A new publication co-published by Geneva Academy, the South Centre and CROPS4HD/SWISSAID has just been released. It looks at the implementation of the right to seeds in Africa from the perspective of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP).
The authors reveal that the right to seeds still lacks implementation in most countries of Africa and that stringent intellectual property regimes and seed trade laws are restricting the saving, sale, and exchange of seeds by peasants. They call for policy reforms to strengthen and protect peasant seed systems instead of marginalizing or even criminalizing them. This would not only profit farmers, but the food security of the whole population.