Corporate Expansion

The ACB monitors and contests corporate expansion by conducting research and analysis, sharing information, and working with networks to build popular resistance, with a focus on agricultural input supply (seed, fertiliser, pesticides).

GREEN REVOLUTION AND FARM INPUT SUBSIDY PROGRAMMES

We have conducted wide ranging research on the corporate roots of the Green Revolution agenda in Africa agriculture. Public resources subsidise Green Revolution inputs, which mostly consist of synthetic fertiliser, hybrid seed and pesticides, through packages such as farm input subsidy programmes (FISPs). The ACB is building coalitions to advocate for more diversified, contextually appropriate farmer support that embraces local production and distribution, beyond existing FISPs, which currently favour multinational corporate input supply of seed, fertilisers and pesticides.

AGRIBUSINESS

We engage with competition authorities and other bodies to oppose multinational mergers and acquisitions in seed, biotechnology and agrochemical input supply. We also conduct studies to highlight the concentration in corporate value chains and the implications for smallholder farmers.

AGROECOLOGY

At the same time, we work with partners to deepen a shared understanding of, and realise transitions to, agroecology and call for a systematic diversification of public sector and donor farmer support and financing towards diverse agroecological practices, which provide an alternative to the corporate-industrial capture of African seed systems.

MULTIPLE SHOCKS

This research explores the deeper systemic forces driving ecological and economic exploitation of our continent and the experiences of shocks, in the context of the climate and biodiversity crises, to deepen our understanding of the terrain in which we struggle for transformed food systems. While the papers focus on Africa, we present them in solidarity with all those at the brunt of oppression and the ecological crisis, and to those who forge ahead, against the forces of destruction, and whose struggles are embedded in the politics of life.