Latest Resources
11 September 2020
DRC’s seed laws set to destroy small farmers’ seed systems
(Veuillez cliquer ici pour le français) This briefing, in collaboration with the Common Front for the Protection of the Environment and Protected Spaces of the DRC (FCPEEP), is concerned with how the Seed Bill of the Democratic Republic of Congo may impact on farmer managed seed systems (FMSS), which remain the very basis for seed, […]
5 March 2020
GM Potato Push in East Africa
Andean and African farmers condemn digital sequence information of potatoes from centres of origin – opens doors for biopiracy (Passer à la version française) (Por favor, haga clic aquí para el español) Cusco, Peru; Johannesburg, South Africa and Kigali, Rwanda – 05 March, 2020 Billionaire potato overlords on both sides of the North Atlantic want […]
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 […]
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 […]
18 February 2016
Open letter to UPOV and FAO on the new intellectual property and seed laws in Africa, Asia and La...
The African Centre for Biodiversity, the Network for a GE Free Latin America and JINUKUN – COPAGEN, on behalf of the organisers of a South – South dialogue on intellectual property (IP) and seed laws, want to bring to your attention the declaration that resulted from the Dialogue. This Dialogue was attended by several organisations […]
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 […]
25 February 2013
GM Industry Called to Account: ISAAA’s report mischievous and erroneous
The Africa Centre for Biosafety (ACB) has dismissed the findings of the biotechnology industry’s flagship annual report, published by the GM industry funded ‘NGO’, the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), as mischievous and erroneous. According to the report, South Africa’s GM crop area increased by a record 26% or 600,000 hectares […]
4 May 2010
MINISTER DEFIES GM BODY AS GM CASSAVA FIELD TRIALS GO AHEAD IN SA
The African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) condemns the decision by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry to allow GM cassava field trials to go ahead in South Africa. This despite SA’s GMO regulatory body rejecting such trials more than three years ago. The field trials involve cassava genetically modified to control starch content. On […]
4 March 2010
The GM stacked gene revolution: A biosafety nightmare
Stacked GMOs are those containing more than one gene genetically engineered into a crop plant. A controversial stacked GMO, Smarstax containing 8 such genetically engineered genes, was commercially approved in the US, Canada, Japan and South Korea during 2009. Stacked gene varieties are highly complex, posing new biosafety risks that outpace the capacity of regulatory […]
27 June 2006
Groups in Latin America and Africa call for rejection of World Bank GEF biosafety projects
Two World Bank projects, with funding from the GEF (Global Environmental Facility), propose to introduce genetically modified crops such as maize, potatoes, cassava, rice and cotton into African and Latin American countries that are centres of origin or diversity for these and other major food crops. Civil society organisations warn that DNA contamination from genetically […]