Overview

Seed embodies life, power, and culture. From Africa’s deserts and drylands to its mighty river systems and tropical forests, from those growing a multiplicity of grains, legumes, and vegetables, to others struggling to produce enough to feed their families, seed provides the mainstay for the continent’s 500 million small-scale farmers and is at the heart of rich and varied cultures. But seed is under siege. With the world’s food and agricultural systems increasingly industrialized, homogenized, and privatized, seed epitomizes the struggles involved is symbolic of the deep injustices that have emerged. These include everything from the policies that benefit commercial farmers and seed and agro-chemical companies – at severe cost to the environment, climate, and small-scale farmers – to the new wave of philanthropy, promoting Green Revolution approaches of genetic modification and quick-fix nutritionism as a remedy for the poor, despite their failure elsewhere in the world. Africa’s seemingly ‘unproductive’ lands are now viewed as the last frontier for agribusiness. Yet there is little documented about the resilience of local seed systems, and the innovative approaches adopted by small-scale farmers to retain agrobiodiversity, and to pursue agroecological approaches to farming that not only produce sufficient food but also eliminate harmful inputs. Western, scientific, and traditional knowledges are beginning to mingle in transformative ways, and inspiring pioneers in the formal structures of government and research institutions are demonstrating that another way is possible. Social movements, long silent in Africa, are emerging as a powerful force for change, alongside the NGOs who provide support to farmers at different levels. Uniquely, this book offers a contribution that is enriched by the collaborative, creative, and critical voices of African farmers, activists, scientists, scholars, and policymakers. Their viewpoints combine in this volume to articulate a shared and dynamic vision of a world where agriculture is productive, diverse, and sustainable; where different ways of seeing and knowing are respected; and where seed and food systems are in the hands of farmers and local communities.

Full Product Details

Author:   Rachel Wynberg
Publisher:   Practical Action Publishing
Imprint:   Practical Action Publishing
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 2.20cm , Length: 23.40cm
Weight:   0.400kg
ISBN:  

9781788530224

ISBN 10:   1788530225
Pages:   398
Publication Date:   31 January 2024
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Available To Order  
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Table of Contents

Foreword - Michael Fakhri Preface Introduction Part 1: Seed, resilience, and diversity 1. Reviving seed and knowledge towards more resilient communities: the power of transformative learning - Elfrieda Pschorn-Strauss 2. In the wake of Cyclone Idai: a holistic look at its impacts and an exploration of the resilience-enhancing potential of landscape agroecology - Witness Kozanayi and Jaci van Niekerk 3. Enacting indigenous and green revolutions in maize in West Kenya - Paul Hebinck and Richard Dimba Kiaka 4. Seed matters: understanding smallholder seed sourcing in Malawi - Noelle LaDue, Sidney Madsen, Rachel Bezner Kerr, Esther Lupafya, Laifolo Dakishoni, and Lizzie Shumba 5. Seed sovereignty, knowledge politics, and climate change in northern Ghana - Hanson Nyantakyi-Frimpong and Audrey Carlson 6. Seedscapes of contamination: exploring the impacts of transgene flow for South African smallholder farmers - Rachel Wynberg and Angelika Hilbeck Part 2: Privatising profit, socialising cost 7. Corporate expansion in African seed systems: implications for agricultural biodiversity and food sovereignty - Stephen Greenberg 8. Corporate capture of agricultural and food policy in South Africa - David Fig 9. The slow and structural violence of agrochemicals: use, management, and regulation in South Africa - Morgan Lee Part 3: Ways of seeing and knowing 10. ‘Wild wayward free gifts’: A gendered view on agroecology and agricultural transitions - Vanessa Farr 11. Unsettling modernist scientific ontologies in the regulation of genetically modified crops in South Africa - Jen Whittingham, Maya Marshak, Haidee Swanby Part 4: Transitioning towards agroecology: working together and moving forward the struggle 12. Cuba’s participatory seed system: insights for South Africa - Mvuselelo Ngcoya 13. We are what we eat: nurture nature - Kristof J. Nordin 14. A movement for life: African food sovereignty - Haidee Swanby Conclusion: towards seed and knowledge justice for agroecology

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