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Business Profits Or Diverse Food Systems? 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 Neema Agricole du Faso S.A. Faso) NAFASO New Alliance for Food Security ASIWA Alliance for a Seed Industry NAFSN in West Africa and Nutrition in Africa Organization for Economic CBD Convention on Biological Diversity OECD Cooperation and Development CEDAW Convention on the Elimination Plant breeders’ rights of all Forms of Discrimination PBR 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
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