Latest Resources
12 May 2015
CAGJ Media Round-up
CAGJ Media Round-up March 23, 2015 Seattle and London Actions Protesting Seed Privatisation Meeting in London On March 23, 2015 the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) sponsored a secret meeting in London to promote a recent report they commissioned detailing in clear terms how to […]
17 March 2015
Nuanced rhetoric and the path to poverty: AGRA, small-scale farmers, and seed and soil fertility ...
The report indicates a well-coordinated effort by selected states especially the US and in the EU, philanthropic institutions like AGRA, multilateral institutions like the World Bank, donors and multinational corporations (MNCs) including Yara, Monsanto and Pioneer to construct a Green Revolution that aims to produce a layer of commercial surplus producers. This is an explicit […]
3 November 2014
Railroading African governments into adopting ARIPO PVP Protocol based on UPOV 1991: AFSA appeals...
AFSA attended a Regional Workshop on the ARIPO PVP Protocol, 29-31 October 2014, in Harare Zimbabwe, where numerous technical and administrative flaws continue to characterise the process. In particular, member states were forced into accepting a recommendation, disguised as if crafted by them, mandating ARIPO to urgently organise and call for the Diplomatic Conference for […]
8 October 2014
Acquisition of Africa’s SeedCo by Monsanto, Groupe Limagrain: Neo-colonial occupation of Af...
The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) is deeply concerned about the recent acquisitions by multi-national seed companies of large parts of SeedCo, one of Africa’s largest home-grown seed companies. Attracting foreign investment from the world?s largest seed companies, most of who got to their current dominant positions by devouring national seed companies and […]
6 October 2014
Running to Stand Still: Small-Scale Farmers and the Green Revolution in Malawi
According to ACB lead researcher, Dr Stephen Greenberg, “small-scale farmers are using shockingly high levels of synthetic fertilisers at great financial costs to themselves and the public purse. Rising soil infertility is a feature of farming systems reliant on synthetic fertiliser. We found that farmers are increasingly adopting hybrid maize seed, encouraged by government subsidies […]
6 October 2014
Resources transferred from small-scale farmers to multinational agribusinesses in Malawi’s ...
The African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) has today released its research report based on field work conducted in Malawi, titled “Running to stand still: Small-scale farmers and the Green Revolution in Malawi.” The research, conducted by the ACB in collaboration with the National Smallholder Farmers’ Association of Malawi (NASFAM), Kusamala Institute of Agriculture and Ecology […]
15 September 2014
The political economy of Africa’s burgeoning chemical fertiliser rush
The African Centre for Biosafety has today released an in-depth report, The Political Economy of Africa’s burgeoning chemical fertiliser rush, which looks at the role of fertiliser in the Green Revolution push in Africa, some of the key present and future fertiliser trends on the continent and the major players involved in this. The value […]
2 July 2014
Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) submission to ARIPO, AU and UNECA for urgent inter...
This submission contains several grounds upon which AFSA is seeking urgent interventions by ARIPO, the AU and the UNECA to urgently revise the draft ARIPO PVP Protocol to protect farmers rights and the right to food. Read more.
2 July 2014
Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa: Media briefing – AFSA appeals to ARIPO, AU and UNE...
The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), a Pan African platform comprising civil society networks and farmer organisations working towards food sovereignty in Africa, has today lodged an urgent appeal to the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO), African Union and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) to urgently revise the draft ARIPO […]
16 June 2014
Slavishly following UPOV 1991: A critique of Mozambique’s PVP law
In this report, the ACB provides a critique of the Mozambique PVP law and concludes that the government of Mozambique has turned a blind eye to its small-scale farmers and their seed and farming systems. The provisions dealing with the exclusive rights granted to plant breeders and the exceptions to those rights render the centuries-old […]