Latest Resources
26 July 2019
Gene Drive Organisms in Africa: Civil Society Speaks Out
On Monday 1st July 2019, Target Malaria announced the release of 6400 genetically modified (GM) sterile male mosquitoes in Bana, a village in Burkina Faso – the first GM insects to be released in Africa. This is Phase I – by Phase III, Target Malaria aims to release gene drive mosquitoes. Gene drives are based […]
23 July 2019
Moving from the Farm Input Subsidy Programme (FISP) to Agroecology in the Kalulushi District, Cop...
This briefing highlights key issues raised at a farmer exchange and learning event held in May 2019 in Kalulushi District, in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia. The overall objective of the meeting was to share and exchange ideas on transitioning to a smallholder support system for diversified agroecological farming. Participants discussed the roles that farmers, […]
2 July 2019
Civil Society Denounces the Release of GM mosquitoes in Burkina Faso
We, the undersigned civil society organisations from Africa and around the world, denounce the release of genetically modified (GM) “male-sterile” mosquitoes in Burkina Faso. The GM mosquitoes were released in the village of Bana on 1 July 2019 by the Target Malaria research consortium.[i] The open release is intended to test the infrastructure and systems […]
27 May 2019
Securing equitable farmer support and the transition from the Farm Input Subsidy Programme in Zambia
We are pleased to share with you this discussion paper, co-published by the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) and the Zambia Alliance for Agroecology and Biodiversity (ZAAB). In Zambia, as in many other African countries, decisions related to food production and consumption increasingly lie outside the control of those responsible and accountable for food and […]
15 May 2019
Input Subsidies in Mozambique: the future of peasant farmers and their seed systems
In this report, the African Centre for Biodiversity outlines and assesses input subsidy programmes in Mozambique, as part of the larger agriculture policy landscape, and the impact this has had on the agricultural sector, particularly on smallholder farmers. In Mozambique, peasant farmers feed the country mostly using their own seed. Yet the majority of (donor-funded) […]
13 May 2019
Gene drive organisms: What Africa should know about actors, motives and threats to biodiversity a...
The African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) has produced a briefing paper in regard to a new and controversial genetic engineering (GE) technology to produce gene drive organisms (GDOs). These GDOs have been specifically designed to spread an engineered, ‘modified’ genetic trait such as sterility, with the potential to eradicate entire wildlife populations and even species. […]
2 May 2019
STOP RISKY GM MOSQUITO RELEASES – WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO SAY NO
We, the undersigned civil society organisations in Africa, hereby call upon the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Target Malaria project to stop the intended release of 10 000 genetically modified (GM) “male sterile” mosquitoes in Burkina Faso, as the release poses unacceptable risks to human beings and the environment. We note with grave […]
30 April 2019
Oxitec’s failed GM mosquito releases worldwide: Forewarnings for Africa and the Target Malaria pr...
A decade ago, genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes were first released globally, in the Cayman Islands, by UK-based company Oxitec. Further releases followed in Malaysia, Panama and Brazil. In a public relations whitewash, Oxitec has repeatedly claimed that the experiments successfully wiped out nearly 90% of the Aedes aegypti mosquito population, which is one of the […]
26 April 2019
Undermining farmers’ rights and seed systems: Why the EAC seed and plant varieties bill must be d...
In this vlog, African Centre for Biodiversity’s (ACB’s) Sabrina Masinjila, based in Tanzania, speaks about the East African Community Seed and Plant Varieties Bill, 2018 and some of the concerns related to the Bill, as more fully set out in a detailed report and summary. As described in the vlog and our detailed report, Concerns […]
16 April 2019
Agroecology as an alternative (Video four of a four-part series)
In August 2018, the Rural Women’s Assembly (RWA) and the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) hosted a speak-out for SADC smallholder farmers in Windhoek, Namibia, on Farm Input Subsidy Programmes (FISPs). FISPs are government agricultural programmes that promote Green Revolution inputs produced by multinational corporations, such as chemical fertilizers. In Ghana, for example, up to […]