Battle For African Agriculture Podcast

In this enlightening episode of Battle for African Agriculture, Dr. Million Belay is joined by Peter Gubbels, a veteran champion of agroecology and food sovereignty in West Africa. Drawing on decades of work across the Sahel with Groundswell International, Peter unpacks how colonial histories continue to shape the region’s agricultural policies, land use, and governance. From distorted food systems to degraded ecologies, he traces the deep scars left by colonialism—and shows how post-colonial aid and development models often reproduce these injustices under new names.

But Peter’s message is far from despairing. He shares powerful exampl...

In this deeply illuminating episode of Battle for African Agriculture, Dr. Million Belay speaks with Mamadou Goita—renowned economist and activist from Mali—about the enduring colonial roots of Africa’s food and farming crises. Together, they explore how colonial policies violently displaced communities from fertile lands, dismantled indigenous farming systems, and entrenched monoculture cash crops for export, laying the foundation for today’s food insecurity. Goita draws powerful connections between historical land grabs, the erosion of communal ownership, and Africa’s continued dependence on imported staple foods—a dependency reinforced by post-colonial trade policies and structural adjustment programs.

With cl...

In this episode of The Battle for African Agriculture, Million Belay is joined by Professor Mohamed Coulibaly to unpack the political and legal complexities of seed sovereignty in Africa. With a background in banking and environmental law, Professor Coulibaly brings a deep understanding of how global frameworks particularly UPOV 1991—undermine traditional seed systems by prioritizing breeders’ rights over farmers’ rights. He explains how many African countries have adopted seed laws modelled after those in the Global North, which limit farmers’ ability to save, exchange, or improve their seeds—practices that are central to African agriculture and food sovereignty. The conversati...

In this episode of The Battle for African Agriculture, Million Belay speaks with seed law expert François Meinberg to unpack the complex issues surrounding Plant Variety Protection (PVP) laws and their impact on African farmers. The conversation explores how international frameworks like UPOV 1991 and the TRIPS Agreement often prioritize corporate interests, undermining farmers' rights to save, exchange, and develop seeds. Meinberg explains how these legal systems threaten biodiversity, restrict innovation, and erode indigenous knowledge systems that have long supported resilient food production in Africa. The episode also highlights the pressure African countries face to adopt restrictive seed laws, o...

In this powerful episode of Battle for African Agriculture, Dr. Million Belay speaks with Dr. Carlos M. Correa—renowned legal scholar and Executive Director of the South Centre—about one of the most high-stakes battlegrounds in African agriculture: seed laws. Dr. Correa exposes how international agreements like UPOV 1991 were crafted without farmers and now threaten seed sovereignty across the Global South. He unpacks how trade deals and donor-driven pressures are pushing African countries to adopt legal regimes that prioritize corporate breeders over the rights of smallholder farmers, risking the erosion of biodiversity, local seed systems, and community resilience. Through shar...

In this incisive episode of Battle for African Agriculture, Dr. Million Belay is joined by Dr. Titilayo Adebola, a leading legal scholar whose work sits at the intersection of intellectual property, seed governance, and decolonization. Together, they unpack the deeply colonial roots of Africa’s current seed laws and the growing pressure on African governments to adopt UPOV 1991-style regimes—laws that often privilege corporate breeders at the expense of farmers, biodiversity, and traditional knowledge. Dr. Adebola explains how the African Model Law on Plant Variety Protection offers a bold and Afrocentric alternative, rooted in farmers’ rights, legal pluralism, and co...

AFSA’s General Coordinator, Dr. Million Belay, invites audiences into The Battle for African Agriculture—a new podcast he hosts that goes beyond headlines to examine the deep, enduring forces shaping Africa’s food systems. The series will explore how colonial and neo-colonial legacies continue to influence what Africans grow, eat, and trade, often undermining food sovereignty, eroding biodiversity, and weakening the connection between people and the land.

In each episode, Dr. Million engages with some of the most insightful and courageous voices—scholars, farmers, activists, and policy makers—who understand the roots of Africa’s agricultural challenges a...