties are reusable for only to food and nutrition. In addition, current seed
two to three years, can be less well preserved and policies reduce agricultural biodiversity, rather
require a high use of external inputs (chemical than preserving and promoting it. The introduction
fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, etc.), thus of GM cotton has been the subject of clear breach
implying a net increase in production costs and a of the precautionary principle by the Burkinabe
loss of autonomy for peasants. The use of chemicals authorities throughout the process that has
and GMOs also cause health and environmental led the country to large-scale cultivation of Bt
problems. The introduction of commercial seeds cotton. Human rights obligations require states
is further accompanied by the abandonment of to recognize, protect and support peasant seed
traditional/peasant varieties and, consequently, a systems, preserve biodiversity and effectively
decrease in agricultural biodiversity. With regard protect people from the risks of biotechnology.
to food and nutrition, communities are finding that
the taste and nutritional value of foods produced 8. The dynamics described also concern, directly
from commercial seeds are lower and that they and indirectly, the extraterritorial obligations of
can better preserve foods derived from peasant industrialized countries, which oblige them to not
varieties. impair human rights in the “recipient” countries of
development cooperation, including with respect to
6. The transition towards a commercial seed seeds. They further require them to ensure that the
system at the expense of peasant seed systems activities of TNCs that are actively involved in the
is the result of current policies, which propagate transformation of seed systems in Burkina Faso do
commercial seeds, promote their production not undermine peasants’ access to seeds or restrict
and promote the creation of a seed market. their use by peasants. In addition, the industrialized
Public agricultural research is interested almost countries, and in particular the European States
exclusively in commercial varieties of some crops and the European Union, are the main promoters
that are considered as priorities. Although the legal of a restrictive regime for the protection of IPRs on
framework of Burkina Faso (and other West African seeds, in particular through the International Union
countries) gives traditional/peasant varieties the for Plant Variety Protection (UPOV).
status of a national heritage to be managed for the
benefit of peasant communities, it is focused on the 9. Burkina Faso and West Africa are at a crossroads
production of certified seed of registered varieties regarding policies and management of seeds,
that are protected by intellectual property rights as well as agricultural and food policies. The
(IPRs). The seed law does not clarify the status of fundamental choice to be made by the people and
peasant seeds and does not guarantee the rights of the states of West African is whether to pursue
peasants to save, use, exchange and sell their seeds. policies that respond to the economic interests
The national legal and policy frameworks are of a few companies, or to put in place policies and
mirrored by the logic of the existing sub-regional legal frameworks that are based on and promote
frameworks, notably the regulation on the the rights and knowledge of millions of peasants,
harmonization of the rules governing the quality food sovereignty, diverse food systems and peasant
control, the certification and the marketing of agroecology.
plant and plant seeds of the ECOWAS-WAEMU-CILSS
region, as well as the regime for the protection of
industrial property rights of the African Intellectual
Property Organization (AIPO).
8 Threats to peasant seeds
and implications in West Africa – Report
9
1. Introduction