Call for a study : Ensuring resilience in agriculture: farmers’ seeds as a solution to major crises

Terms of references for a study

Ensuring resilience in agriculture: farmers’ seeds as a solution to major crises   Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, North Africa office

1. Background

With the stated objective of achieving food security by making quality seeds available to farmers, African countries have adopted seed laws reminiscent of those developed since the 1950s by European and the American countries. These laws tend to promote a «green revolution» model of industrial agriculture by setting up a market-based regime for seed selection, production, and distribution. This legal framework is more focused on seed marketing and is organized around the different segments of the commercial chain. It is reinforced by intellectual property rights laws and treaties applicable to seeds, such as plant technology patents and plant breeders’ rights and plant health protection laws. As a result, many farmers’ seed activities are restricted or prohibited. Depending on the country, this includes the production, exchange, and sale of seeds from farmers’ fields and the organization of seed fairs to share locally adapted seeds and seedlings. On the other hand, those laws favors the distribution of seeds in the form of ‘technical packages’, i.e. accompanied by fertilizers and advice to encourage beneficiaries to adopt predefined agricultural practices.

In various African countries, farmers and their networks, as well as civil society organizations, have strongly resisted this model. They have actively advocated against inappropriate seed laws and the imposition of restrictive intellectual property regimes, which are being imposed on Africa through the financialization of genetic and public resources, foreign development programs, harmonization strategies and trade agreements.

Only few small-scale farmers still have a diversity of well-adapted farmer’s traditional seeds available, which above all provides them with their own means for production when faced with a supply crisis. Local and well adapted seeds hence could help farmers survive drought periods and food crises. However, seed laws in the North African (NA) region criminalize farmers’ seeds uses and the seed saving and sharing culture. With the war in Ukraine and the impact of the closure of borders during the pandemic, the debate around farmers’ seeds is becoming more important and demands are being renewed to change restrictive laws, which benefit international seed companies and harm farmers and more generally food sovereignty in the North African region.

2. Object of the tender

With the aim to strengthen the resilience of NA countries through knowledge production for civil society actors and help to align agricultural policies accordingly in the future, RLS North Africa Office is seeking to contract researchers to conduct a study on farmers’ seed and food sovereignty in the region.

This study will focus on the farmers’ seed legislation framework in the region and its ability to empower the famer’s resilience. Based on the Alliance For Food Sovereignty in Africa’s proposed legal framework for the recognition and promotion of farmer managed seed systems and the protection of biodiversity[1], this study will presents the preliminary provisions, tools and bodies to be established for the management of farmers’ seed systems.

3. General Objectives

1. Generate information and socio-political-economic analysis of how the war in Ukraine has affected the Tunisian local farming and food systems.
2. How food and farming system should look like to ensure food sovereignty? How is it possible and what kind of steps and strategies would be required to bring this change?
3. Generate debate against hegemonic food system and provide a basic outline of a just and democratic agro-food system in the region.

4. Content wise

This study aims to analyze:

1. The harmonized seed regulation processes underway in North African region in general and covering at least one country from the region
2. The current seed model and related policies and how they contribute to restructuring the agricultural system in favor of the agri-business and the monoculture.
3. How seed regulations laws undermine farmers’ seed systems and resilience and how farmers are being pushed to abandon their seed systems.
4. How the application of the current seed legal framework strength the dependence of the NA farming system to international markets and how North African governments are giving in to corporate pressure and undermining local seed systems.
5. The impact of this model on the deterioration of the agricultural system and the loss of its resilience in front of crises (the COVID-19, the drought, the war in Ukraine)
6. How farmer-managed seed systems support small-scale agroecological production and food sovereignty.

This study will also propose actions and policies to be implemented to strengthening the Farmer-managed seed system:

1. Based on the Alliance For Food Sovereignty in Africa’s proposed legal framework for the recognition and promotion of farmer managed seed systems
2. With preliminary provisions, tools and bodies to be established for the management of farmers’ seed systems.
3. To achieve food sovereignty while dealing with the hegemonic seed system policies

6. Methodology

The methodology will be proposed by the researcher depending on the availability of data.

The scope of the research will be proposed by the researcher but the study must contain at least one specific case study.

7. Target Groups

• Political decision makers, official bodies, national institution, policy makers etc. in the North African Region
• Media, NGOs and other civil society organizations in the North African countries
• Media, NGOs and other civil society organizations in the global North and South

8. Publishing date and scope of the final publication

• Scope: Maximum 60 pages including references and index
• Final Submission date: 30^th of November 2022.

9. Proposal, Award and Tender submission deadline

The research task is designed for 35-40 working days for the lead researcher

Necessary qualification: Proven experience in research on the above described topic

The order will be issued as a service/or honorarium contract and the proposed researcher should submit the following documents:

• CV(s)/profile of the researcher(s)(1 lead researcher and field research assistants if needed)
• time frame according to the timeline below
• price references/honorariums by working day (including taxes)
• short proposal/ outline how the researcher is planning to conduct the research

Submission:

Tenders must be submitted no later than September 30, 2022

Tenders submitted after this date will not be accepted.

Tenders must be submitted to Procurement.NorthAfrica@rosalux.org , with the subject line: Seed System Study

*Incomplete applications will not be considered.

*Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

10. Languages

The study can be conducted in French, or Arabic or English. (Translations to other languages will be decided by RLS)

11. Publishers

Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung and North African Network for Food Sovereignty and other RLS partners.

12. Timeline and deliverables

13. Contact

Imen Louati

Program Manager Political Ecology | North Africa Regional Office

Address: 55 TER, Rue 1er Juin, Mutuelleville, 1082 Tunis

imen.louati@rosalux.org | www.rosaluxna.org

[1] https://afsafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/fmss-legal-framework-2022.pdf