On the margins: A review of policies and laws in support of farmer-managed seed systems in Africa

When supportive policy, legal and socioeconomic conditions exist –at local, district and national levels− a diversity of seed production and distribution practices, including farmer-managed practices (e.g. custodian farmers, seed saver groups, community seed banks, local seed businesses, farmer field schools, community-supported agriculture), makes up a resilient seed system. The question is if indeed such supportive policy, legal and socioeconomic conditions exist at various levels. To find an answer to this question, we carried out a review study under the umbrella of the Theme 3 on “Agrobiodiversity, seeds and climate change” of the Integrated Seed Sector Development (ISSD) Africa project (2019-2022) (https://issdafrica.org/). The review compiled and analyzed recent (in the last ten years) changes in policies, laws and regulations directly related to seed systems that contribute to the (further) development of resilient farmer seed systems –at local, district or national levels− (approved or in the process of being approved by national, district or local authorities), in 14 selected African countries in central, east, west and southern Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe (for the full-length review report, see Vernooy et al. 2023).