Latest Resources

26 January 2023

Zimbabwean smallholder farmers show us the way towards alternative food systems

– by Dr Stephen Greenberg These reflections come from attending a farmer exchange in October 2022, hosted by the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) and Participatory Ecological Land Use Management (PELUM) Zimbabwe, in collaboration with Towards Sustainable Use of Resources Organisation (TSURO) and Community Technology Development Organisation (CTDO). The 35 participants, including farmers, non-government organisations […]

28 April 2021

Bayer breathing life into Gates’ failed GM drought tolerant maize

Agrarian extractivism continues unabated on the African continent In this alert, African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) research and advocacy officers, Sabrina Masinjila and Rutendo Zendah, give insights into the development of a double stacked drought tolerant variety MON 87460 x MON 810, under the Gate’s funded project, Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA), now known […]

9 December 2020

Neo-colonial economies and ecologies, smallholder farmers and multiple shocks: The case of cyclon...

We are pleased to share with you the second discussion paper in our “Multiple Shocks in Africa Series”, Neo-colonial economies and ecologies, smallholder farmers and multiple shocks: The case of cyclones Idai and Kenneth in Mozambique and Zimbabwe. (Por favor clique aqui para Português). The paper exposes how the two cyclones that battered Mozambique and […]

4 March 2020

More toxic GM crops & food for SA; Ineffective GM drought tolerant maize pushed on Kenya and...

In this first alert of the decade, African Centre of Biodiversity research and advocacy officers Linzi Lewis and Sabrina Masinjila provide an update on the status of GM activities, in South Africa and in relation to the region. Summary of current key trends The South African government has authorised field trials of 2,4-D resistant soybean. […]

3 February 2020

The GM potato push in Rwanda: With regulatory hurdles in Uganda, is this the industry’s fall back?

Sauter au français To enable the introduction of the first GM crop to be grown in Rwanda – a GM potato variety named ‘Victoria’ – the Rwandan government is fast-tracking the development of a biosafety policy and legal framework. Civil society is deeply concerned about the potential risks of this GM potato variety, which has […]

4 October 2019

Resounding no to Monsanto’s ‘bogus’ GM drought tolerant maize

Resounding no to Monsanto’s ‘bogus’ GM drought tolerant maize: South Africa’s Minister, Appeal Board and Biosafety Authority Reject Monsanto’s GM seeds Johannesburg, South Africa, 4 October 2019 After more than 10 years of battling Monsanto’s ‘bogus’ drought tolerant maize project, the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) welcomes the decision by the Minister of Agriculture, Ms. […]

8 July 2019

Seed and gene banks play a critical role in conserving and sharing indigenous crop seeds

On a trip to Harare for partnership exploration meetings, the African Centre for Biodiversity visited the Genetic Resources and Biotechnology Institute of Zimbabwe. Gene banks such as these are primarily established to conserve the genetic resources that form the basis for all food production. Seed collections start at the level of community seed banks and […]

29 May 2019

ACB’s Commentary on An Africa-Europe Agenda for Rural Transformation: Report by the Task Force Ru...

The European Union (EU) is in the process of defining a new set of priorities in the African agricultural and food sectors, through the proposed implementation of the EU-Africa Alliance for Sustainable Investment and Jobs. Their Task Force for Rural Africa published a report with draft recommendations, which is oriented towards promoting the capitalist transformation […]

30 April 2019

Oxitec’s failed GM mosquito releases worldwide: Forewarnings for Africa and the Target Malaria pr...

A decade ago, genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes were first released globally, in the Cayman Islands, by UK-based company Oxitec. Further releases followed in Malaysia, Panama and Brazil. In a public relations whitewash, Oxitec has repeatedly claimed that the experiments successfully wiped out nearly 90% of the Aedes aegypti mosquito population, which is one of the […]

26 April 2019

Undermining farmers’ rights and seed systems: Why the EAC seed and plant varieties bill must be d...

In this vlog, African Centre for Biodiversity’s (ACB’s) Sabrina Masinjila, based in Tanzania, speaks about the East African Community Seed and Plant Varieties Bill, 2018 and some of the concerns related to the Bill, as more fully set out in a detailed report and summary. As described in the vlog and our detailed report, Concerns […]