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Note: This document is from the archive of the Africa Policy E-Journal, published
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Africa: Seed Updates
Africa: Seed Updates
Date distributed (ymd): 000330
Document reposted by APIC
+++++++++++++++++++++Document Profile+++++++++++++++++++++
Region: Continent-Wide
Issue Areas: +economy/development+
Summary Contents:
This posting contains (1) a call from Southern Africa for
urgent action to ensure sustainable use of local seeds in
recovery from the current floods, and (2) an alert from the
Rural Advance Foundation International (RAFI) on the dangerous
implications for farmers world-wide of new patents issued for
"terminator" seeds by the US Department of Agriculture.
+++++++++++++++++end profile++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
APIC Announcement
APIC's web page on Africa's Debt
(http://www.africapolicy.org/action/debt.htm) has been
updated, including links to the April 9-10 national
mobilization in Washington by Jubilee 2000 USA
(http://www.j2000usa.org).
SOUTHERN AFRICA AFTER THE YEAR 2000 FLOODS: SEED-INITIATIVE
Open Letter from the Southern African region addressed to
regional and international bodies in disaster relief and
developmental assistance
24 March 2000
SADC Plant Genetic Resources Centre (SPGRC), Zambia
E-mail: spgrc@zamnet.zm
Community Technology Development Trust (CTDT), Zimbabwe
E-mail: tactdtms@harare.iafrica.com
Open Letter also available at:
http://www.snafu.de/~usp/seed-ini.htm
The Southern African region is currently reeling under the
havoc being inflicted by cyclone Eline and Gloria, and
uncounted communities in the flood stricken areas of Botswana,
Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe have already lost most
of their food, shelter, seed material and livestock. This is
a tragedy for the livelihoods of families and communities in
affected rural and urban areas, and will undoubtedly have
serious economic implications, as most countries will try to
come to terms with the reality of these devasting floods.
In this context, we applaud the efforts being made by various
local and international organisations as they are battling to
bring in assistance in an endeavour to save lives and provide
the immediate necessary relief supplies to the flood victims.
However, with regard to the restoration of a sustainable
agriculture in future, we are appealing to the regional and
international community, and to organizations in disaster
relief and developmental assistance to take precautions:
- to prevent the importation of inappropriate seeds to the
Southern African region which can undermine agrobiodiversity
and thus food security for years; and
- to support efforts to reconstitute locally adapted planting
material and quality seed material/varieties, like indigenous
landraces or famers' varieties appropriate to the various
ecosystems.
This will need to be done right now in order to ensure food
security and nutrition security for all those affected by the
floods in the region.
As pointed out by the FAO's "Global Plan of Action for the
Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Plant Genetic
Resources for Food and Agriculture": "Food aid, combined with
the importation of often poorly adapted seed varieties, can
lower yields and keep them low for years. While addressing the
immediate crisis, such practices can exacerbate hunger
conditions, undermine food security and increase costs of
donor assistance well into the future."
In our view, the disaster in Southern Africa requires the
co-operation of governments, private sector, NGOs and Civil
Society in the region and beyond in an effort to put in place
a co-ordinated initiative and mechanisms at the national and
sub-regional level, which are capable to deal fast and
sustainably with this unfortunate situation.
Therefore we propose the following steps to be taken:
Short-term:
- There is need to initiate country specific seed
requirements assessment by crop and quantity. In this context
we are appealing to the Southern African Development Community
(SADC) Food Security Co-ordinating Unit to:
- immediately start specific initiatives in collaboration
with other SADC sectors, seed companies and NGOs to put in
place a framework which should start right away to work on the
seed needs of each country affected by the floods;
- find out about the capacities of the flood affected Member
States to meet the seed demands of farmers and communities, as
well as their abilities to contribute to sustainable
solutions.
- From April onwards the wintercrops can be sown to the
fields in Southern Africa.
There is an urgent need to compile current seed
stocks/reserves held by the public, and private sector, by
local breeders, and farmers and NGOs in the region by crop and
possible by variety in-order to determine what is locally
available. This will enable those who would like to purchase
and assist flood victims, to initiate contacts and purchase
appropriate relief seed supplies in time. Such information
need to be shared within the region and abroad to form the
basis of the regional seed strategy requirements.
