Resources indigenous seeds

AFSA, June 2026: N'Djamena Declaration: Africa's Seeds Belong to Its Peoples. 

• Adopted at the 4th Pan-African Conference on Seed Governance (2–4 June 2026), involving farmers, CSOs, women/youth movements and other actors.
• It calls for full recognition and implementation of farmers' rights and seed sovereignty and warns against restrictive seed laws, corporate concentration and inappropriate digital control of seed/knowledge
• The declaration makes six fundamental affirmations that participants from across the continent endorsed collectively

"Development finance institutions and donors are called upon to align agricultural investments with agroecology, biodiversity conservation, and farmer-led innovation — rather than promoting narrow, input-intensive models."

African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) (2026): Seeds, Power, and Digital Futures in Africa: The AU's Farmer-Managed Seed Systems Agenda and Digital Justice 25 p.

• ACB argues that FMSS governance is not merely a technical question but concerns power, control and food sovereignty.
• It warns that registration, certification, traceability, digital platforms and data systems could bring farmer seed systems and traditional knowledge under external control.

DeSIRA-LIFT (2025) Promoting the Rights of Farmers and their Varieties under Seed Policies on the African Continent 6 p.

• Reviews continental, regional and national frameworks affecting farmers' seed rights and responds directly to concerns that some seed legislation can undermine farmers' access to and control over seed.
• Access to seed in the African agricultural environment remains a challenge for many (small-scale) farmers despite numerous efforts to address the problem. 
• Seed systems in Africa are viewed as being constituted by two parts: a formal system, and a farmer-managed seed system (also referred to as informal seed system). 
• Civil society actors have expressed ongoing concerns that new seed legislations threaten farmers’ rights which play an important role in the availability of seed supplied by farmer-managed seed systems. 
• With a view to informing policy dialogue, DeSIRA-LIFT commissioned a review of the main seed policy frameworks that affect farmers’ rights to seed in Africa. 
• This policy brief summarizes the findings of the review, and presents key recommendations for policy makers in Africa and in the European Union.

DeSIRA-LIFT  (2025/26): Farmer-Managed Seed Systems' Essential Role for Food Security and Agrobiodiversity in Africa Knowledge Brief #6 9 p.

• Commercial and farmer-managed systems should be treated as complementary, rather than converting FMSS into commercial systems.
• It recommends collaboration among governments, farmers, NGOs, research and seed companies, with mechanisms such as Quality Declared Seed where appropriate.
• Seed & Food Security: Provide continuous, reliable access to locally adapted seeds for smallholders.
• Agrobiodiversity Conservation: Preserve local crop varieties and in situ plant genetic resources.
• Social Networks: Strengthen community trust, seed exchange, and indigenous knowledge sharing

DeSIRA-LIFT (2022) Current developments in seed laws harmonisation in Africa - a review of seed policies in Africa

• Policy Tension: Formal seed laws often prioritize commercial plant breeders' rights (such as UPOV-style frameworks), which can conflict with traditional farmer-managed seed systems that rely on saving, reusing, and exchanging local varieties.
• Regional Protocols: African regional blocks (like SADC and the Arusha Protocol for PVP) demonstrate that legal exemptions protecting farmers' customary seed practices can co-exist alongside formal intellectual property systems.
• AU Guidelines: The African Union (AU) Seed Harmonisation Guidelines offer spaces to formally recognize farmer-managed systems and integrate smallholder rights into national legislation.

Harare Community of Practice / CTDT, Seed and Knowledge Initiative, Rete Semi Rurali, Oxfam Noviband partners (2025): From Breeding for Diversity to Seed Regulations/Laws: How to Promote an Enabling Environment for Farmers' Seed Systems? — Sharing Experiences Between Europe and Africa” 54 p.

• During November 25th to27th, 2024, an international workshop took place in Harare, Zimbabwe, to promote the sharing of experiences between Southern Africa and Europe on breeding for diversity and an enabling legal environment for farmers’ seed systems. 
• The workshop was organised in collaboration with the Secretariat of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA, also referred to as the Treaty), with the support of several non-governmental organisations, projects, and donors supporting farmers’ seed systems in various African countries, bringing together more than 70 actors including policymakers.