Latest Resources

GMOs in South Africa – 2008 Overviews

From January 2007 to July 2008 the GMO Executive Council, the governmental body responsible for granting GMO permits in South Africa, granted a staggering 425 new permits for import, export, commodity clearance and general and trial release. The vast majority of these permits were for commodity imports of GM maize from Argentina for use in […]

Final Petition anti GM Potatoes

South Africa’s Agriculture and Research Council (ARC) has announced their intention to apply to the SA government for permission to make GM potatoes commercially available.

A Green Revolution for Africa: Disaster in the making

When world leaders hastily gathered at the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation’s (FAO) high level conference to respond to the global food crisis the three Rome based UN organizations (the FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural development and the World Food Programme) signed a memorandum of understanding with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in […]

South African government non-compliance with national and international law on access to information

Take Action! Write to the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry demanding access to information on GMOs On 14th January 2009 the African Centre for Biosafety wrote to the Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs, Lulama Xingwama, alerting her to the fact that South Africa is not complying to an important provision in the Cartagena […]

“Knowledge not for Sale” – A Briefing Paper by the African Centre for Biosafety

The African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) is a non-profit, activist NGO based in South Africa, specialising in promoting biosafety and challenging biopiracy, agrofuels and the commodification of biological resources and associated traditional knowledge. Read more here.

Hot potato in South Africa

GM potatoes in South Africa: a critical analysis, is an ACB publication written by Vanessa Black. Read here.

New GM Potato Book: Executive Summary

In 2001, the South African Agricultural Research Council (ARC) began conducting field trials with potatoes genetically modified to contain a Bt gene Cry1Ia1 (formerly BtCryV). This novel gene is intended to protect the plants and potato tubers from infestations of the Potato tuber moth (Phthorimaea operculella). This research is not home grown or ‘truly South […]

The Geopolitics of Agrofuels

OPENING PANDORA’S BOX: GMOS, FUELISH PARADIGMS AND SOUTH AFRICA’s BIOFUELS STRATEGY. Read here.

Displacing Africa’s Indigenous Food: Monsanto & AATF’s GM Cowpea Project

Nairobi based African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) and Monsanto are set to introduce genetically engineered cowpeas in the coming years into the fields and tables of Africa. It will use Nigeria and Burkina Faso as key entry points, with Ghana, Cameroon, Niger and Mali comprising the second tier of countries that will be targeted. The […]

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 […]