Latest Resources
1 March 2018
A review of participatory plant breeding and lessons for African seed and food sovereignty movements
There is growing awareness of the unique and important role smallholder farmers around the world play in conserving, using and enhancing biodiversity. Conventional breeding has created a separation between farmers and specialised breeders. Participatory plant breeding (PPB) is a field of action developed over the past 25-30 years to overcome this separation, and reunite farmers […]
29 January 2018
Celebrating smallholder farmers and seed diversity in South Africa: Report from the national seed...
On 8 and 9 December 2017 the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) hosted a national seed dialogue and celebration at Constitution Hill in Johannesburg. Farmer representatives from eight provinces, along with civil society organisations, academics, and officials from the Agricultural Research Council and Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) participated in cultural events and […]
24 January 2018
Green Innovation Centre in Zambia: Fighting Hunger through Corporate Supply Chains?
The study “Green Innovation Centre in Zambia: Fighting Hunger through Corporate Supply Chains?” is a joint publication by Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung and African Centre for Biodiversity. It discusses the Green Innovation Centre (GIC) project of the German government, its approach and its impact. The development concept behind the GIC is farming as a business, focusing […]
4 August 2017
Local seed varieties are essential for sustainable food systems … but face challenges
Smallholder farmers in Mozambique want access to a diversity of quality seed, but not exclusively from the formal sector. Farmers highly value their own varieties and want to work on enhancing these, too. These strong messages came out of a dialogue held between smallholder farmers, government officials and research institutions in Chimoio, Manica Province in […]
2 February 2017
Against the odds, smallholder farmers maintain agricultural biodiversity in South Africa
This report is a result of research conducted in partnership with Tshintsha Amakhaya, Farmer Support Group, TCOE Zingisa and Surplus People Project. The report investigates the state of farmer-managed seed systems in rural South Africa. Through three case studies in Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, the report highlights both the fragility and perseverance of […]
5 October 2016
Farmer-managed seed systems in Dowa, Malawi: A legacy of eroded confidence and agricultural diver...
This report is the product of field work conducted by ACB and Kusamala Institute for Agriculture and Ecology in Dowa district in central Malawi. The objective of the research was to deepen our understanding of the role of farmer seed varieties in smallholder production systems that have come under heavy pressure from concerted Green Revolution […]
16 September 2016
Mapping farmer seed varieties in Manica, Mozambique: initial investigations into agricultural bio...
This scoping exercise to deepen our understanding of the current context of seed use, main crops and varieties in the research localities in order to gather evidence of the ongoing importance of farmer seed systems in the agricultural practices and livelihoods of smallholder farmers, to identify cases of biodiversity loss and to use this information […]
1 August 2016
Farmer Managed Seed Systems in Morogoro and Mvomero, Tanzania: The disregarded wealth of smallhol...
In this report by the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), in partnership with Mtandao wa Vikundi vya Wakulima Tanzania (MVIWATA) and Sustainable Agriculture Tanzania (SAT), based on field work conducted in Morogoro and Mvomero in 2016. It is a continuation of a research partnership with MVIWATA and SAT started in 2014, which has focused on […]
11 July 2016
Farm Input Subsidy Programmes (FISPs): A Benefit for, or the Betrayal of, SADC’s Small-Scale Farm...
This paper reviews the farm input subsidy programmes (FISPs) within countries belonging to the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), to ascertain whether input subsidies have benefited small-scale farmers, have increased food security at the household and national levels, and have improved the incomes of small-scale farmers. Download the report.
20 June 2016
Green Revolution dead-end in Malawi: Two case studies— AGRA’s Pigeon Pea Project and Malawi’s Agr...
This report that the Alliance for a Green Revolution’s ( AGRA’s) sponsored pigeon pea project in Malawi was a dismal failure and its agrodealer project had some major and fundamental weaknesses. The AGRA pigeon pea project and the Malawi Agro-dealer Strengthening Programme (MASP) were implemented under AGRA’s Soil Health Programme (SHP) and the Programme for […]