Report | Farmers’ seeds in West Africa

Cowpea is the most important seed legume in the tropical savannah areas of Africa.

Photo: Lise-Anne Léveillé/Inter Pares

Seeds are much more than the starting point of a harvest.

They are a source of food, livelihoods, cultural heritage and autonomy for farming communities. Across West Africa, farmers have spent generations saving, selecting and sharing seeds adapted to their local environments. Yet these essential practices are increasingly threatened by climate change, the loss of agricultural biodiversity and policies that favour commercial seeds.

Seeds are the key to food sovereignty

Farmers’ seeds: The key to food sovereignty in West Africa was produced with COPAGEN and SeedChange. The report explores the importance of farmers’ seed systems and their role in building more resilient and equitable food systems.

Without seeds, there is no agriculture. Seeds are an invaluable resource, cultural heritage and the foundation of agricultural food systems.

Drawing on participatory assessments conducted in Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal and Togo, the report highlights the challenges communities face in accessing, producing and conserving their seeds. It also shines a light on the essential role of rural women, whose knowledge and practices are central to protecting seed diversity, despite the barriers they face in accessing land, resources and decision-making spaces.

At the heart of this report are the solutions identified by farmers and their communities themselves. Drawing on their knowledge, experiences and priorities, the report highlights concrete ways to strengthen farmers’ seed systems, protect their rights and advance seed and food sovereignty across West Africa.

Inter Pares and food justice

For 50 years, food has been at the heart of Inter Pares’ work with counterparts. We work hand in hand with farmers’ movements, rural women and community organizations in Canada and internationally to defend control over land, seeds, water and food.

In Canada, Inter Pares is an active member of several coalitions. As a founding member of Food Secure Canada, we provide institutional support and funding and participate in key initiatives such as Eat, Think, Vote. In an effort to influence how international development assistance is given, Inter Pares brings our feminist analysis to the Canadian Food Security Policy Group to support agricultural approaches that build autonomy (over land, seeds, knowledge and markets). We also continue to challenge corporate influence over biotechnology together with CBAN.

Internationally, we continue to support more than a dozen organizations in Latin America, Asia and Africa to build resilient local food systems and promote food sovereignty and agroecology. In recent years, we have successfully leveraged over $20 million dollars from Global Affairs Canada to deepen counterparts’ work in West Africa, inspired by decades of farmer-to-farmer learning exchanges and rooted in feminist practice, local knowledge and solidarity.