Latest Resources
5 December 2023
UPOV-aligned PVP laws impinge on farmer seed systems
We stand united in our commitment to addressing the pervasive push for the adoption of plant variety protection (PVP) laws in Africa, aligned with the Eurocentric International Union for Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) 1991 model. We continue to declare our unwavering dedication to championing a just and sustainable agricultural future for the […]
28 August 2023
Seed harmonisation in Eastern and Southern Africa
Failures, corporate occupation, and the rise of digitalised seed trade: dire implications for farmer managed seed and food systems in Africa Regional seed policy harmonisation processes on seed and plant variety protection (PVP) legislation have been underway for the past 15 years on the African continent. These have taken place under the auspices of various […]
1 May 2023
Experts on Gene Drives
Gene Drives: privatising malaria control | Mariam Mayet Save our Seeds travelled the world speaking to some of the world’s leading thinkers, activists and academics on the impact of gene drives. They recognise ACB’s The financialisation of malaria in Africa: Burkina Faso, rogue capital & GM /gene drive mosquitoes (2022), as the most in-depth analysis of the […]
1 March 2023
ACB at the 2022 UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15)
The 2022 UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15) was held in Montreal, Canada, 7-19 December. Governments from around the world came together to work towards an agreement on a new set of goals to guide global action through 2030 to halt and reverse nature loss. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) was adopted during COP 15 […]
15 December 2022
End of 2022 wishes from the ACB
“We are showered every day with gifts, but they are not meant for us to keep. Their life is in their movement, the inhale and the exhale of our shared breath. Our work and our joy is to pass along the gift and to trust that what we put out into the universe will always […]
29 November 2022
The changing nature of Kenya’s seed sector: lessons from the potato seed industry
In this paper, we discuss the changes taking place in the Kenyan seed sector, with a focus on potato. The changes paint an extremely disturbing picture of how draconian agricultural and seed laws and policies are undermining smallholder farmers and their seed and food systems. These laws and policies form part of the architecture that […]
30 August 2022
Regulations of Plant Improvement Act and Plant Breeders’ Rights Act, 2018
Please find here ACB’s comments to the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development regarding the recently published Regulations to implement the Plant Improvement Act 2018, and the Plant Breeders’ Rights Act, 2018. The Department has taken important steps in these Regulations to ensure that certain groups of farmers are exempt from these corporate […]
21 July 2022
Zanzibar’s draconian seed law in the offing. Case study of unabated corporate expansion and contr...
(Tafadhali bonyeza hapa kusoma kwa Kiswahili) This paper provides a critique of the Zanzibar draft Seed Bill that contains provisions set to undermine the rights of smallholder farmers, by marginalising and criminalising their seed systems, while aiding the corporate entry and control of seed and agriculture systems on the Isles. Adopting Western-style law making, the […]
23 February 2022
African Union endorses draconian, undemocratic and corporate captured policy guidelines for seed ...
Veuillez cliquer ici pour lire la version française The African Union (AU) has endorsed the continental guidelines for the harmonisation of seed and regulatory frameworks and the continental guidelines for the use of biotechnology in food and agriculture in Africa, despite fierce resistance from African civil society. On 16 February 2022, we found out that […]
10 December 2021
End of 2021 wishes from the ACB
As this year comes to a close, we give thanks to all of you, our friends, family, comrades, and to the ancestors that continue to guide and protect us all and this planet. We send thoughts and prayers, to all those that have lost loved ones. Take this time to breathe. To ground. To decompose. […]