Gestion communautaire des semences et responsabilité collective envers l’agrobiodiversité. De la nécessaire reconnaissance des incommuns 

Abstract

This article examines the extent to which the (re)definition of collective responsibilities associated with community seed bank can contribute to a redefinition of seed relations and status. The analysis is based on interviews and a collaborative and reflective process conducted in Senegal with researchers, development actors and farmers’organizations. From a relational perspective, the notion of responsibility makes it possible to grasp the links that bind humans to each other and humans to seeds from the point of view of these different actors. The plurality of principles of responsibility observed reveals certain uncommons inherent of community seed banks. We emphasize the importance of taking these uncommons into account, both in order to respond to the issues of justice targeted by these mechanisms and to collectively explore new ways of preserving cultivated diversity as well as the plurality of relations to it.

Keywords

• Community seed banks
• Seed commons
• Uncommons
• Accountability regimes
• Forum theatre
• Senegal