As a first and fast response to the disaster an immediate
review study of seeds stock in the region is actually being
initiated by Community Technology Development Trust and SADC
Plant Genetic Resources Centre and conducted in order to
compile a data base of the reserves by country and
institution. This study will probably be available at the
beginning of April 2000 to those who may want to purchase such
local seed for relief purposes.
Mid-term:
2) The next step would be the identification of those
countries and stakeholders which have the capacity to multiply
such seed during this coming winter season, that is May to
October 2000. Local, national and regional initiatives and
institutions, of the formal as well as informal seed sector,
have to be included in this effort as they do possess local
knowledge as well as necessary contacts.
Ways to restore agricultural production in the flooded areas:
Commercial agriculture
For most large scale commercial farming, recovery will be
based on financial assistance to enable purchase of inputs for
the next farming season as well as rehabilitation of the
damaged infrastructure.
Small-Scale Farming
For the rural smallholder farming communities, the majority in
the region, recovery will be much more complex. The floods
have resulted in the complete loss of their ways of life. The
types of seed lost are not easily replaceable. This is because
each community and household normally maintain their own
distinct types of varieties nurtured through generations of
selections and maintenance.
Short-term Solution
The immediate solution would be to restore farming which forms
a livelihood as quickly as possible. This will entail
distribution of even those varieties that are not familiar,
but are from similar areas in the region. However, the choice
should be for open-pollinated varieties of a wide range of
varieties. This way the seed can act as a starting base for
the farmers to make future selections and the larger the
number of varieties the more future stability is ensured.
Long-term Solution
The types of varieties preferred in these areas may be known
and in some cases small representative samples of some of the
varieties may be available from local seed companies, research
institutions and genebanks. In this case a programme of seed
multiplication should be started to increase seed to required
amounts for re-introduction in areas where they are lost.
We suggest that this will be the ideal and appropriate route
to take as this will avoid seed importation with regard to the
sowing/planting season from October 2000 onwards. We urge the
regional and international community, and organizations in
disaster relief and developmental assistance to consider the
suggested route particularly otherwise there is always the
risk of bringing in seed materials which are not adapted to
the regional eco-zones, farming practices, cultural and food
habits of the communities.
Concern related to genetically modified varieties
Moreover, the major concern of the plant genetic resources
conservation community, is another current threat associated
with seed importation: as there is the possibility of
receiving hybrids, unadapted cultivars and genetically
modified crop varieties related seeds as relief, without prior
approval by the flood-affected countries.
In the case of genetically modified crop varieties, donating
countries and other bodies must declare them before providing
such assistance. This will protect our region from becoming a
testing ground or a dumping ground for such genetically
modified seed materials. The same applies to food aid imported
from countries growing such varieties.
In addition to local and regional producers/breeders and
farmers, institutes related to the Consultative Group on
International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), such as the
SADC/CIMMYT, SADC/CIAT, SADC/IITA and SADC/ICRISAT programmes
for maize, bean, cowpea, sorghum and pearl millet should be
involved in the winter seed production of cereals and grain
legumes. This will enable the region to be able to cope with
the seed requirements of these countries well ahead of time
and avoid panic when the 2000/2001 cropping season approaches.
Secondly, the aspect of importing seed materials which are not
suited to our region and particularly genetically modified
crops should be avoided.
We are calling the international and regional community
concerned in assisting the flood affected countries and
communities to join hands in an effort to restore a
sustainable agriculture in the Southern African region after
the floods thus to emphasize on establishing a system that
will strengthens local farmers' and communities' abilities to
restore food security and agriculture.
