Abstract
The article aims to highlight local norms that affect seed security and to assess their coexistence with national and international legal orders. It is based on the results of an empirical study conducted between 2018 and 2021 in two villages, located respectively in the Centre-West region of Burkina Faso and the Fatick region of Senegal. The article shows the extent to which i) the local norms of these villages are based on rules of reciprocity, alliance and filiation that structure the local production and circulation of seeds, and ii) these local rules reveal an interdependence between object and subject, nature and culture. It then highlights the issues of coexistence of these norms with the national laws of Burkina Faso and Senegal, in particular the 2006 Plant Seeds Act in Burkina Faso and the 1994 Registration of Varieties, Production, Certification and Trade of Seeds or Plants Act in Senegal. Inspired by international models, these laws organize a seed sector focused on cross-border exchanges. They exclude farmers who practice mass selection and use non-certified seeds from the status of seed breeder, producer and seller. Solutions are proposed to encourage collaboration among all actors. The Crop Diversity Commons is identified as a relevant conceptual framework to discuss the recognition of a community of rights and the interdependence between humans and plants, from the perspective of sustainable global seed security.