Seeds of Justice follows Ethiopian plant geneticist Dr Melaku Worede’s inspirational work to re-valorise farmers’ knowledge and protect their position as guardians of seed diversity. Treading in Melaku’s footsteps from his youth to the present day through his pivotal experience of Ethiopia’s infamous famine, the film questions one of society’s most flawed assumptions: that scientists hold the answers to ending hunger, not farmers.
A film by The Gaia Foundation in collaboration with the African Biodiversity Network, GRAIN, MELCA Ethiopia, USC Canada and Ethic-Organic Seed Action. Narrated by Jon Snow. 15th December 2015.
From the plains of Ethiopia to the halls of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation in Rome, Dr Melaku’s quest to rediscover and valorise farmers’ knowledge reveals a different truth: that putting control over seeds back into the hands of farmers can make our food system healthier, more resilient and more just.
Through interviews with Melaku, his collaborators and Ethiopian farmers, Seeds of Justice demonstrates that farmers, as the custodians of generations of agricultural knowledge, are first and foremost scientists in the field, not needy beneficiaries.
Charting Melaku’s successes pioneering local seed banks and participatory plant breeding alongside farmers, the film reveals what can be achieved when science is united with farmers knowledge, rather than placed in the service of agribusiness.