Latest Resources
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 […]
10 September 2018
Report from SADC regional farmer speak out on farm input subsidy programmes
Rural Women’s Assembly (RWA) and African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) jointly hosted a meeting of farmers and civil society organisations (CSOs) in August 2018 to share views and experiences on farm input subsidy programmes (FISPs) and public sector support for agroecology in the region. About 140 participants from Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia, Malawi, […]
28 May 2018
Biosafety Indaba eSwatini: Unclear motives following approval to cultivate Bt cotton, despite dis...
The news that the Swaziland Environmental Authority (SEA) had authorised the importation and commercial release of Bt cotton seeds came as a huge shock to the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB). It meant that ACB had to reconsider its earlier acceptance of an invitation by SEA to attend a National Biosafety Indaba on 22 May […]
18 October 2017
The GMO crisis in Swaziland
Swaziland is under enormous pressure to introduce genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into the country’s farming system. This pressure is coming not only from Monsanto but also from farmers and some sections of the public who have been fed a great deal of misinformation and hype by the pro-biotech machinery. The farmers, acting on incomplete and […]
18 July 2017
GM Cotton push in Swaziland: Next target for failed Bt cotton
This paper examines the application of the Bt cotton field trials currently underway in Swaziland. This is situated within the broader wave of GM application and trials across the continent, along with the weakening of national biosafety regulations, as part of the GM push across Africa. This paper is based on research on the Swaziland […]
21 April 2010
Force-feeding South Africans: Monsanto’s Smartstax 8 gene GM maize coming to a store near you!
Monsanto has made an application to the South African GMO authorities for permission to import Smartstax maize, one of the most controversial and risky GMOs ever produced for commercial use. The ACB recently published a report featuring Smartstax titled ‘The stacked gene revolution: A biosafety nightmare’. We pointed out that while the majority of commercially […]
13 February 2008
Hot Potato: GM Potatoes in South Africa – a critical analysis
This research is not home grown or ‘truly South African’. The ARC is part of an international consortium, which includes the Michigan State University (MSU), the International Potato Centre in Peru and gene giant, Syngenta. Syngenta has quietly been cornering the GM food potato market; lodging a stream of patents in the US and other […]
11 February 2007
Swaziland – GMO Legislation
OVERVIEW We have been approached by civil society groups in Swaziland to provide comments on the Draft National Policy Document, “Creating an enabling environment for the safe use of biotechnology and its products in Swaziland” and the Biosafety Bill, 2005. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)/World Food Programme (WFP) crop and food supply […]
4 July 2004
BT-Cotton COT200-Cry1Ab, RR–Cotton, (Syngenta)
Bt-Cotton COT200-Cry1Ab / Syngenta Bt-Cotton COT102-Cry1Ab / Syngenta RoundupReady-Cotton / Syngenta SUBMISSION OF OBJECTIONS BY THE AFRICAN CENTRE FOR BIOSAFETY (ACB) (renamed to African Centre for Biodiversity) Objections to the Application made by Syngenta South Africa in Respect of the Following Events to the National Department of Agriculture, South Africa. Read here. SYNOPSIS – AFRICAN […]