The global push by the private seed companies to control the entire seed sector by adoption of GMOs and new hybrids poses a threat to African food sovereignty. Manipulation of single genes in crops and the model of agriculture being promoted will continue to pose a big challenge to small-scale farmers due to increased costs of inputs and related biosafety concerns. Farmers are custodians of indigenous knowledge and they have for long demonstrated that the real solutions to the challenges facing the global food system are not in industrial agriculture.

The real solutions are in their hands and in farmers’ managed seed systems. Continued overreliance on a few select hybrids, monoculture and use of large quantities of agrochemicals promoted by handful of multinationals is posing a big threat to food biodiversity, threatening traditional food cultures and livelihoods of small holder farmers.