Post by patsonmusiiwa on Sept 24, 2009 10:24:55 GMT -5
Indigenous seeds key to Zim’s climate change adaptations
By Mugove Chigada
Zimbabwe could significantly reduce its vulnerability to the ravaging effects of climate change if it accords farmers the right to save, exchange and market indigenous seeds.
The monopoly being enjoyed by commercial seed breeders has negatively impacted on farmers’ potential to use indigenous seeds in adapting to climate change.
It is therefore, vital for Government to quickly move in to give farmers the right to seed and ensure bio-diversity.
Current legislation which accords right to land as fundamental while being silent on farmers’ rights on seed presents a bleak future for a nation that has taken a rare agrarian reform programme.
Indigenous seeds that most farmers have kept over the years face extinction, unless farmers’ rights on seed are incorporated in the legislation and policy framework.
Indigenous seeds withstand extreme weather conditions such as droughts and floods and have good dietary effects.
"Absence of legislation on farmers rights’ on seed to ensure bio-diversity and increase options for better harvests is derailing efforts in adapting to climate change," says farmers’ rights expert Nyasha Chishakwe.
He says unique weather conditions prevailing in different parts of the country require unique seed that can produce bumper harvests.
Commercial breeders who have right to market seed under the Plant Breeders’ Rights, he says, were failing to supply seed that can withstand extreme weather conditions.
"The monopoly on seed by commercial breeders is threatening food security and bio-diversity," he says.
Commercial breeders seem to be profit oriented. They tend to ignore the need to contribute towards food security in the face of climate changes.
They excessively promote their own hybrid seeds at the expense of indigenous seeds.
It is disheartening to note that commercial breeders receive government support in breeding seed in one way or the other while farmer’s initiatives in planting farm saved seed in the wake of shortages is not recognised.
Farmers wanted the situation addressed.
"We want government to support our projects in breeding and selling our seed," says Amos Marizve, a farmer from Mutoko.
An expert in the Ministry of Agriculture Seed Section, Clyde Mujaji however, says farmers can breed seed but under prescribed breeding standards.
He says under the Seed Act, breeders are expected to meet standards that ensure quality seed according to the department’s requirements.
"Farmers are welcome to breed seed for as long as they meet requirements of the law that regulates seed production," he says.
"These requirements", he says, "protects the very farmers who are consumers of seed."
Community Technology Development Trust director Andrew Munutsa says there is room for flexibility.
"The set standards are discriminatory. They do not recognise indigenous seed hence the need to put up measures that recognise these," says Munutsa.
Mujaji, on the other hand, contends that setting up separate seed certification standards for farmers would create problems in marketing the seed. "We will end up with seed that may not germinate," says Mujaji.
An agricultural policy analyst, Regis Mafuratidze said despite the challenges in marketing farm saved seed, farmers must be able to market all seed and be custodians of their resources.
"In that way, they will protect indigenous knowledge from extinction," he says.
Mafuratidze, however, notes that enactment of legislation that gives farmers the right to market their seed would not immediately promote bio-diversity.
"It is consumption patterns that influence production," he says, adding, "consumers needed to be acculturated into new crops".
Agriculturalist Patrick Kasasa concurs with Mafuratidze, saying consumption patterns — apart from farmers’ rights on seed — had also affected production patterns in the face of climate change.
Crops with a ready market such as maize tended to be popular at the expense of indigenous crops such as sorghum that thrive in dry regions.
"Farmers in Chiredzi, Tsholotsho and Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe for example, can do well with the sorghum crop but the incentives on the maize crop influence their decision," says Kasasa.
This was despite the low harvests from maize resulting from the climatic conditions that are not predetermined.
Farmers in Tsholotsho have done well in sorghum and peanuts, although they face the challenge of getting markets.
While the marketing of crops may seem to be a subject drifting away from farmers rights’ on seed, it should be an important part of the policy framework in view of efforts to ensure food security against the aggravating effects of climate change.
According to research recently conducted by CTDT farmers in areas such as Chikomba, Mberengwa and Zvishavane are still cultivating a wide range of indigenous crops.
Chishakwe noted that lack of incentives for the local varieties had resulted in hectarage reduction for indigenous crops in other parts of the country. Incentives constituted an important part of farmers’ rights.
"There is no motivation for farmers to increase these crops," he says, adding, "some seeds faces extinction."
The third session of the Governing Board meeting of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food Agriculture held in Tunis, Tunisia earlier this year, raised similar important facts.
Farmers expressed concern over the Governing Board’s failure to condemn restrictions on exchange of seed across the world, and called for establishment of a global fund to support farmer’s initiatives in breeding seed, among other resolutions.
Zimbabwe is signatory to the ITTGRFA but has not yet domesticated the treaty that promotes crop diversity in all regions of plant origin.
The international climate change meeting to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark later this year could be insignificant if farmers rights’ on seed is not recognised.
For Zimbabwe and Africa it is particularly crucial.
Climate change has mostly affected agriculture, the mainstay of the economy. The sector contributes 18 percent to the country’s GDP. It is therefore a sensitive sector.
Policy and legislation must therefore be crafted with a mindset that promotes food security and economic development ahead of other individual and corporate priorities.
"We are ready to plant, exchange and serve these indigenous seeds for the good of the nation," said a farmer from Tsholotsho who displayed more than 156 different varieties planted from a dry area.
