23/08/2015 Small scale farmers have launched a new advocacy initiative to engage stakeholders in East and Southern Africa (ESA) region for increased agricultural budgeting that meets Malabo Declaration commitments. The initiative by ESAFF members has led to the launch of Vision 2025 Budget Mulimi Campaign.  Its main  objective is strengthening... Read More

22/05/2015 The Tanzanian parliamentary committee on agriculture, water and livestock has agreed that the budget allocation and actual disbursements from the treasury to the sector is still not encouraging. It says it might take time to realise the Maputo/Malabo commitments to allocate 10% to the agriculture sector. The chairman of... Read More

24/06//2015 A South African farmer leader has been elected as the new vice chair of Eastern and Southern Africa Farmers Forum (ESAFF).Ms. Flora Maswanganyi,   ESAFF South Africa chairperson since 2014, was elected to the helm by ESAFF Annual General Meeting, held in Tanzania last June, which was attended by  14... Read More

22/05/2015 The outgoing Tanzanian parliamentary committee on agriculture, water and livestock has lamented that the budget allocation and actual disbursements from the treasury to the sector is wanting, and does not meet the commitments of Malabo Declaration. The chairman of the committee Professor Peter Mahamud Msolla told the civil society... Read More

09/08/2015  African governments, ignoring the protests of their farmers and civil society, on July 06, 2015 agreed an oppressive ‘plant variety protection protocol’ that will open up their countries to commercial seed monopolists, while limiting farmers rights to save, use, exchange, replant, improve, distribute and sell the seeds they have... Read More

02/07/2015 Nineteen African nations, members of the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), began deliberating on the highly contentious draft ARIPO Plant Variety Protection (PVP) Protocol on Monday, 29th June in Arusha Tanzania. Many of these nations are least developed countries, the poorest and most vulnerable countries in the world.... Read More

29/06/2015  An analysis by Sangeeta Shashikant (Third World Network) A new draft legal framework for the protection of new plant varieties under consideration by the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) has generated significant criticism and controversy. This legal framework known as the “Draft ARIPO Protocol on the Protection of... Read More

29/06/2015  Sangeeta Shashikant (London): Nineteen sub-Saharan African nations, members of the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) will be meeting in Tanzania on the 29th June-1st July to consider the adoption of a new regional Protocol on the Protection of New Varieties of Plant (Draft Protocol). The Draft Protocol marks... Read More