The threats of climate change and rising food prices have stirred renewed attention for seed and food security in Africa, inviting new thinking on the role of seed sector development in coping with these concerns. One conceptual framework that has gained attention is the Integrated Seed Sector Development (ISSD) approach. The ISSD approach has evolved as a response to the almost exclusive focus on formal seed systems in seed sector development programs. Instead, ISSD aims to recognize and support all the diverse seed systems that exist in a particular country. An analysis of the evolution of seed policies and regulatory frameworks in Kenya since independence indeed exposes a continuous support for the formal seed sector while support given to the informal sector has merely been intended to transform it into formal. In reality, however, the formal and informal sectors appear to be made up of a plurality of seed systems, with the informal seed systems being the main source of seed for most crops. The article continues with analysing some of Kenya's recent policy shifts in order to explore how its new seed policy and legislative framework may fit within ISSD principles, and concludes with some recommendations on how the variety of seeds systems that exists on the ground and in particular local seed systems can be supported.

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r ri e t a n d M u n yi, P e t e r 2 0 2 1. S ov e r ei g n ty a n d d e v elo p m e n t: la w a n d t h e p olitic s of t r a di tio n al k n o wl e d g e in Ke ny a. C ri tic al Afric a n S t u di e s 1 3 (1) , p p . 9

Several African countries and regional organizations are investing in the establishment of a plant variety protection system modeled on the UPOV 1991 Convention, which currently provides the strongest, international standard for plant variety protection. Whereas proponents argue that strong protection of breeder's rights will incentivize breeding and the introduction of new varieties for farmers, opponents fear that the proposed legal framework is unsuitable for African countries as it may hamper traditional farming practices of using and exchanging farm‐saved seed. These informal or farmer‐managed seed systems supply more than 80% of the total food crop seed used by farmers. The challenge for African countries is to strike a balance between protecting the interests of breeders through the incentive function of plant breeder's rights for the commercial market, and the leeway that needs to be provided to smallholder farmers that depend on informal sources for their seed security and survival. And to do so in a practical and legally enforceable manner. This paper explores how African countries and regional organizations can establish such balance through a differentiated approach to plant variety protection, which sets different levels of protection for different crops in relation to different categories of farmers.

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Together with other laws affecting agriculture, Kenya's plant varieties protection legislation was radically amended in 2012. The amendments were mainly driven by the quest to comply with international obligations, principally the 1991 UPOV Convention. However, the country is also a contracting party to other international treaties affecting seeds such as the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and the WTO Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. Moreover, the national Constitution obligates statutory recognition and protection of the ownership of indigenous seeds and plant varieties, their genetic and diverse characteristics, and their use by the communities of Kenya. The obligations deriving from all these international agreements must be fulfilled against a backdrop of farming systems that are predominantly smallholder farmer‐based. This article discusses how the amendments in the new Kenya plant variety protection law depart from the former legal regime and analyzes whether the current regime is compliant with international obligations, and the implications for smallholder farmers.

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