Whose Power to Control? Some Reflections on Seed Systems and Food Security in a Changing World

Tansey, Geoff

doi:10.1111/j.1759-5436.2011.00241.x

Cited by 15 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…These policy and program interventions also come with pressure from diverse actors who want their interests to be met with appropriate measures. Simultaneously, a country's political regime's governance and economic system want policies to align with its interests and priorities, making it difficult for policymakers and legislatures (Tansey, 2011;Mockshell and Birner, 2015). Moreover, actors' diverse interests and strategies contribute to the lack of coherent policies, programs, and practices to create a robust seed system development and enhance seed security (de Boef et al, 2010;Amanor, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Until the advent of the first Green Revolution (GR), the ageold practice of seed saving, selection and exchange, and farmers' knowledge associated with seed use and seed sourcing were the single most important seed systems farmers used in Ethiopia. The 1960s and 1970s transfer of the technology paradigm during the first GR in Africa promoted formal seed systems to boost agricultural production and productivity (Groosman et al, 1991;Tansey, 2011;Byerlee, 2020). Since then, developing countries, including Ethiopia, have used the linear model of formal seed systems as a blueprint solution for seed sector development.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Politics of Seed in Ethiopia's Agricultural Transformation: Pathways to Seed System Development

Mulesa

2021

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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Seed system development in the developing world, especially in Africa, has become a political space. This article analyzes current Ethiopian seed politics in light of the historical dynamics of national and international seed system politics and developments. Drawing on multiple power analysis approaches and employing the lens of “international seed regimes,” the article characterizes the historical pattern of seed regimes in Ethiopia. While colonial territories underwent three historical seed regime patterns—the first colonial seed regime, the second post-WWII public seed regime, and the third post-1980s corporate-based neoliberal seed regime, Ethiopia has only experienced one of these. Until the 1950s, when the first US government's development assistance program—the Point 4 Program—enabled the second government-led seed regime to emerge, the farmers' seed systems remained the only seed innovation and supply system. The first colonial seed regime never took hold as the country remained uncolonized, and the government has hitherto resisted the third corporate-based neoliberal seed regime. In the current conjuncture in the contemporary Ethiopian seed regime, four different approaches to pluralistic seed system development are competing: (1) government-led formalization, (2) private-led formalization, (3) farmer-based localization, and (4) community-based integrative seed system developments. The Pluralistic Seed System Development Strategy (PSSDS) from 2013 is a uniquely diverse approach to seed system development internationally; however, it has yet to realize its equity and sustainability potential. This study shows that the agricultural modernization dependency and government-led formal seed systems development have sidelined opportunities to tap into the strength of other alternatives identified in the PSSDS. In conclusion, an integrative and inclusive seed sector is possible if the government takes leadership and removes the current political, organizational, and economic barriers for developing a truly pluralistic seed system.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Politics of Seed in Ethiopia's Agricultural Transformation: Pathways to Seed System Development

Mulesa

2021

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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“…GM seed technology could be utilized in a manner better suited to the needs and capacities of developing agricultural economies than at present, where broad public‐good concerns appear a second order priority to purely commercial interests, despite philanthropic efforts (Stone, ; Tansey, ). Achieving this, alongside broad trust in the technology, will require major investment in publicly controlled agricultural science institutions which survive beyond the individual projects and partnerships, and enable independently formulated, democratically controlled science and technology strategies.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sovereignty, Risk and Biotechnology: Zambia's 2002 GM Controversy in Retrospect

Bowman¹

2015

Development and Change

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The southern African food crisis of 2002 led to one of the most significant controversies over the use of genetically modified (GM) crops in the developing world to date. Zambia's staunch opposition to GM food aid during the crisis is still frequently used as a reference point in debates over GM seed technology in agricultural development, and the morality of advanced biotechnology. This article re‐examines the controversy and its contemporary relevance using oral history interviews with key scientists, policy makers and development practitioners engaged in debates and decision‐making processes in Zambia in 2002, alongside a review of discourses in the Zambian press. The author argues that, rather than different perceptions of health and environmental risks derived from GM crops, it was questions of sovereign regulatory control of technology in a context of diminished state capacity — and the decline in the Zambian state's capacity for agricultural science research in particular — that played a central role in shaping anti‐GM attitudes. In addition, trust in the arguments of GM advocates was diminished by communication efforts which treated Zambian scientists and policy elites as a lay rather than an expert audience.

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“…The result in country after country is a small or virtually absent formal seed system managed by the public sector. For this reason, RTB crops are less present in investments and debates around genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and associated intellectual property rights (Tansey, 2011). Recent studies that do indicate a potential for public-private partnerships in RTB seed systems, in particular for the production of highquality breeder and foundations seed (e.g.…”

Section: An Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why interventions in the seed systems of roots, tubers and bananas crops do not reach their full potential

Almekinders¹,

Walsh²,

Jacobsen

et al. 2019

Food Sec.

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Seed systems for roots, tuber, and banana (RTB) crops receive relatively little attention from development-oriented research and commercial seed sector actors, despite their importance for food security, nutrition and rural livelihoods. We review RTB seed systems-with particular reference to potato, sweetpotato, cassava, yam and banana -to reflect on current seed system development approaches and the unique nature of these systems. We refer to our own experiences, literature and 13 case studies of RTB seed system interventions to identify gaps in our knowledge on farmer practices in sourcing and multiplying seed, and processes affecting seed quality. Currently, most approaches to developing RTB seed systems favour decentralised multiplication models to make quality seed available to smallholder farmers. Nevertheless, arguments and experiences show that in many situations, the economic sustainability of these models cannot be guaranteed, among others because the effective demand of farmers for seed from vegetatively propagated crops is unclear. Despite the understudied nature of farmers' agronomic and social practices in relation to seed production and sourcing in RTB crops, there is sufficient evidence to show that local RTB seed systems are adaptive and dynamic. Our analysis suggests the paramount importance of understanding farmers' effective demand for seed and how this affects the sustainable supply of quality seed from specialized producer-entrepreneurs, regardless of the seed system paradigm. From the case studies we learnt that few interventions are designed with a rigorous understanding of these issues; in particular, what types of interventions work for which actors, where, and why, although this is a necessary condition for prioritizing investments to increase the use of improved seed by smallholder farmers.

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Whose Power to Control? Some Reflections on Seed Systems and Food Security in a Changing World

Cited by 15 publications

References 7 publications

Politics of Seed in Ethiopia's Agricultural Transformation: Pathways to Seed System Development

Politics of Seed in Ethiopia's Agricultural Transformation: Pathways to Seed System Development

Sovereignty, Risk and Biotechnology: Zambia's 2002 GM Controversy in Retrospect

Why interventions in the seed systems of roots, tubers and bananas crops do not reach their full potential

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