Traditional farmers like Esther Boakye Yiadom and organizations like Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana, Rural Women’s Farmers Association of Ghana, and Global Justice Now, are actively challenging the Ghanaian government’s agreement to participate in the new G7 Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition. The Alliance would negatively impact the small-scale farmers who traditionally follow seed saving and seed sharing practices. These practices have allowed small farmers to maintain traditional forms of agriculture, save many varieties of seeds, and protect biodiversity. However, with this new Alliance, the seed market will be concentrated in the hands of a few multinational companies. Thus, restricting farmers from seed saving, impacting cultural practices, forcing the small-scale farmers to buy seeds from corporations, expanding land grabbing, increasing the influx of GMO seeds, and eroding rights of small-scale farmers. The good news is that after relentless organizing, protesting, and petitions from rural women and ally organizations, the legislation has come to a halt. Photo Credit: Global Justice Now
