Latest Resources
5 December 2023
Draft Plant Breeders’ Rights and Plant Improvement Act Regulations
Further comments submitted by the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB). In November, the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) hosted stakeholder consultations in Pretoria and Cape Town on the regulations of the Plant Breeders’ Rights (PBR) and Plant Improvement (PI) Acts. The ACB was quick to accept the invitation to attend both […]
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 […]
3 March 2023
GLOBAL BIODIVERSITY FRAMEWORK AND SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY: MISSED OPPORTUNITY FOR BIOSAFETY AND BIODIVE...
– By ACB Research and Advocacy Officer Sabrina Masinjila & Executive Director Mariam Mayet For several years, the ACB has engaged at multiple levels with the development of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). In the lead up to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Conservation’s fifteenth Conference of Parties (COP 15), held in Montreal, Canada in […]
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 […]
25 July 2022
The battle over regulation of new breeding techniques in South Africa
– A blog by ACB Director Mariam Mayet Snapshot In October 2021, the South African (SA) government determined that the regulatory and risk assessment framework that exists for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) will also apply to new breeding techniques (NBTs), which make up a host of new genetic engineering technologies. This decision appears to follow […]
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 […]