ACB executive director Mariam Mayet and research and advocacy officer Sabrina Masinjila recently participated in the fourth edition of the International Farmer Seeds Gathering, this year held in Antibes, France.

Co-organised by Reseau Semences Paysannes, SOL and the Maison des Semences Maralpines in collaboration with the European network Let’s Liberate Diversity!, the gathering was a key event for sharing knowledge between peers and promoting a collective message in favour of local farmer seeds and a healthy agroecological system for the environment and people.

It attracted more than 300 farmers, researchers, organisations and citizens from 60 countries and five continents to discuss technical, environmental, social, and economic issues involving preserving, multiplying and distributing peasant seeds.

ACB participated and spoke in three workshops:
  1. Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) applied to farmer seeds systems: an option for ensuring the quality of farmer seeds put into circulation

ACB’s contribution was on supporting what is happening on the ground with farmers, connecting the dots between issues such as PGS and traditional knowledge, cuisine and diets, between public sector breeding and farmers, giving more political recognition to farmer seed, and the need to defend farmer-managed seed systems. View a recording of the workshop here.

  1. Patents on Plants: implications for breeders, agricultural biodiversity and farmers’ rights and possible solutions for Europe and Africa

ACB presented experiences in Africa in relation to the patents frenzy and its intersection with the evolving discourse on genome editing, including digital sequence information and large datasets, deregulation, and impacts on agricultural biodiversity, farmers’ rights and seed and food systems in Africa.

  1. Patented GMOs hidden to give agribusiness total control of the food chain

ACB shared the current status on what is happening in Africa with regards to genome editing, deregulation, and implications to the future of food and agricultural systems on the continent. Mayet also challenged the hype built around genome-edited crops, with no products available on the market. More attention should be focused on the narrative, she noted, rather than chasing a technology that does not work. View a recording of the workshop here.

Download the presentations by Sabrina Masinjila and Mariam Mayet:

During another interesting workshop on farmers’ rights to seed, Mayet gave her insights on United Nations spaces and urged participants and particularly movements not to lose sight of our agency as human beings and farmers, especially given the hype of gene editing.


These meetings were informed by two ACB factsheets on genome editing:
New genetic engineering technologies in food and agriculture in Africa: Hype and realities of genome editing
Deregulation of genome editing and products must be overturned in Africa – why stringent regulation is imperative