Latest Resources

African Perspectives on Agroecology now available for free online

Edited by scholar-activist Rachel Wynberg, African Perspectives on Agroecology: Why farmer-led seed and knowledge systems matter is now freely available online. The widely endorsed book includes a chapter by the African Centre for Biodiversity’s Stephen Greenberg on corporate expansion in African seed systems: implications for agricultural biodiversity and food sovereignty. African Perspectives on Agroecology includes […]

Wishing you a joyous end of year

“Our own shadows disappear as the feet of thousandsby the tens of thousands pound the fallow landinto new dust thatrising like a marvellous pollen will befertileeven as the first woman whisperingimagination to the trees around her madefor righteous fruitfrom such deliberate defence of lifeas no other stillwill claim inferior to any other safetyin the world.”— […]

ACB attends 25th SBSTTA meeting in Kenya

The African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) is participating in the Convention on Biological Diversity’s 25th meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) in Nairobi, Kenya, 15–19 October 2023, represented by advocacy and research officer Sabrina Masinjila. (She is pictured above, sitting next to Barbara Ntambirweki –  Ugandan lawyer and researcher working […]

World Food Day 2023: Working towards a just food system for all

This World Food Day, marked annually on 16 October, we’re connecting the dots between agriculture, our wider food system and the multidimensional crises we face, which includes climate change. The industrialised food system, from agricultural inputs and production to consumption, transport and storage, feeds climate change, and climate change, in turn, impacts the food system, […]

Just transition and adaptation in the food system: national policy dialogue

The National policy dialogue on a just transition and adaptation in the food system took place in Ekurhuleni, from 20-22 September. Organisations representing the labour movement, smallholder farmers, farm workers, labour tenants, informal traders, waste reclaimers, food and land justice organisations, civil society, and policymakers came together to discuss building a coordinated understanding and policy […]

Financialisation, dematerialisation, digitalisation & distancing of Africa’s agriculture

What future for small-scale farmers and their food and seed systems? Following on from part one, The rise of digital agriculture and dispossession in Africa: implications for smallholder farmers, part two looks at how private-sector interests and motives are driving the financialisation of Africa’s food and farming systems. Financialisation is the focus on generation of […]

The rise of digital agriculture and dispossession in Africa: implications for smallholder farmers

In part one in a series of two, consisting of a briefing paper and linked fact sheet, we explore the current status of digital agriculture in Africa and the potential implications its deployment has for smallholder farmers on the continent. We outline three primary areas of concern related to potential inequitable benefits and influence accrued from its deployment; […]

Seed harmonisation in Eastern and Southern Africa

Failures, corporate occupation, and the rise of digitalised seed trade: dire implications for farmer managed seed and food systems in Africa Regional seed policy harmonisation processes on seed and plant variety protection (PVP) legislation have been underway for the past 15 years on the African continent. These have taken place under the auspices of various […]

Cultivating diversity for a just agroecological transition in Africa

The inextricable link between agricultural biodiversity, agroecology, climate change, and biodiversity In this briefing, Cultivating diversity for a just agroecological transition in Africa: the inextricable link between agricultural biodiversity, agroecology, climate change, and biodiversity, we highlight the pivotal role of agricultural biodiversity, in particular, crop diversity and its interrelatedness and dependence on farmer managed seed […]

Assessment of support for agroecology in South Africa’s policy landscape

by Dr Stephen Greenberg (Veuillez cliquer ici pour le français) In March 2023, civil society organisations and farmers met with the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development to share views on agroecology and to promote a call from 58 organisations for a national agroecology strategy. In support of the process, the ACB […]