The Southern African Seed-Initiative is initiated by: SADC
Plant Genetic Resources Centre (SPGRC), Zambia and Community
Technology Development Trust (CTDT), Zimbabwe
Undersigned by (individuals and/or organizations):
Batsalano Coyne - Tika-Tikwe BioResources Trust, Botswana; Dr
Mkamanga - SPGRC, Lusaka-Zambi;a Dr Mpofu - Seed Services,
Zimbabwe; Ms S.Ncube - Hivos, Zimbabwe; Ms J.Chidavaenzi -
Centre for Total Transformation, Zimbabwe; Ms Machiri - SADC
Food Security Network, Zimbabwe; Mr E.Chiwona - Malawi Plant
Genetic Resources Centre, Malawi; Maxwell Mapako - Biomass
Users Network, Zimbabwe; Ebbie Dengu - ITDG, Zimbabwe; Godfrey
Mwila - Min. of Agric. Food and Fisheries; Ute Sprenger -
Africa Committee, Foundation Redistribution, Germany; Mr
Mugwagwa - Biotechnology Trust of Zimbabwe
The review study on reserves of local seed for relief purposes
will most probably be available at around the beginning of
April 2000. Requests by organisations who may want to access
this briefing in order to purchase appropriate seeds should be
directed at CTDT (E-mail: tactdtms@harare.iafrica.com).
Rural Advance Foundation International (RAFI)
News Release
3/24/2000
RAFI International Office, 110 Osborne Street, Suite 202,
Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3L 1Y5 Canada Tel: 204 453-5259 Fax: 204
925-8034 email: rafi@rafi.org http://www.rafi.org
USDA Betrays Public Trust with Two New Terminator Patents
Will USDA's Biotech Advisory Board Demand Accountability?
The Rural Advancement Foaundation International (RAFI), an
international civil society organization based in Canada,
announced today that the US Department of Agriculture (USDA)
holds two new patents on the controversial Terminator
technology, the genetic engineering of plants to render their
seeds sterile. If commercialized, Terminator would make it
impossible for farmers to save seeds from their harvest,
forcing them to return to the commercial seed market every
year.
'The US government is advancing research and squandering
taxpayer dollars on a technology that has been universally
condemned because it is bad for farmers, food security and
biodiversity,' says Pat Mooney, Executive Director of RAFI. '
It's an egregious misallocation of public resources for the
sole purpose of maximizing seed industry profits,' adds
Mooney.
'It's disgraceful,' says Hope Shand, RAFI's Research Director.
'We were shocked to discover USDA's new patents because when
we met with US Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Richard
Rominger on two separate occasions last year, his staff
assured us in no uncertain terms that there were no more
patents in the works. Why didn't we get the straight story?'
asks Shand.
'Despite mounting opposition from national governments, United
Nations' agencies, farmers, scientists and civil society
organizations around the world, USDA continues to ignore the
public outcry at home and abroad,' adds Silvia Ribeiro, RAFI
Programme Officer. Last month, for example, the Director
General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization declared FAO's opposition to Terminator. Earlier
this month, the state of Maryland (US) introduced a bill to
ban Terminator seeds. (See RAFI Communique, 'Suicide Seeds on
the Fast Track,' Feb./March, 2000,http://www.rafi.org).
According to RAFI, the new patents on genetic seed
sterilization were issued in 1999. (US Patent No. 5,925,808
issued on July 20, 1999 and US Patent No. 5,977,441 issued on
November 2, 1999). The patents are jointly owned by USDA and
Delta & Pine Land (the world's largest cotton seed company),
the owners of the original 1998 patent. The USDA's new patents
share the same titles, inventors, and abstracts as the earlier
patent, but they describe new innovations and demonstrate that
USDA scientists are continuing to refine the technology and
advance the research.
On October 28, 1999 representatives from a broad base of civil
society organizations (CSOs) met with US Secretary of
Agriculture Dan Glickman to demand that his agency abandon
research and development of genetic seed sterilization.
Participants included the American Corn Growers Association,
Consumers Union, National Family Farm Coalition, Ralph Nader
of Public Citizen, International Center for Technology
Assessment, Mothers and Others for a Livable Planet, Consumer
Federation, Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, RAFI, and
RAFI-USA. Less than five days later, USDA won a new patent on
Terminator.
Duped and Betrayed: 'We feel duped and betrayed,' says Gary
Goldberg, CEO of the American Corn Growers Association. 'We
demand to know why the USDA continues to invest taxpayer
dollars on anti-farmer research that, if commercialized, will
hold farmers hostage to giant agribusiness corporations,' said
Goldberg.
