Battle For African Agriculture Podcast

In this opening episode of a 3-part series, Million Belay sits down with legendary activist, ETC Group co-founder Pat Mooney to uncover the hidden history of corporate control over agriculture. From the 1960s to today, Pat traces how seeds once shared by farmers across the world became privatized, patented, and concentrated in the hands of a few powerful corporations. He reveals how the Global South supplied the genetic foundation of global agriculture, only to lose control over it through systems of intellectual property, policy shifts, and what he famously called “biopiracy.” This conversation breaks down the key turning points that reshaped food systems from global policy battles to the rise of seed monopolies and asks a critical question: who really controls our food? This is Part 1 of a 3-part series. In the next episodes, we go deeper into biotechnology, digital agriculture, and the future of corporate power.

In this episode of Battle for African Agriculture, Million Belay talks with Christopher Wali Magala, the Team Leader at Alwana Natural Farms, a veteran farmer and former government Agricultural Extension officer, about his shift from conventional farming to agroecology. He shares how biodiversity, intercropping, and local knowledge transformed his farm in Mukono, restoring soil and ensuring food security. He also boldly challenges the dominant narratives around GMOs and monoculture.

In this episode of Battle for African Agriculture, Million Belay speaks with researcher and global policy expert Lim Li Ching about the rapid rise of digital agriculture. Drawing from the IPES-Food report “Head in the Cloud,” they explore how alliances between Big Tech and agribusiness are reshaping farming through data platforms, AI, and cloud computing. They examine data extractivism, farmer autonomy, seed sovereignty, and the political nature of innovation.

In this episode of The Battle for African Agriculture, Million Belay speaks with tech critic and journalist Edward Ongweso Jr. about biodigitalisation, data extraction, and corporate power in food systems. They unpack how “smart agriculture” can lock farmers into platforms, shift control to corporations, and threaten food sovereignty unless Africa charts its own path.

In this episode of The Battle for African Agriculture podcast, Million Belay speaks with renowned Kenyan chef Njathi Kabui about African food as culture, resistance, and power. Drawing from his upbringing on a subsistence farm near Mount Kenya and his work across Africa and activism in the United States, Chef Kabui explains how African cuisine shapes identity, health, and sovereignty. He challenges ultra-processed and “programmed” foods, explores food justice and statecraft, and argues that reclaiming African food systems is essential for Africa’s future.

In this episode of the podcast, Million Belay speaks with global food policy expert Timothy A Wise to unpack the failures of the Green Revolution, AGRA’s unfulfilled promises, and Mexico’s powerful stand against GMOs. Drawing on decades of research and his book Eating Tomorrow, Tim reveals how corporate and donor influence continue to shape African agriculture while small-scale farmers offer proven, sustainable solutions. This conversation explores the political forces behind industrial agriculture, the growing evidence of health and environmental risks, and the urgent need to shift toward agroecology and farmer-led approaches.

In this episode of The Battle for African Agriculture, Dr. Million Belay speaks with Professor Michael Antoniou, a molecular geneticist whose decades of work in medical biotechnology give him a rare insider view on the limits and dangers of applying genetic engineering to agriculture. Although he uses gene technologies in tightly controlled clinical settings, he explains why releasing genetically modified and gene-edited crops into the environment is scientifically risky, poorly regulated, and fundamentally different from their use in medicine.

In this episode of the Battle for African Agriculture podcast, Million Belay speaks with Anne Maina, the National Coordinator of the Biodiversity and Biosafety Association of Kenya (BIBA Kenya). Anne shares her journey into advocacy and the work BIBA does to promote biosafety and food sovereignty. She explains how the organization pushes back against the influence of GMOs in Kenya, which are often backed by corporate and philanthropic interests. The conversation covers the health, legal, and policy issues surrounding GMOs in Kenya. Anne stresses that true food security is about access, not just availability. She highlights the importance of legal advocacy, coalition-building through networks like AFSA, and the need for youth and scientists to join the movement. The episode is a strong call to defend Africa’s food systems through agroecology and local solutions.

In this episode of The Battle for African Agriculture, Million Belay speaks with theologian and activist Michael Tettey about how colonialism disrupted African spirituality, identity, and food systems. Tettey reflects on the deep ties between indigenous beliefs and traditional food practices, and how missionary churches altered these connections—labeling sacred foods as taboo and weakening communal rituals around food. The conversation explores how colonial religious teachings reshaped African ecological ethics and cultural identity.Together, they discuss the need to decolonize African minds and food systems by reconnecting with indigenous spirituality and values. Tettey emphasizes the importance of youth in bridging traditional knowledge with modern agroecological practices. This powerful conversation calls for a revival of African ethics, environmental responsibility, and community cohesion as key steps toward a more just and sustainable future for African agriculture.

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 of local communities have earned him international acclaim, including the 2010 Right Livelihood Award. Bassey has spent decades confronting the extractive industries and corporate systems that threaten Africa’s people, ecosystems, and food systems. In this episode of The Battle for African Agriculture, Bassey joins Million Belay for an in-depth conversation on neocolonialism, seed sovereignty, and the growing resistance to corporate capture of African food systems. Together, they unpack the colonial legacy behind industrial agriculture, expose how global corporations continue to shape African agricultural policy, and explore the radical potential of agroecology as both an ecological and political response.

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 Africa are rooted in Western agronomic paradigms imposed through colonial and neocolonial institutions. Through decades of fieldwork in Mali, Burkina Faso, South Africa, and Botswana, he reveals how political power—not just scientific logic—has shaped agricultural policy, often to the detriment of smallholder farmers.Together, they explore the promise of indigenous agronomy and agroecology as not only scientific alternatives but political and cultural acts of resistance. Moseley calls for a bold shift away from top-down, export-driven agricultural development toward locally rooted systems that nourish rural livelihoods, promote ecological health, and support food sovereignty. This episode is both a critique and a call to action—inviting listeners to imagine a radically different future where African food systems thrive on their own terms.

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 clarity and urgency, Mamadou calls for a radical shift in agricultural thinking—one that centers indigenous knowledge, food sovereignty, and agroecology as tools of liberation. He critiques the ongoing influence of Western-led models and institutions, from donor-driven reforms to chemical-intensive farming and lifts up grassroots resistance across Africa. This episode is a compelling call to decolonize food systems, not just in practice, but in policy, governance, and imagination.

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, often at the expense of local food security and sovereignty. Meinberg emphasizes the importance of civil society advocacy, farmer-managed seed systems, and integrating traditional knowledge into legal frameworks. Together, they call for evidence-based policymaking and a balanced legal approach that supports both breeders and farmers, urging African leaders to resist trade agreements that compromise the continent’s agricultural future.