By Mugove Chigada
Zimbabwe could significantly reduce its vulnerability to the ravaging effects of climate change if it accords farmers the right to save, exchange and market indigenous seeds.
The monopoly being enjoyed by commercial seed breeders has negatively impacted on farmers’ potential to use indigenous seeds in adapting to climate change.
It is therefore, vital for Government to quickly move in to give farmers the right to seed and ensure bio-diversity.
Current legislation which accords right to land as fundamental while being silent on farmers’ rights on seed presents a bleak future for a nation that has taken a rare agrarian reform programme.
Indigenous seeds that most farmers have kept over the years face extinction, unless farmers’ rights on seed are incorporated in the legislation and policy framework.
Indigenous seeds withstand extreme weather conditions such as droughts and floods and have good dietary effects.
"Absence of legislation on farmers rights’ on seed to ensure bio-diversity and increase options for better harvests is derailing efforts in adapting to climate change," says farmers’ rights expert Nyasha Chishakwe.
He says unique weather conditions prevailing in different parts of the country require unique seed that can produce bumper harvests.
Commercial breeders who have right to market seed under the Plant Breeders’ Rights, he says, were failing to supply seed that can withstand extreme weather conditions.
"The monopoly on seed by commercial breeders is threatening food security and bio-diversity," he says.
Commercial breeders seem to be profit oriented. They tend to ignore the need to contribute towards food security in the face of climate changes.
They excessively promote their own hybrid seeds at the expense of indigenous seeds.
It is disheartening to note that commercial breeders receive government support in breeding seed in one way or the other while farmer’s initiatives in planting farm saved seed in the wake of shortages is not recognised.
Farmers wanted the situation addressed.
"We want government to support our projects in breeding and selling our seed," says Amos Marizve, a farmer from Mutoko.
An expert in the Ministry of Agriculture Seed Section, Clyde Mujaji however, says farmers can breed seed but under prescribed breeding standards.
He says under the Seed Act, breeders are expected to meet standards that ensure quality seed according to the department’s requirements.
"Farmers are welcome to breed seed for as long as they meet requirements of the law that regulates seed production," he says.
"These requirements", he says, "protects the very farmers who are consumers of seed."
Community Technology Development Trust director Andrew Munutsa says there is room for flexibility.
"The set standards are discriminatory. They do not recognise indigenous seed hence the need to put up measures that recognise these," says Munutsa.
Mujaji, on the other hand, contends that setting up separate seed certification standards for farmers would create problems in marketing the seed. "We will end up with seed that may not germinate," says Mujaji.
An agricultural policy analyst, Regis Mafuratidze said despite the challenges in marketing farm saved seed, farmers must be able to market all seed and be custodians of their resources.
"In that way, they will protect indigenous knowledge from extinction," he says.
Mafuratidze, however, notes that enactment of legislation that gives farmers the right to market their seed would not immediately promote bio-diversity.
"It is consumption patterns that influence production," he says, adding, "consumers needed to be acculturated into new crops".
Agriculturalist Patrick Kasasa concurs with Mafuratidze, saying consumption patterns — apart from farmers’ rights on seed — had also affected production patterns in the face of climate change.
Crops with a ready market such as maize tended to be popular at the expense of indigenous crops such as sorghum that thrive in dry regions.
"Farmers in Chiredzi, Tsholotsho and Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe for example, can do well with the sorghum crop but the incentives on the maize crop influence their decision," says Kasasa.
This was despite the low harvests from maize resulting from the climatic conditions that are not predetermined.
Farmers in Tsholotsho have done well in sorghum and peanuts, although they face the challenge of getting markets.
While the marketing of crops may seem to be a subject drifting away from farmers rights’ on seed, it should be an important part of the policy framework in view of efforts to ensure food security against the aggravating effects of climate change.
According to research recently conducted by CTDT farmers in areas such as Chikomba, Mberengwa and Zvishavane are still cultivating a wide range of indigenous crops.
Chishakwe noted that lack of incentives for the local varieties had resulted in hectarage reduction for indigenous crops in other parts of the country. Incentives constituted an important part of farmers’ rights.
"There is no motivation for farmers to increase these crops," he says, adding, "some seeds faces extinction."
The third session of the Governing Board meeting of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food Agriculture held in Tunis, Tunisia earlier this year, raised similar important facts.
Farmers expressed concern over the Governing Board’s failure to condemn restrictions on exchange of seed across the world, and called for establishment of a global fund to support farmer’s initiatives in breeding seed, among other resolutions.
Zimbabwe is signatory to the ITTGRFA but has not yet domesticated the treaty that promotes crop diversity in all regions of plant origin.
The international climate change meeting to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark later this year could be insignificant if farmers rights’ on seed is not recognised.
For Zimbabwe and Africa it is particularly crucial.
Climate change has mostly affected agriculture, the mainstay of the economy. The sector contributes 18 percent to the country’s GDP. It is therefore a sensitive sector.
Policy and legislation must therefore be crafted with a mindset that promotes food security and economic development ahead of other individual and corporate priorities.
"We are ready to plant, exchange and serve these indigenous seeds for the good of the nation," said a farmer from Tsholotsho who displayed more than 156 different varieties planted from a dry area.