Latest Resources
26 May 2025
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 […]
14 May 2025
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, […]
6 June 2024
Annual report for 2023 celebrates ACB’s 20th anniversary
2023 was a special year for the ACB, as it marked the twentieth anniversary since our organisation came into being, initially in response to the emergence of genetically modified organisms and the attendant biosafety issues in food and agriculture. As the organisation grew, our focus broadened to include a host of interconnected issues affecting food […]
9 February 2024
African Perspectives on Agroecology now available for free online
Edited by scholar-activist Rachel Wynberg, African Perspectives on Agroecology: Why farmer-led seed and knowledge systems matter is now freely available online. The widely endorsed book includes a chapter by the African Centre for Biodiversity’s Stephen Greenberg on corporate expansion in African seed systems: implications for agricultural biodiversity and food sovereignty. African Perspectives on Agroecology includes […]
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 […]
19 October 2023
ACB attends 25th SBSTTA meeting in Kenya
The African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) is participating in the Convention on Biological Diversity’s 25th meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) in Nairobi, Kenya, 15–19 October 2023, represented by advocacy and research officer Sabrina Masinjila. (She is pictured above, sitting next to Barbara Ntambirweki – Ugandan lawyer and researcher working […]
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 […]
16 August 2023
Cultivating diversity for a just agroecological transition in Africa
The inextricable link between agricultural biodiversity, agroecology, climate change, and biodiversity In this briefing, Cultivating diversity for a just agroecological transition in Africa: the inextricable link between agricultural biodiversity, agroecology, climate change, and biodiversity, we highlight the pivotal role of agricultural biodiversity, in particular, crop diversity and its interrelatedness and dependence on farmer managed seed […]
2 December 2022
Civil society and farmer network organisations call on the South African Department of Agricultur...
This is the main thrust of the open letter we sent to Minister Thoko Didiza today, with Biowatch, Environmental Monitoring Group, the Association for Rural Advancement, and Tshintsha Amakhaya. So far 50 organisations have endorsed the letter. This letter is intended to push the Department to engage systematically and meaningfully with CSOs, including household and […]
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 […]