Across the continent · Agriculture
Farmers are sold seed that was never tested in their soil
Certified inputs arrive with a stamp and a promise, and fail in the field — while the local varieties that would have worked are quietly disappearing.
Why it matters
A certificate says a seed performed somewhere. It does not say where. Cooperatives from the Guinea coast to the savanna have learned this the hard way, one season at a time, with no one to design a trial that includes the varieties their mothers grew.
The evidence farmers need is not complicated: a fair comparison, on their own land, with results that belong to them. That is a question of agronomy and honesty, not money.
What we intend to do
- Operation Sow a Seed: farmer-led trials that include local varieties, with results published whether or not they flatter anyone.
- A seed-saving record for varieties at risk of being lost.
- Trial protocols in local languages that other cooperatives can reuse without us.
The first story against this issue
A cooperative that lost a harvest to certified seed and still has a cupful of the variety that would have grown.
If that is you, or someone you know, write to us. It will be recorded only with their consent, in their own voice, and given back to them — that is the standard.