Latest Seed Laws & Policies Resources

For over two decades, and in defence of life and democracy, diverse constituencies in Africa have promoted the rights of small farmers and their seed systems, and have expressed and continue to express concern related to the use and governance of modern biotechnology on the continent. We include smallholder farmers, pastoralists, fisherfolk, hunter/gatherers, indigenous peoples, […]

Passer à la version française Haga clic aquí para la versión en español — Press release — Johannesburg, 5 June 2020 On 26 April, 2020, civil society organisations from across the world collectively called for a celebration of International Seed Day and not World Intellectual Property Day. Organisations numbering 348, from 46 countries, united to […]

Will the critical need to address digital sequence information break the Seed Treaty’s effort to fix its benefit-sharing system? It probably should. (Veuillez cliquer ici pour le français) (Por favor, haga clic aquí para el español) In November 2019, the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (“Seed Treaty”) will meet in […]

A review of some outstanding issues in the negotiation Will the effort to fix ITPGRFA’s broken benefit sharing system measure up to expectations? (Veuillez cliquer ici pour le français) (Por favor, haga clic aquí para el español) This paper reviews the key outstanding issues that are expected to be discussed by the ITPGRFA Governing Body, […]

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 […]

Seed policy in sub-Saharan Africa is developing and changing fast, as the seed industry continues to expand its reach. A huge amount of energy and resources are being directed at harmonising seed and intellectual property legislation at the regional level through regional economic communities. Harmonised regional seed laws influence the shaping of national seed legislation, […]