Latest Resources

The financialisation of malaria in Africa: Burkina Faso, rogue capital & GM /gene drive mosq...

(Veuillez cliquer ici pour lire en français) The African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) hereby publishes a new research paper, titled, “The Financialisation of malaria: Burkina Faso, Rogue capital & GM/gene drive mosquitoes.” This paper seeks to understand the financialisation of malaria as a vehicle for rogue capital in a context of a weakened state (through […]

Guidelines for the Harmonisation of Seed Regulatory Frameworks in Africa: Call for African social...

The African Union (AU) has embarked on a mission towards harmonising seed regulatory frameworks across the continent, beginning with the establishment of a set of Guidelines on seed law harmonisation. The African Centre for Biodiversity, along with other civil society organisations and farmers’ associations from Africa, have actively engaged in the development of these Guidelines. […]

Advancing agroecology and farmer managed seed systems in Limpopo

At a dialogue on farmer managed seed systems and agroecology, held in Acornhoek, Limpopo on 20-22 January 2020, farmers and support organisations made clear that they want to see more government and policy support for agroecology and farmer managed seed systems, that they will work together to engage government in this direction, and that they […]

COVID-19: Access to medicine & implications for Africa

ACB brings you a new discussion paper Passer à la version française Clique aqui para a versão portuguesa Dear Friends and Colleagues, Expeditious and affordable access to medicines and other healthcare items will be critical to reducing the toll of COVID-19 in Africa. But if nothing is done to compel corporations to make their patents […]

GM Potato Push in East Africa

Andean and African farmers condemn digital sequence information of potatoes from centres of origin – opens doors for biopiracy (Passer à la version française) (Por favor, haga clic aquí para el español) Cusco, Peru; Johannesburg, South Africa and Kigali, Rwanda – 05 March, 2020 Billionaire potato overlords on both sides of the North Atlantic want […]

Changing the discourse, policy and practice in farmer seed systems in Africa

The ACB is excited to share this new briefing paper (see below for English, French and Portuguese versions), highlighting key issues relating to recognition and support for farmer seed systems in Africa and beyond. Farmers’ seed constitutes the majority of seed used and exchanged. Crops produced from this seed contribute substantially to food and nutrition […]

Farmer-Managed Seed Systems in Limpopo Province, South Africa – October 2019

The African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) co-hosted two farmer exchanges in South Africa in 2019 – in Limpopo and Eastern Cape. The Limpopo meeting and field visit brought together smallholder farmers from Dzomo La Mupo and Mopani Farmers Association (MFA), and officials form Limpopo Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (LDARD). Recognising that industrial agriculture […]

The time is now! Recognise, affirm, and support farmer seed systems and agroecology in South Africa!

The deepening social, ecological and climate crises require urgent systematic restructuring of our food systems towards biodiverse, agroecological systems, which begins with seed. The African Centre for Biodiversity is excited to share with you groundwork to revive discussions on farmer seed systems in South Africa, in partnership with farmers and civil society. You can read […]

Africa must ban glyphosate now!

Thank you for supporting our continental campaign to ban glyphosate The deadline for signing on to the petition was Friday, 30 August, 2019. In the next phase of the campaign, many organisations around the continent are sending letters to their governments calling for a ban. In this paper we explain why. Globally, glyphosate and glyphosate-based […]

South Africa’s new Plant Breeders’ Rights Act and its effect on farmers’ rights and farmer manage...

In this updated briefing, the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) warns that the Plant Breeder’s Rights Act (PBR) 2018 will impact negatively on small-scale farmers and calls for exemptions in the Regulations to protect farmers’ rights. The PBR, together with the new Plant Improvement Act (PIA) 2018, was approved by Parliament last October and has […]