Destroying National Seed Sovereignty: USDA's growing portfolio
of Terminator patents sends an ominous message to the rest of
the world, says Rafael Alegria, General Coordinator of Via
Campesina, the largest confederation of peasants' and small
farmers' organizations in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe
and North America. 'It amounts to a declaration of war against
the 1.4 billion people who depend on farm-saved seeds mainly
poor people and it's an assault on global food security,'
explains Alegria.
Neth Dano, Executive Director of SEARICE, the Southeast Asian
Regional Institute for Community Education, agrees, 'This
technology goes far beyond intellectual property. A patent
expires after 20 years, but if Terminator seeds are
commercialized it will give a handful of multinational Gene
Giants a monopoly with no expiration date. This technology
aims to eliminate the right of farmers to save seeds and do
local plant breeding, and it will destroy the concept of
national seed sovereignty.'
Litmus Test for USDA's Biotech Advisory Board: USDA's
newly-appointed Biotech Advisory Board will hold its first
meeting on March 29-30. 'It's a litmus test for the USDA
advisory board,' explains RAFI's Shand. Will they or won't
they demand accountability from USDA? There's no doubt that
the biotech advisory board has a full plate and it's loaded
with controversial GMO (genetically modified organisms)
issues, but Terminator must be the number one priority,'
stresses Shand.
Launching Pad for Bioserfdom: Without effective action by
civil society and governments to ban Terminator seeds, RAFI
concludes that suicide seeds will be commercialized, with
potentially disastrous consequences for farmers, food security
and the environment.
'Terminator has grabbed the spotlight, but we are equally
concerned about the closely related genetic trait control
technologies (Traitor Tech) which enables a plant's genetic
traits to be turned on or off with the application of an
external chemical - the company's proprietary chemical,' adds
Ribeiro. 'Although the USDA and Delta & Pine Land are the
high-profile crusaders, the goal of genetic trait control is
industry-wide,' concludes Ribeiro.
Coming Soon: In May, 2000 RAFI will release a status report on
Terminator and Traitor patents, which will examine the current
goals of private and public sector institutions that are
promoting bioserfdom with genetic trait control technology.
For more information:
Hope Shand, RAFI Tel: 919 960-5223 Email: hope@rafi.org
Silvia Ribeiro, RAFI Email: silvia@rafi.org
Julie Delahanty, RAFI Tel: 819 827-9949 Email:julie@rafi.org
Rafael Alegria, General Coordinator, Via Campesina
Tegucigalpa, Honduras, C.A. email: viacam@gbm.hn
Neth Dano, Executive Director, SEARICE, The Philippines Tel:
63-2-922-6710 Email: SEARICE@philonline.com.ph
Gary Goldberg, CEO, American Corn Growers Association, Tel:
918 488-1829 http://www.acga.org
Action Needed
- USDA should cease negotiations with Delta & Pine Land on
the licensing of its jointly held patents, and abandon all
research and patents on genetic seed sterilization.
- USDA should adopt a strict policy prohibiting the use of
taxpayer dollars to support genetic seed sterilization.
- USDA should terminate all research on Terminator seed
technology as well as the closely related genetic trait
control technologies. Remote control of a plant's genetic
traits, triggered by proprietary chemicals, is grim news for
farmers and the environment because, if commercialized,
farmers will become more dependent on chemical inputs
manufactured by the agrochemical/seed industry.
- USDA should use public research dollars to re-invigorate
public plant breeding for family farmers and sustainable
agriculture. Instead of engineering seeds for sterility, USDA
should boost breeding programs that will lessen farmers'
dependency on chemicals, fertilizers, and other expensive
inputs.
Send a Message of Protest to US Secretary of Agriculture Dan
Glickman
A sample letter to US Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman
can be found on RAFI's web site, at this link:
http://www.rafi.org/web/action-glickman.html
Secretary Dan Glickman USDA 200-A Whitten Bldg. 1400
Independence Ave., SW Washington, DC 20250 email:
agsec@usda.gov tel: 202 720-3631 fax: 202 720-2166
This material is being reposted for wider distribution by the
Africa Policy Information Center (APIC). APIC's primary
objective is to widen international policy debates around
African issues, by concentrating on providing accessible
policy-relevant information and analysis usable by a wide
range of groups and individuals.
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