Accumulation by dispossession and African seeds: colonial institutions trump seed business law

Abstract

Since 1980, seed business law (patent law vis-à-vis agrobiotechnology, PVP law and seed laws) has been mainstreamed in the global South. Observers maintain that seed business law can lead to dispossession of farmers (Harvey 2004, 75), including in African LDCs (Mayet 2015). I analyse legislation, statistics and case studies (Senegal, Burkina Faso), and argue that in African LDCs, dispossession primarily takes place through capturing seed markets via institutions for direct control over seed distribution. Domestic elites and (global) seed businesses preferably control germplasm via marketing boards, seed subsidies and other former colonial rural institutions. Seed business law, therefore, remains largely disused.