Zimbabwe Seed Sovereignty Programme: Increasing Resilience of the Resource Poor Farmers through Seed Sovereignty

In 2014, PELUM-ZWE, the Zimbabwe Small Holder Organic Farmers Forum (ZIMSOFF) conceived the idea of a collaborative and strategic multi-year programme to strengthen Farmer Managed Seed Systems in Zimbabwe. In December 2014, theyinvited five organisations to establish a collaborative partnership that links isolated work on seed and respond to contextual factors affecting seed sovereignty. A multi-year programme titled the Zimbabwe Seed Sovereignty Programme (ZSSP) was born. ZSSP is underpinned by agroecological principles and its vision is towards seed sovereignty of farming communities who depend and rely their livelihoods on crop production. Its purpose is to protect and promote farmers rights. Core components included: (1) improving capacities to produce enough quantity, quality and diversity of locally suitable seed varieties to meet food and nutrition, cultural, agro-biodiversity and other livelihood needs of the participating farmers, (2) strengthening smallholder farmer solidarity, policy influence power and resilience in the face of climate change and climate change impacts and growing corporate control of seed, and (3) improving government recognition and support for farmers’ rights to seed, farmer-led community seed systems and associated seed sovereignty of farmers.