Seed politics : an exploration of power narratives in the South African seed industry

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:This study (Seed politics: An exploration of power narratives in the South African seed industry) attempts to unravel the contradictory power relations shaping South Africa's seed system and to explore spaces of system intervention that could allow alternate seed systems to emerge. As a base for the agricultural sector, the seed system plays an important role in determining the type, quality and cost of seed supplied to the country's farmers. By extension then, it also partly determines the type, quality and, to some extent, the cost of food sold to the country's citizens. Ownership of seed germplasm, protected through plant breeders' and intellectual property rights, is a contentious, current issue. Debate on international and national levels focuses on possible health issues related to consumption of genetically modified food, ethical considerations around ownership of plant life, monopolisation of seed markets, and the implications of biodiversity loss for food security and climate change adaptation. The first article (Contesting the credibility of consolidation of the South African seed industry) examines how historic and current power relations (on a global and local level) have shaped the 'modernistic' direction of South Africa's seed system, which is now dominated by two US-based multinational companies. The contradictions between this direction and state policy are highlighted, focusing particularly on issues of food security, biodiversity and climate change. Article 2 (Imagining a sustainable South Africa seed system) unpacks the assumptions on which the current system is based, in order to provide space for a new 'narrative' around seeds to emerge, motivating for a collaborative 'imagining' of a sustainable seed industry, based on a social learning approach. Points of system intervention are suggested and expanded on. In both articles, the complexity of seed systems is outlined providing a framework for understanding the interconnectedness of system elements, intervention points and potential for non-linearity. The study weaves together theory drawn from a diversity of themes to expose how the 'hidden' faces of power (entrenched in economic hierarchies and institutions) predetermine the path of the system and whom it benefits and whom it excludes. These themes include economics of consolidation, innovation theories, patenting issues, South African policy documents, international treaties and agreements, systems theory and complexity thinking, social learning, industrial and agro-ecological farming methods, agricultural productivity, and climate change. The study promotes social learning as a tool that could unlock the potential of the seed system to contribute to the urgent issues South Africa faces around biodiversity loss, food insecurity and climate change. Keywords: seed system, genetically modified and hybrid seed, seed patents, seed innovation, social learning, systems theory, complexity thinking, consolidation of seed industry.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University