Battle For African Agriculture Podcast

Nnimmo Bassey is one of Africa’s most respected environmental defenders and a leading voice for ecological justice and food sovereignty. An architect, poet, and lifelong activist, he co-founded Environmental Rights Action in Nigeria, led Friends of the Earth International, and now directs the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF). His fearless resistance to oil multinationals and his defense o...

In this second part of Battle for African Agriculture with Professor William G. Moseley, Dr. Million Belay continues a powerful exchange that began in their first conversation. Building on the themes introduced in Part One, Moseley dives deeper into the colonial legacies shaping African food systems and the urgent need to reclaim indigenous agronomy and agroecology. Together, they push the discuss...

In this thought-provoking episode of Battle for African Agriculture, Dr. Million Belay sits down with Professor William G. Moseley—geographer, author, and outspoken critic of colonial agricultural models—to unpack the urgent need to decolonize African food systems. Drawing from his landmark book Decolonizing African Agriculture, Moseley explains how the failures of food security efforts across Afr...

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 system...

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 crop...

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’ rig...

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, ex...

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 Glo...

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...

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...