African media remain mute on local farmers’ injustices 

By Raphael Mweninguwe 

At the Africa Food System (AFS) 2024 Annual summit which was held in Kigali, Rwanda in September 2024, agricultural experts noted that a number of local seed varieties have extinct with some on the verge of extinction.  

The World Vegetable Center Associate Director General for Africa, Dr. Gabriel Rugalema, noted that there is a decline on the availability of the indigenous vegetable on the continent and he blames it all on climate change, urbanization and the flooding on the market of hybrid varieties which he says are fast maturing and bringing in enough cash for the farmers. 

The unfortunate part, however, is that African governments, do not want to take the blame for allowing the corporations to take over control of the agricultural systems. The corporates’ interests to take control of land, farming, food and the huge market have strived over the years with governrnents in Africa enacting laws which farmers have long resisted to preserve their cultural foods. 

The hybrid seeds were touted as the best in responding to climate change such as drought and floods and that the hybrids crops are fast maturing and resistant to pests and diseases.  

New studies are now emerging that show that the local seed varieties are best suited for the local environment and are able to withstand the impacts of climate change. They mature quickly and resist pests and diseases.  

The local farmers themselves are also now challenging the status quo. They have realised that their local seed varieties are the “best compared to hybrid varieties.”  

Some farmers are still defiant that they cannot stop growing the local varieties of crops. They argue they have been growing these varieties for many years. 

“I have been planting the local seed varieties such as maize, soya, beans, ground nuts, millet and many other varieties since I was young and I am still planting them. I do not see any reason why I should stop cultivating these local crop varieties,” says Ekestone Lefani. 

Lefani, 88, who also holds the position of a village chief in Dedza district in the central region of the country, says it is wrong to force farmers to grow crops “they are not comfortable with.” 

But their voices are muted. The African media is not amplifying their cause.   

“There is no doubt that the same way the media massively promoted the ‘poisoned gifts’ in the form of hybrid seeds, it can also play a pivotal role in reversing the wrong impressions about hybrid seed varieties farmers have been asked to grow over the years,” says Leonel Muchano, a Mozambican journalist based in Maputo. 

George Mhango, a Malawian media practitioner, has this to say, “The media can amplify the pain of local farmers with classic examples of how growing of hybrid varieties has affected the soils through chemical use and compare it clearly with how the local varieties have helped to maintain the sustainability of the good spoils.” 

Mangani Katundu, Associate Professor, University of Malawi, who is working with local smallholder farmers and one of the lead researchers and promoters of local crop varieties, says it is wrong not to give farmers the rights to grow local varieties of crops and blamed the media for not doing enough. 

“It is unfortunate that you [Raphael] write for the international media. You should also write for the local media so that our Malawian farmers and experts know that the local seed varieties have the potential of not only improving food security but also the nutritious status at the household level,” says Katundu.  

Katundu says farmers, through the media, need to be encouraged to grow local seed varieties which he says have proved not only to resist climate change within their adapted environment but also “they are high yielding and resistant to pests and diseases.” 

Governments and other experts’ reactions 

Governments in Africa are taking the issue very slowly and casually. Apart from the Kigali summit, another meeting took place in Zimbabwe in November 2024 where representatives of nine countries attended to review and recommend the development of seed policy and legislation that are more transformative to achieve food diversification. 

Participants to the meeting observed that farmers need to have the right to choose and access the seeds of their choice.  

Most of these meeting, however, have not yielded any tangible results as governments in Africa benefits from research funded by the donors and the multinational companies, according to Herbert Mwalukomo, Executive Director of Center for Environmental Policy and Advocacy (CEPA) who argues that the Malawi Seed Act needs to reflect the participation of local farmers who do not have the infrastructure to enable them undertake registration and record keeping.  

“The seed certification schemes need to be revised to take into account of these informal small scale farmers’ efforts in plant breeding,” he says. 

He says farmers need a supportive “national policy framework to recognize and support local seed systems and promote agro-biodiversity and the media can play a big role in this.” 

Ministry of Agriculture’s Agricultural Extension and Development Coordinator (AEDC) at Rumphi District office in Malawi, Francis Kachali, says the reasons why the local seed industry does not move forward is because the farmers do not have the market to sell their seeds and harvested yields. 

“There is a lot of demand for hybrid seeds on the market and none for the local varieties and this is the reason why farmers are not interested in the local varieties,” he says. 

But Kachali falls short of indicating that the Malawi’s policies and laws ban the use of uncertified seed because anyone found breaking the law selling uncertified seeds risks jail sentence.  

The failure by the African media to amplify the local farmers’ voices may be seen as part of the media’s participation in the system that does not want to fight farmer’s injustices. 

“It may be true that the media could be part of the systematic system that wants an end to the local seed varieties because people may look at it that it has benefited financially from the corporate world on the issue,” says Mhango.  

Muchano observes that the unfortunate part of the media being silent on issues like these is that it does demonstrate that the media is siding with the system that is aimed at profiteering from the poor farmers. 

“Unfortunately and painfully that’s the real situation where the media is quite on things like these. But I do trust that independent media has always maintained a strong stance against these injustices against poor farmers. It is now time for the media to work together to help farmers in the wake of climate crisis,” he says.  

Media Diversity Institute reached out to Monsanto and Seed Co for their comments on the matter. While Monsanto initially promised to provide a response, it ultimately failed to do so. Seed Co, on the other hand, could not be reached as their phone numbers went unanswered, and they did not respond to email inquiries. 

Possible solutions 

A research published by the University of Vermont in the US confirms the fears that local farmers have had over the years. In research published on June 12, 2024, UVM evolutionary biologist Yolanda Chen, says modern seeds aren’t ready for climate change, an argument against seed manufacturers and sellers who say modern, or hybrid seeds are good in fighting climate change because they say they mature quickly and are resistant to drought.  

“The mass production of high-yielding seeds in limited varieties has created a chasmic divide between a formal seed system, which now sells most seeds worldwide, and the informal seed system, which consists of farmers who select their own seeds to develop diverse, locally adapted crop varieties, known as landraces,” research argues. 

As a solution Chen and co-authors see the whole formal seed system as “neocolonial ideas around who gets to decide what is important.” They see it as a profit-making arena at the expense of the poor farmers and they believe that the solution lies in the diversification of seeds arguing that the “the landrace seeds have the best chance of carrying the hardy traits needed to survive in whatever conditions climate change has in store.” 

“Landraces hold traits that will help the more commercial varieties adapt to local conditions,” Chen and co-authors explains.  

“The media must work with local researchers, agribusiness as well as local experts who often stand the ground against the poisoned gifts [hybrid seeds] by these companies,” says Muchano.