Latest Resources

Farmers’ rights, farmer seed systems under threat by Enhancement of Multilateral System of Access...

ACB, as part of a broader collective, has submitted a letter to the African government officials who will be negotiating on proposals to amend the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) at its next Governing Body meeting in Lima, Peru, in November 2025. Thank you very much to those who […]

South Africa’s plant breeders’ rights laws undermine farmers’ rights to seed and lock out farmer-...

In this briefing, we deal mainly with the Regulations made in terms of the Plant Breeders’ Rights (PBR) Act, No. 6302, on 13 June 2025, and particularly the exemptions to breeders’ rights, through the lens of understanding the impact on the realisation of farmers’ rights to seed and farmer-managed seed systems (FMSS). We discuss the […]

MLS of ABS under ITPGRFA threatens farmer seed and national sovereignty: Letter to African negoti...

Click here for the French version. The African Centre for Biodiversity is appealing to civil society in Africa, and in particular, farmers’ organisations, to please sign onto our letter to African government officials who will be negotiating on proposals to amend the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (Plant Treaty) at […]

ACB 2024 Annual Report: Our Year in Review

In 2024, the ACB collaborated with progressive civil society networks to advance an integrated agroecological response to the biodiversity, climate change, and sustainable food systems issues of our time, intensifying our efforts to conceptualise what just and sustainable food systems could look like in the future. We actively participated in several policy processes in South […]

Reimagining food sovereignty beyond capitalism

In March this year, the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) convened the three-day Shifting Financial Power forum in Nairobi, Kenya. Over 100 participants attended, including farmers, researchers, activists, policymakers, and civil society leaders from across Africa. Speaking at the event, Stephen Greenberg of the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) called on AFSA and […]

ACB co-hosts capacity-building workshop on PVP and farmers’ rights in Uganda

Organised in partnership with the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) and the Association for Plant Breeding for the Benefit of Society (APBREBES), ACB is co-hosting and participating in a capacity-building workshop on Plant Variety Protection (PVP) and Farmers’ Rights, currently underway in Entebbe, Uganda. The workshop, bringing together civil society organisations, smallholder farmers, […]

International Farmer Seeds Gathering 2024

ACB executive director Mariam Mayet and research and advocacy officer Sabrina Masinjila recently participated in the fourth edition of the International Farmer Seeds Gathering, this year held in Antibes, France. Co-organised by Reseau Semences Paysannes, SOL and the Maison des Semences Maralpines in collaboration with the European network Let’s Liberate Diversity!, the gathering was a […]

Kenya Seed Savers Network workshop on CBD and GBF

In September, ACB research and advocacy officer Sabrina Masinjila participated in a multi-stakeholder workshop hosted by the Kenya Seed Savers Network. The aim of the meeting, which took place in Gilgil, was to develop a strategy for grassroots organisations to effectively engage in the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and actualise the Global Biodiversity Framework […]

The decline of FISPs in Malawi – debt, corruption and hunger

What future for smallholder farmers and realising agroecology?

Is Zambia’s food system collapsing? 

Zambia’s collapsed food system: never-ending debt, climate shocks, biodiversity loss and FISPs – the indispensability of transitioning to agroecology In this briefing, we look at how Zambia is facing a gathering food crisis of serious proportions. Amidst repeated droughts and floods, energy rationing, and shortages of drinkable water, food prices are rising and millions are at risk […]