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Kenyan court declares law banning seed sharing unconstitutional
- samdung 11mo agoIt is sad that the law was enacted in the first place (lobbying by 'the usual suspects') and others had to fight to repeal what is violating common law, common sense and natural justice.
- UsualSuspects 11mo ago[flagged]
- nephihaha 11mo agoYes, the usual suspects, trying to undermine a practice going back thousands of years. Those seeds will probably be well adapted to the soils and climate of Kenya.
- daedlanth 11mo ago[dead]
- koakuma-chan 11mo ago[flagged]
- GaryBluto 11mo agoWhy would anybody come to the conclusion that it was?
- koakuma-chan 11mo agoI was primed by certain billionaire distributing his sperm.
- tt_dev 11mo agoI thought it was about torrents
- estsauver 11mo agoFor some context on why the original law was introduced: When you're making a seed that you want to make the best crop possible, the way to do that is to take two great lines of maize that share relatively little genetics, cross them at the last step, and enjoy the hybrid vigour that results. This is one of the most important practical advancements we have for getting good yields from crops: the yields are dramatically better for this seed then if you plant the seed kernels that are made by the hybrid. When you plant saved seed (which many poor people are forced to do through not being able to afford hybrid seeds) you get dramatically worse yields and often even doing things like using fertilizer doesn't make economic sense (https://www.hks.harvard.edu/publications/low-quality-low-returns-low-adoption-evidence-market-fertilizer-and-hybrid-seed-uganda https://www.hks.harvard.edu/publications/low-quality-low-ret... is frequently cited.) However, to the naked eye, there's basically no distinction between a hybrid seed and stored seed. A lot of seed companies sell seeds that are coated to help protect the seeds from pests/blights, but seed counterfitters have learned how to copy this. To distinguish them, you either need to run genetic testing or plant them and wait a season. If you get scammed, the result can be devestating for a smallholder farmer's family. I don't necessarily think community seed banks should be banned, but I think it's important context to know. There are people for whom they really need any seed, crops which are not served commercially well, and a whole bunch of other use cases I immediately understand for a community seed bank. But seed counterfitting is a real problem that is hurting some of the world's poorest people. (I'll also just say I'm not up to date on this law, the court case, or how it's been applied in the country.) Disclaimer: I'm one of the founders of Apollo Agriculture and still serve on the board, which operates in Kenya and a few other countries trying to help smallholders get access to better agtech (which includes hybrid seeds and fertilizer and other high roi agricultural tools.)
- pessimizer 11mo agoYou failed to explain why seeds that might fail to make the "best crop possible" would be banned, while leading with a promise to do so. Instead, you explained the concept of "hybrid vigor." Then you talked about the counterfeiting of seeds by imitating a coating, a concept completely unrelated to a law banning sharing seeds, and unlikely to be hindered by it at all. Unless I am missing something.
- thatgerhard 11mo agoGood!
- oregano 11mo agoSeed sharing is fundamental to human civilization. It is a human right. Companies like Monsanto that belligerently interfere with this by claiming “ownership” of seeds are nothing less than evil.
- sejje 11mo agoThis is a new human right I didn't even know I had
- gcr 11mo agoyou're not a farmer
- sejje 11mo agoNo, I'm a human
- IAmBroom 11mo agoThe comments in this thread make it abundantly clear there's nothing new about the right. Seed sharing predates your "TIL" knowledge of it.
- sejje 11mo agoThere's nothing new about the practice. It becoming a human right would certainly be new. That's like saying backhanding your kid is a human right. Every human on the planet practiced it forever.
- oregano 11mo ago[flagged]
- knollimar 11mo agoTheir point is doing a thing for a long time doesn't enshrine it as a right. The comment before could have said "should be a human right". imo it's very frustrating having people say "thing I want is a right". What gives them that right? Are all laws not violation of rights if you extend that