Globalisation and Seed Sovereignty in Sub-Saharan Africa, 1st ed. 2019 International Political Economy Series

?Dervla Murphy, renowned travel writer and adventurer

"Keeping seed diversity alive is the secret ingredient, not just for the good, nutrient-dense food that every cook, gardener and farmer/producer needs, but for strengthening our resilience in the face of multiple environmental threats. This compelling and timely book helps us to understand what we are up against and how we can overcome it."

? Darina Allen, internationally renowned cook, founder of Ballymaloe Cookery school and President of the East Cork Convivium of Slow Food

This book studies the relationship between globalisation and seed sovereignty in Sub-Saharan Africa. It provides comparative case studies of the most recent Kenyan and Ethiopian seed laws, as well as a study of seed sovereignty 'on the ground' in a locality within Ethiopia. Based on extensive fieldwork, it identifies the interests and motivations of transnational seed corporations, global philanthropic organisations, state actors, and local farmers. It finds significant differences in the wording of seed laws and the exercise of seed sovereignty, applying theories of globalisation to help us better understand these varied outcomes. It shows that seed sovereignty has the potential to be shared between local, national, regional, and global authorities, but in different ways in different countries and localities. In the face of what might sometimes appear to be unstoppable global forces, these findings suggest that the exercise of seed sovereignty can be transformed even in a highly globalised world.

List of Abbreviations

List of Figures

List of Tables

Preface

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1 The core dilemma – seed sovereignty and globalisation

Chapter 2 Understanding sovereignty in a globalised world

Chapter 3 Seed sovereignty and globalisation

Chapter 4 Kenya – A hyperglobalised seed law

Chapter 5 Ethiopia – A transformationalist seed law

Chapter 6 The Ethiopian Highlands – the exercise of seed sovereignty at the local level

Chapter 7 Reshaping seed sovereignty

Appendix

Dr. Clare O’ Grady Walshe is a Research Fellow in Politics and International Relations at the School of Law and Government, Dublin City University, Ireland. She was formerly Executive Director of Greenpeace in Ireland and a Trustee of Greenpeace International. She has served on the Irish Aid Advisory Committee, The Heritage Council, the Irish Government High Level Task Force on Green Enterprise, and as a voluntary board member of the Irish Seed Savers Association and Children in Crossfire. Her research focusses on domestic seed policy sovereignty and globalisation with particular reference to climate-vulnerable zones of Sub-Saharan Africa and transnational governance of plant genetic resources for food and agricultural in the context of climate change.