FIAN International 147d ago

The Struggle for Freedom Many seed laws impose certification schemes on peasants, Indigenous Peoples and rural communities that were developed for the seed industry. Peasant and native seeds are heterogenous and in permanent evolution and cannot comply with commercial standards of uniformity and stability. This pushes exchange and sale of peasant seeds to the margins, or even criminalizes community practices Rural organizations in Colombia and West Africa are therefore implementing their own participatory systems to ensure seed quality. Defining their own quality criteria and putting in place peer-to-peer control mechanisms, they defy costly and unadapted certification procedures. At the same time, they facilitate seed exchange and foster social relations among peasants. In Colombia, participatory systems also protect peasant seeds against contamination by GMOs. https://folucolombia.org/redes/red-colombiana-de-agricultura-biologica-recab/ www.fian.org