Latest Agribusiness Resources

In this briefing, we deal with the Pioneer/Pannar seed merger, outlining the evidence led by the ACB in opposing the merger, what is at stake for South Africa if the merger is approved and the extent to which the merger will deepen structural imbalances in the South African economy. Read the briefing here.

The African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) learned today that US multi-national seed company Pioneer Hi-Bred has been granted permission by the Competition Appeal Court, to acquire the nation’s last major independent seed company, Pannar seed. The ACB was an intervening party, opposing the merger in the public interest. In granting the merger, the court has […]

The African Centre for Biodiversity hereby lodges its objections and comments to the draft regulations regarding the mandatory blending of biofuels with petrol and diesel. Read here.

The African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) applauds today’s decision of the Competition Tribunal (Tribunal) to prohibit the seed merger between multinational seed company Pioneer Hi Bred, and South Africa’s largest seed company, Pannar Seed. During December 2010, the Competition Commission prohibited the merger and the merging parties referred the Commission’s decision to the Tribunal for […]

The Bunge/Senwes joint venture signals the first significant investment by Bunge in Africa. Bunge is one of the world’s largest and most influential corporations and is amongst a handful of companies dominating global trade in agricultural commodities. Senwes holds a dominant position in the South African market for the storage and handling of grain crops. […]

The Competition Commission has on 2nd September 2011, approved, with conditions, a joint venture between the multinational grain trader Bunge, and South African grain storage and trading company, Senwes. In terms of the joint venture, a separate legal entity, Bunge Senwes Proprietary Ltd, has been formed, with each party controlling 50%. According to Mariam Mayet […]

Several groups in South Africa, including the African Centre for Biosafety (ACB), the Surplus People Project (SPP), Trust for Community Outreach (TCOE), the Food Sovereignty Campaign and Biowatch South Africa submitted a detailed report to the Competition Commission in support of their requests that the Commission investigate Monsanto’s extraordinary market power in South Africa. The […]

This paper provides a brief overview of the biofuels industry in the context of the South African government’s 2008 policy. Our key finding is that the large-scale biofuels industry has stagnated almost to the point of non-existence. There is, however, a growing impetus to address the shortcomings in government policy that has held the industry […]

New data from ICRISAT and the US Department of Agriculture and a comparison of genebank records indicates that half of more of ICRISAT’s sorghum genebank collection is also being distributed outside of the Multilateral System. This yawning gap creates an economic incentive for the Multilateral System and its benefit-sharing requirements to be avoided. USDA’s sorghum […]

In 2012 multinational giant DuPont plans to begin selling sorghum varieties containing a valuable gene taken from a sudan grass that was collected in 2006 in Bolivia. The gene, branded as ‘Inzen A II’, makes sorghum plants tolerant to herbicides made by DuPont and other companies, and was acquired under exclusive license from Kansas State […]

The African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) has focused several recent reports on new international commercial interest and patent claims on the African native crop sorghum. This includes the issues raised by the proposed widespread use of sorghum for the production of agrofuels. This report extends ACB’s examination of new international commercial interest in African native […]

A highly successful health food company in the United States, Silver Plate Inc, is seeking to cash in on the health benefits of sorghum. More particularly, it has begun to commercialize foods rich in sorghum anthocyanins, natural “antioxidant” chemicals found in some strongly coloured plant foods that are believed to have heart and other health […]