On this page you will find all of ACB’s publications. To the right are the search categories that will help you navigate around the ACB’s extensive work.
N2 Africa, the Gates Foundation and Legume commercialisation in Africa
This report considers the N2Africa programme, which aims to develop and distribute improved, certified legume varieties (soya, common bean, groundnut and cow pea); promote and distribute inoculants and synthetic fertiliser; and develop commercial legume markets for smallholder integration in 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa: Tanzania, Uganda,
Soil fertility: Agro-ecology and not the Green Revolution for Africa
This synthesis report summarises ACB’s research on the Green Revolution push in Africa, based on fieldwork conducted in Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe over the past three years.
The expansion of the commercial seed sector in sub-Saharan Africa: Major players, key issues and trends
Sub Saharan Africa’s seed systems are undergoing a profound transition, with the private sector leading the way.
ARIPO sells out African Farmers, seals Secret Deal on Plant Variety Protection
Statement issued by the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) On 06 July 2015, in Arusha, Tanzania, a Diplomatic Conference held under the auspices of the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO) adopted a harmonised regional legal framework for the protection of plant breeders’ rights—the Arusha Prot
Grabbing Africa's seeds: USAID, EU and Gates Foundation back agribusiness seed takeover
The latest salvo in the battle over Africa's seed systems has been fired, writes Stephen Greenberg, with the Gates Foundation and USAID playing puppet-masters to Africa's governments - now meeting in Addis Ababa - as they drive forward corporation-friendly seed regulations that exclude and marginalize the small farmers whose seeds and labour fee
White men meet in London to plot ways of profiting off Africa's seed systems
White men meet in London to plot ways of profiting off Africa's seed systems
A meeting is to be held in London on 23 March by predominantly white men with a sprinkling of Africans, some of whom represent private seed companies, to discuss how to make a killing off Africa?s seed systems.
AGRA's scandalous subsidisation of big fertiliser, financial and agribusiness corporations in Africa
In a scandalous move of skulduggery, the African Fertiliser and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP), under the guise of empowering smallholder farmers in Africa, is subsidising multinational fertiliser and financial corporations on African soil. Other beneficiaries of this scheme are the global grain trading and food processing giants.
Giving With One Hand and Taking With Two: A Critique of AGRA's African Agriculture Status Report 2013
The African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) has released a comprehensive critique of a report published by the African Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).
Modernising African Agriculture: Who benefits? Civil Society statement on the G8, AGRA and the African Union's CAADP
African agriculture is in need of support and investment. Many initiatives are flowing from the North, including the G8's 'New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition in Africa' and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).
G8 "Hunger Summit" initiative rejected by African civil society - Corporate takeover of agriculture & land will increase hunger, groups claim
At the heart of the leading initiatives to 'modernise' African agriculture is a drive to open markets and create space for multinationals to secure profits. Green revolution technologies - and the legal and institutional changes being introduced to support them - will benefit a few at the expense of the majority.
ACB's comments on the COMESA Harmonisation of seed trade regulations
ACB's comments on the COMESA Harmonisation of seed trade regulations.
STATEMENT BY CIVIL SOCIETY IN AFRICA
MODERNISING AFRICAN AGRICULTURE: WHO BENEFITS?
African farm analysts demand answers from UK over DfID funding Is the UK setting up a poverty trap for African farmers?
Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa: Turning Africa into a repository for failed agricultural technologies
The 'new' Green Revolution push in Africa is directed squarely at increasing agricultural production as the continent's most fundamental development priority.
Marker assisted selection (MAS): Key issues for Africa
'Marker Assisted Selection' uses molecular markers as tools in a plant or animal breeding programme to select for important agricultural traits, such as nutritional quality, drought tolerance, disease and pest resistance.
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
New Green Revolution for Africa: Trojan Horse for GMOs
After more than 10 years of genetically modified (GM) crop plants being grown in the world, only South Africa out of 53 countries on the African continent have commercial plantings of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).