Seed banking: How Africa can attain food sovereignty, protect biodiversity

BY FREDRICK OTIENO 

The adage ‘whoever feeds you controls you rings true for Africa.  

For millions of Africans, food is more than just a commodity one purchases in the market. It is more than what we eat to keep hunger away. Instead, it is an emblem of a people’s culture and heritage. Food is our pride and history.   

For centuries, African farming communities have built, utilised and preserved bodies of traditional scientific knowledge in agriculture. Some of this knowledge has helped to conserve and regenerate soils and to sustain seeds native to different locales.  

Even so, this bastion of knowledge to bolster food self-sufficiency while protecting native varieties from extinction is often ignored. Native seeds are facing the threat of genetic erosion, primarily through modern agricultural trends – including genetic engineering.  

In agricultural adaptation in general, Indigenous crop varieties continually get overlooked, disregarding them as an instrumental path to achieving food sovereignty. Today, most Africans have been socialized to prefer exotic food varieties to traditional food types.  

The preference for exotic foods is partly a continuation of the legacy of global trade and food system which systematically trapped Africans to producing industrial crops for exports and neglecting local varieties. We are at a point where Africans produce crops that they do not eat and eat crops that they do not produce.  

It is important to recognise that seed is the store of a crop’s genetic wealth. Once lost, its characteristics are lost forever. But it is not just the properties of the seed that are lost. The entire ecosystem where the variety grows is upset. 

Ultimately, novel solutions such as nature-based management of pests and diseases, soil fertility and ecosystems restoration are completely lost.   

Failure to propagate authentic African crop seeds, therefore, is a threat to Indigenous seed varieties that could eventually push them into extinction. If traditional African seeds are not profiled and saved correctly, their unique natural taste, flavour profiles, texture and nutritional richness will disappear with them. This is frightful to imagine.  

There is universal acceptance that genetic resources play a key role in sustainable development and biodiversity protection. For African countries to attain food sovereignty, therefore, they must deliberately collect, profile and preserve their native seeds. The role of seed banks cannot be overstated in these efforts. 

Centering the Agroecological value of native seed varieties 

Seed sovereignty is a critical strand of agroecology which considers local food systems, farmer–controlled decisions and culturally appropriate foods as hallmarks of food sovereignty.   

To actualize food sovereignty, a particular focus has to go into capitalizing the value of native, unmanipulated seeds.  

Available evidence shows that biotechnology, especially genetic engineering of seeds, poses a critical threat to indigenous varieties and perpetuates a vicious circle of dependency on a few agricultural multinationals.  

While proponents of genetic modification of crops argue that it is the best bet to developing a profile of crops with “desirable” qualities such as high yielding and climate tolerant, the net erosion of the Indigenous genetic pool remains unaddressed. 

Genetic modification of organisms results in gene combinations that often lack the ability to naturally regenerate through germination. So, farmers must contend with the cost burden of buying new seeds each planting season. Even the potent modified seeds are patented by agribusiness corporations thus curtailing farmers from replanting them  

Moreover, the modification process of seeds results in a loss of the inherent “undesired” properties.  

Climate change and the need to expand crop yields have been used to promote the idea that modifying seeds would remedy the situation and guarantee populations’ nutritional needs and food security.  

Looking at agriculture through the prism of food security alone ignores the fundamental role that Indigenous seeds play in Africa: replenishment, heritage and pride.    

Before exotic crop varieties such as maize and wheat were introduced in Africa, the continent had its naturally bred and cultivated crops, notably Bambara groundnut, finger millet and teff, cassava, cowpea and other edible herbaceous vegetables.  

These food crop varieties have a higher tolerance for and are more adaptable to changing environmental conditions than modified varieties. They are also less dependent on external farm inputs and are nutritionally richer.  

Additionally, traditional seeds have a unique ability to produce viable seeds that can germinate naturally and develop into healthy plants. These seeds can also be replanted to create another filial generation.  

The randomness of genetic resources preserved through natural processes of fertilisation and breeding is good for the survival of both the specific varieties and the food system. These seeds help to preserve biodiversity as they store pristine genetic information.  

Most importantly, it reduces the threat of genetic resource controls by a handful of profit-driven multinational corporations that invest in transgenic seed production.  

Having to purchase new seeds each planting season is one of the agonies that dependence on genetically engineered and exotic seeds exposes farmers –especially smallholders –to.   

Monocultures supported transgenics and non-native seeds are highly susceptible to climate variability, pests and disease infestation. This forces farmers to rely heavily on chemicals, pushing up the cost of farming.  

Seed Banks for genetic preservation 

The Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing of genetic resources recognises the need to collect, preserve and share genetic resources within their own jurisdictions. At the same time, existence of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (SGSV) in Norway is testament to the universal recognition of the need to preserve seeds.  

Geopolitical power imbalances and calamities such as Covid-19 and climate change have shown us repeatedly that developed countries will always prioritise their people and interests. Africans too must start to prioritise their welfare. Seed saving in the context of food sovereignty would be a good place for us to start.  

A wake-up call  

Most governments in Africa already have strategic grain reserves. This shows their commitment to protecting their citizens from hunger. It, therefore, gives us a solid starting point.  

The same zeal applied in establishing and replenishing strategic food reserves should apply in setting up country seed banks and making them operational. If not for preservation of native crops and seed sovereignty, then as a marvel of our countries’ culture and heritage.  

Surely, agriculture cannot be the backbone of Africa’s economy if countries cede their seed sovereignty to multinational seed makers and keepers such as the SGSV.