ACORD Rwanda, as part of its program of involvement of rural associations in the monitoring of agricultural and land policies, with the financial support of CCFD Terre solidaire, is conducting a desk study and a survey on the impact of the seed policy and the seed system on the peasant seeds and the related rights in Rwanda with the prospect of producing an alert note and launching the debate on peasant seeds which today are left to extinction mostly by the threat of industrial seeds , and losing interest despite their potentials for sustainability, quality and nutritious and tasty food, resilience to climate change and fitting in the local agroecological environment.

Though there is an astonishing distinction between peasant seeds and industrial seeds, farmers, consumers, state and non state actors do not share a harmonized conscience on the linkages between food systems and quality seeds and on the danger of health risk from long term use of industrial, modified and fortified seeds .

The Law n°005/2016 of 05/04/2016 governing seeds and plant varieties in Rwanda open a wide window to the privatization of seeds with a large scope of the plant breeder’s right and dictate how seeds can be marketed, and intellectual property laws, which give monopoly rights to breeders. The National Seed Policy (2007) recognizes that the availability of quality seeds to farmers constitutes the basis for an improvement of agricultural productivity and consequently food security of the country. In order to sustain food security at household and national level, It is therefore imperative that Government prioritise and integrate peasant seeds in the existing policy framework and seed industry, enhance the farmers’ managed seed systems to be suited for industrial farming, food processing or food markets, instead of supporting monopoly of multinational seed companies . For this to happen, Farmers and their associations should be empowered for effective influence and participation in decision-making in relation to peasant seeds production, management and control. In particular, farmers should be represented in meetings and networks debating on crucial and critical issues such as seed policies and laws at the national level, affecting their daily livelihoods.