Latest Agribusiness Resources

Climate change is set to wreak havoc on South Africa (SA)’s agri-food system. Increasing temperatures, lower and more erratic rainfall, and more extreme weather events will characterise the climate in Southern Africa over the next decades. This poses challenges for food production and food security. At the same time, SA’s agri-food system is one of […]

Des pistes pour une transition juste en préparation de la COP 16 et au-delà (Click here to read in English.) La cible 18 du cadre mondial pour la biodiversité de la Convention sur la diversité biologique préconise l’élimination, la suppression progressive ou la réforme des subventions néfastes pour l’environnement et la société, ainsi que l’augmentation […]

Just transition pathways for CBD’s COP 16 and beyond (Cliquez ici pour lire en français.) Target 18 of the Convention for Biological Diversity’s Global Biodiversity Framework calls for the elimination, phasing out, or reform of environmentally and socially harmful subsidies, and a scaling up of positive incentives for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, […]

What future for small-scale farmers and their food and seed systems? Following on from part one, The rise of digital agriculture and dispossession in Africa: implications for smallholder farmers, part two looks at how private-sector interests and motives are driving the financialisation of Africa’s food and farming systems. Financialisation is the focus on generation of […]

In part one in a series of two, consisting of a briefing paper and linked fact sheet, we explore the current status of digital agriculture in Africa and the potential implications its deployment has for smallholder farmers on the continent. We outline three primary areas of concern related to potential inequitable benefits and influence accrued from its deployment; […]

Clique aqui para a versão portuguesa Por favor, haga clic aquí para el español Unpacking the dangerous myth that nature-based solutions can sufficiently mitigate climate change The Third World Network and the African Centre for Biodiversity are pleased to share with you a new briefing paper: Nature-based solutions or nature-based seductions? Unpacking the dangerous myth […]

The briefing paper challenges us to reclaim our connection to seed, food and each other and to engage in new food politics. Download pdf.

This briefing deals with the three mega mergers taking place in the agriculture sector as Dow Chemical and DuPont are set to merge, China National Chemical Corporation (ChemChina) is to acquire Syngenta and Bayer is to acquire Monsanto. The proposed Bayer-Monsanto merger will give control of almost 30% of the world’s commercial seed market and […]

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 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. […]

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 […]