Latest Resources

Deep concern: Patel’S New Growth Path (NGP) supports Green Revolution for smallholder farme...

Dear friends and colleagues, The ACB is deeply disturbed and disappointed that Minister Patel’s NGP has not embraced new thinking on agriculture policy which requires breaking from a wholly inequitable and ecologically unsustainable chemical-dependent system. The NGP lacks vision as it has missed an important moment to move South Africa towards systems that reconnect food […]

Opposition to Pioneer Hi Bred’s merger with Pannar, submitted to Competitions Commission

As a stakeholder, the ACB was requested by the Competition Commission to make written comments on the proposed merger between Pioneer Hi Bred and Pannar, which we submitted to the Commission on the 21st of October, 2010. In this submission, we raise the following further pertinent issues: We provide in several annexes, the seeds under […]

Watchdog condemns moves to include maize in biofuels strategy

The African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) is deeply concerned about the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF), Tina Joemat-Petersson’s statements on 8th of October 2010 that South Africa’s biofuels strategy should be revised to include maize. The Minister’s stance has been influenced by the huge surplus of conventional and GM maize produced by South […]

The dirty politics of the global grain trade – GM maize farmers face ruin in SA

Recently, the South African press reported on the possible bankruptcy faced by maize farmers. The African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) has today released a new report titled “The dirty politics of the global grain trade – GM maize farmers face ruin in SA” which provides an analysis of why South Africa’s record 13 million ton […]

The Sorghum Gene Grab

A 16-page booklet by Edward Hammond. Read here. View the press release here.

An Open Letter to Oxfam America

Sent from the following concerned groups: African Center on Biodiversity, South Africa (Mariam Mayet, Executive Director) Bharatiya Krishak Samaj/Indian Farmers Association, India (Krishan Bir Chaudhary, President) Center for Food Safety, U.S. (Debi Barker, International Director) CNOP (Coordination Nationale des organizations Paysannes/ National Coordination of Peasant Organizations), Mali (Ibrahima Coulibaly, President) Grassroots International, US (Nikhil Aziz, […]

African Sorghum for agrofuels: the race is on

Author: Edward Hammond About the briefing: The interlocking problems of climate change, emissions from fossil fuels, and limited oil reserves have stimulated interest worldwide in the use of plant crops to produce fuel. Agrofuels are not a new idea. Brazil, for instance, has used them on a large scale for many years. The potential scale […]

Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa: Turning Africa into a repository for failed agricultur...

The ‘new’ Green Revolution push in Africa is directed squarely at increasing agricultural production as the continent’s most fundamental development priority. The most visible actor in the Green Revolution onslaught is the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), a partnership between the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Despite initial […]

Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) challenges leaders on climate change

We, the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), representing small holders, pastoralists, hunter/gatherers, indigenous peoples, citizens and environmentalists from Africa demand that African leaders do more to protect Africa’s food sovereignty, biodiversity, culture and livelihoods of her people. Read here.

Genes from Africa: the colonisation of African DNA

“You people. We thought you folks had taken everything you could. You took our land, you took our homes. You stole our pottery and our songs and our blankets and our designs. You took our language and, in some places, you even took our children. You snatched at our religion and at our women. You […]