Latest Resources

18 May 2017

FISPs Factsheets: FISPs’ Aims

ACB developed these easy to read factsheets that explain what farm input subsidy programs are and how they operate. The second factsheet in the series looks at the aims of the programme. Chichewa | English | Nyanja | Portuguese | Sesotho | Setswana | Shona | Siswati | Swahili | Xhosa To read the next […]

18 May 2017

FISPs Factsheets: What are FISPs?

Farm input subsidy programmes (FISPs) play a central role in financing and delivering Green Revolution technologies to small-scale farmers in Africa. These programmes are rolled out in numerous African countries-from Ghana to Swaziland. The first in the series gives a better idea of what exactly FISPs are. Chichewa | English | Nyanja | Portuguese | […]

18 May 2017

Farm Input Subsidy Programmes: A factsheet series

Farm input subsidy programmes (FISPs) play a central role in financing and delivering Green Revolution technologies to small-scale farmers in Africa. These programmes are rolled out in numerous African countries-from Ghana to Swaziland. ACB developed these easy to read factsheets that explain what farm input subsidy programs are and how they operate vis-à-vis smallholder farmers, […]

10 May 2017

New to Genetically Modified (GM)? Fact sheets

Grab these short, easy reading factsheets and share it with your friends.

13 March 2017

Two simplified briefings introducing new GM technologies and biosafety risks

These reports introduce the novel techniques already being employed, or in development and their associated biosafety concerns that go against the claim that crops developed with these methods are technological progress in ‘precision’ and ‘safety’. Further described is the utilisation of RNA interference, an epigenetic process that is already being employed in commercialised crops. Despite […]

28 November 2016

Biosafety aspects of genome-editing techniques

Biosafety TWN Briefing – Biosafety aspects of genome-editing techniques. You can download the paper here.

17 November 2016

New Lobby document from ACB: transitioning out of GM maize in SA

This four-page document summarises the recent report published by the African Centre for Biodiversity: Transitioning out of GM maize: to agroecology for sustainable, socially just and nutritional food systems, that argues that we need to urgently shift away from the mono-focus on a maize towards embracing a diversity of crops – particularly indigenous African summer […]

18 April 2016

Zimbabwean smallholder support at the crossroads: Diminishing returns from Green Revolution seed ...

This scoping report is published jointly by the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB and the Zimbabwe Small-Scale Organic Farmers’ Forum (ZIMSOFF). The report focuses on government and donor farm input subsidy programmes (FISPs) and seed aid in facilitating the spread of Green Revolution technologies and raises questions about who really benefits from these programmes. It […]

3 April 2016

The chicanery behind GM non-commercial ‘orphan crops’ and rice for Africa

This paper focuses on research and development (R&D) relevant to non-commercial so-called ‘orphan crops’ in Africa—cassava, sorghum, sweet potato, pigeon pea and millet —as well as one commercial crop, rice. This paper should be read in conjunction with work already produced on GM banana (Schnurr, 2014) and GM cowpea (ACB, 2015). These non- commercial crops […]

9 November 2015

Which way forward for Zambia’s smallholder farmers: Green Revolution input subsidies or agroecology?

In this report, we provide a critique of the Green Revolution Farmer Input Subsidy project in Zambia, looking at its impacts particularly for small holder farmers and their seed systems.