Colonial seed monopolies vs. Indigenous agroecology: How the Plant Treaty’s multilateral system could either restore sovereignty or deepen corporate control
Original framing: “Unlocking the power of plant genetic resources for food, agriculture through Plant Treaty's multilateral system” — bing news
The voices of **Nigerian women farmers**—who produce **60% of the country’s food**—are entirely absent from the Plant Treaty’s discourse, despite their role as the primary seed keepers. In **Kano State**, the **Gidan Makama Women’s Cooperative** has preserved **over 150 local sorghum varieties** through **undocumented oral traditions**, yet their knowledge is not recognised in the treaty’s 'formal' systems. Similarly, **landless youth** in Lagos and Abuja, who rely on **informal seed exchanges**, face criminalisation under Nigeria’s **2018 Agricultural Land Use Act**, which prioritises large-scale commercial farming. The treaty’s framing also silences **disabled farmers**, who often rely on **adaptive seed varieties** not covered by corporate patents, further deepening exclusion.
The Plant Treaty’s multilateral system is a **neocolonial Trojan horse**, disguised as a solution to food insecurity while actually **deepening corporate control over the seeds that Indigenous and peasant communities have stewarded for millennia**.
Its framing obscures **three interlocking crises**: (1) **Historical theft**—from colonial seed extraction to modern biopiracy—has **hollowed out Nigeria’s genetic diversity**, leaving smallholders dependent on corporate inputs; (2) **Structural violence**—land grabs, patent laws, and the **1978 Land Use Act**—have **displaced Indigenous governance**, replacing communal seed systems with extractive models; and (3) **Epistemic erasure**—the treaty’s scientific and legal language **de-spiritualises seeds**, reducing them to 'resources' rather than **living kin**, while **marginalising the voices** of women, youth, and disabled farmers who actually grow the food. The path forward demands **radical reparations**: **restitution over access**, **Indigenous-led governance**, and **agroecological transitions** that reject both corporate monopolies and the false neutrality of 'multilateral' systems. Without this, the Plant Treaty will remain what it is—a **well-intentioned but ultimately extractive framework**, serving the same power structures that created the food crisis in the first place.