Latest Resources
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.
17 October 2015
Fact Sheets on fertiliser, seed, seed laws and FISPs
Fact Sheets produced by the ACB for smallholder farmers in Africa in several languages on a range of topics dealing with seed and plant variety protection laws, including on: the value of farmer managed seed systems; UPOV 1991 and farmers’ rights; the Arusha PVP Protocol; women as custodians of seed, what is a seed law, […]
6 July 2015
GM and seed industry eye Africa’s lucrative cowpea seed markets: The political economy of cowpea ...
The African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) has today released a new report titled, GM and seed industry eye Africa’s lucrative cowpea seed markets: The political economy of cowpea in Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Ghana and Malawi. The report shows a strong interest by the seed industry in commercialising cowpea seed production and distribution in West Africa, […]
21 June 2015
African civil society slams Monsanto junk GM maize deal
African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), Tanzania Alliance for Biodiversity (TABIO), União Nacional de Camponeses (UNAC), Kenya Biodiversity Coalition (KBioC), Kenya Food Rights Alliance (KeFRA), Eastern and Southern African Small-Scale Farmers Forum Uganda (ESAFF, Uganda) Non-governmental and farmer organisations from South Africa, Tanzania, Mozambique, Kenya and Uganda strongly condemn the go-ahead given by the South African […]
11 June 2015
Cottoning onto the lie: GM cotton will harm not help small farmers in Africa
After five seasons of genetically modified (GM) cotton cultivation in Burkina Faso farmers are denouncing their contracts with Monsanto and cotton stakeholders are discussing compensation for losses incurred since 2008 due to low yields and low quality fibre. Many other African governments are poised to follow suit but should note how GM cotton has impoverished […]
4 May 2015
Gates and Monsanto’s Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) Project
In this report, the ACB interrogates the Gates Foundation and Monsanto’s Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) project and exposes it to be nothing more than corporate ‘green washing’, designed to ensnare small holder farmers into adopting hybrid and GM maize in order to benefit seed and agro-chemical companies.
23 February 2015
US FORCE FEEDS GM CROPS TO AFRICAN NATIONS, SAYS NEW REPORT
Friends of the Earth International, JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA This includes US agencies, funders such as the Gates Foundation, and foods and crops, according to a new report released today.[1] “The US, the world’s top producer of GM crops, is seeking new markets for American GM crops in Africa. The US administration’s strategy consists of assisting […]
15 February 2015
Manipulate and Mislead: How GMOs Are Infiltrating Africa
The most persistent myth about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is that they are necessary to feed a growing global population. Highly effective marketing campaigns have drilled it into our heads that GMOs will produce more food on less land in an environmentally friendly manner. The mantra has been repeated so often that it is considered […]
18 November 2014
AGRA’s scandalous subsidisation of big fertiliser, financial and agribusiness corporations ...
In a scandalous move of skulduggery, the African Fertiliser and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP), under the guise of empowering smallholder farmers in Africa, is subsidising multinational fertiliser and financial corporations on African soil. Other beneficiaries of this scheme are the global grain trading and food processing giants. AFAP, established in 2012, with a grant of US […]
1 August 2014
Industry employing bullying tactics to scupper GM food labelling in South Africa
GM-Labeling-zebraThe Biotech industry continues to stall the implementation of a GMO labelling regime, claiming that only a “lunatic fringe” or a “European funded lobby” want it, despite government’s clear intentions in the Consumer Protection Act to grant the consumer’s right to know and to choose. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has re-opened the […]