Latest Resources
6 November 2019
Changing the discourse, policy and practice in farmer seed systems in Africa
The ACB is excited to share this new briefing paper (see below for English, French and Portuguese versions), highlighting key issues relating to recognition and support for farmer seed systems in Africa and beyond. Farmers’ seed constitutes the majority of seed used and exchanged. Crops produced from this seed contribute substantially to food and nutrition […]
18 October 2019
Prudence versus Pressure at the Seed Treaty
Will the critical need to address digital sequence information break the Seed Treaty’s effort to fix its benefit-sharing system? It probably should. (Veuillez cliquer ici pour le français) (Por favor, haga clic aquí para el español) In November 2019, the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (“Seed Treaty”) will meet in […]
8 October 2019
Crunch Time for the Seed Treaty
A review of some outstanding issues in the negotiation Will the effort to fix ITPGRFA’s broken benefit sharing system measure up to expectations? (Veuillez cliquer ici pour le français) (Por favor, haga clic aquí para el español) This paper reviews the key outstanding issues that are expected to be discussed by the ITPGRFA Governing Body, […]
18 June 2018
Agroecology points the way towards resilience against climate change
This week the water-stressed city of Cape Town hosts the bi-annual Adaptation Futures conference, where scientists, business leaders, and practitioners from the world of development and agriculture will come together to engage in ‘dialogues for solutions’ to the multifarious problems wrought by our rapidly changing climate. As actors with different perspectives design modes of collaboration, […]
31 May 2018
Participatory Plant Breeding and Smallholder Farmers
The National Seed Dialogue and Celebration was hosted by the African Centre for Biodiversity at Constitution Hill in December 2017. The third video in this series, Participatory Plant Breeding and Smallholder Farmers looked at issues of smallholder farmers & seed breeding/crop improvement and the potential roles of smallholder farmers in these processes were discussed. Since […]
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 […]
13 November 2017
Smallholder farmers score victory at international ‘Seed Treaty’ meeting
A landmark decision on the establishment of an Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group to realise farmers’ rights was recently taken by the seventh session of the Governing Body (GB7) of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA; also known as the ‘Seed Treaty’). There was stiff opposition from countries from […]
11 April 2017
Mega-mergers: 3 giant corporations controlling South Africa’s food and farming systems
This briefing deals with the three mega mergers taking place in the agriculture sector as Dow Chemical and DuPont are set to merge, China National Chemical Corporation (ChemChina) is to acquire Syngenta and Bayer is to acquire Monsanto. The proposed Bayer-Monsanto merger will give control of almost 30% of the world’s commercial seed market and […]
15 December 2014
ACB wishes everyone a happy and peaceful 2015
ACB wishes everyone a happy and peaceful 2015!
3 June 2013
G8 “Hunger Summit” initiative rejected by African civil society – Corporate tak...
At the heart of the leading initiatives to ‘modernise’ African agriculture is a drive to open markets and create space for multinationals to secure profits. Green revolution technologies – and the legal and institutional changes being introduced to support them – will benefit a few at the expense of the majority. As world leaders gather […]