In this briefing, we deal mainly with the Regulations made in terms of the Plant Breeders’ Rights (PBR) Act, No. 6302, on 13 June 2025, and particularly the exemptions to breeders’ rights, through the lens of understanding the impact on the realisation of farmers’ rights to seed and farmer-managed seed systems (FMSS). We discuss the inequity and injustices inherent in both the PBR Act and its Regulations, specifically in their restricting farmers’ rights to seed and their rights to save, use, exchange, and sell seeds, including those from protected varieties.

The encroachment of the PBR Act and its Regulations is dismissive of FMSS, and hugely restricts farmer seed systems from operating. This will affect rural lives and livelihoods considerably, as well as farmers’ ability to innovate and contribute to the development and maintenance of diversity. These laws also disappointingly lock out any possibilities for new discourses, processes, and frameworks that recognise, protect, strengthen, and support FMSS to flourish.

Read the full briefing here.