Seed publications
November 2025 by High Court of Kenya
In a landmark ruling, the High Court of Kenya has judged Kenya’s Seeds and Plant Varieties Act to be unconstitutional, as it violates the right to food as granted by the Constitution. Consequently, the relevant sections of the Act have been suspended. This ruling highlights the importance of farmer’s rights to seeds and the need to reform restrictive seed laws, with has relevance for the whole continent and beyond.
September 2025 by Seed Savers Network Kenya
During the seed policy workshop organized in July 2025 by TABIO in Dar es Salaam, some participants have brought the attention to the EAC Seed and Plant Varieties Bill. After first discussions in Dar es Salaam, Seed Savers’ Network Kenya initiated a dialogue with other CSOs from the region to further analyse the Bill and to come to joint positions within the civil society of the region. Together with numerous other organisations they organised a webinar on 11th of September to shed light on the potential impact of the Bill for farmers in the region.
April 2025 by Sahaja Samrudha, Bittibhumi, DRCSC, SWISSAID
This publication documents farmer led innovation in agroecological practices initiated under the CROPS4HD Project in Karnataka, Odisha and West Bengal (India). These cases showcase how smallholders have developed low-cost, climate-resilient solutions—from relay cropping and natural pest control to soil revitalization and traditional food processing—using locally available resources. Through this publication, the aim is to preserve and share these farmer-led strategies, ensuring they inform research agendas and policy while strengthening seed sovereignty and sustainable farming systems.
2025 by Dr. Peter Munyi, APBREBES and SWISSAID
On February 28, 2025, the EAC Seed and Plant Varieties Bill, 2025 was published as EAC Bill Supplement No. 2. A number of issues emerge from the proposed law. The first relates to the status of this law once enacted vis a vis other national laws and regional laws on the subject. The second concerns the proposed procedure for plant variety evaluation, release and seed certification. The third issue is plant varieties protection (PVP). The final issue concerns the extent to which the Bill is similar to or contrasts the 2018 Bill.
February 2025 by EAC
In June 2025, a new EAC Seed and Plant Varieties Bill has been tabled in East African Legislative Assembly (EALA). An earlier draft Bill from 2018 had stalled after facing heavy opposition from the civil society in the region. The Bill will undergo public consultation in January 2026 before EALA decides on its adoption.
September 2025 by European Commission
This knowledge review synthesises evidence on NUS in the following areas: NUS’s contribution to food security, Nutritional benefit of NUS, Consumer preferences and consumption patters, The role of women in production, use and conservation of NUS, Economic benefits of NUS, Environmental and climate benefits of NUS, Use of NUS for ready-to-use therapeutic and supplement foods, International initiatives supporting NUS (including AgrEcoNUS+).
July 2025 by SWISSAID, TABIO and AFSA
Within the framework of the Seed Legislation Workshop held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in July 2025, some concrete opportunities and promising action have been identified for creating space in for farmers’ seeds in Tanzania. A policy brief was subsequently elaborated, drawing on the key insights and discussions from the workshop.
July 2025 by SWISSAID and TABIO
The regional workshop titled “Creating Space for Farmers’ Seeds in Seed Regulations: Capitalizing International Learnings and Identifying Options for Tanzania”, held from July 28–30, 2025, in Dar es Salaam, brought together 54 diverse participants including technical staff from the Ministry of Agriculture, Members of Parliament, regional and continental experts, civil society organizations, researchers, and farmer representatives from 10 countries across Africa and Europe. Co-convened by SWISSAID and the Tanzania Biodiversity Organization (TABIO), the workshop aimed to explore actionable policy and legal options to better integrate Farmer-Managed Seed Systems (FMSS) into Tanzania’s seed laws and agricultural development strategies.”
April 2025 by AFSA, APBREBES, Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, SEARIC, SWISSAID
The publication Seeds at risk is a powerful appeal for the vital role of farmers’ seeds in food security and biodiversity preservation. Through a North-South perspective, the authors shed light on the pressure large corporations exert on farmers to adopt industrial seeds and secure lucrative patents. However, resistance is growing.
By TABIO and AFSA
The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) and TABIO present their latest policy brief, advocating for a legal framework that recognises and promotes farmer seed systems and protection of biodiversity. This document underlines the context and states the problems regarding the lack of recognition and support of farmer seed systems in legal frameworks. It also presents the suggested legal framework developed by AFSA, which was built on the results of various farmer organizations, and on the reflections of experts and other national and international organisations that accompany them. Finally, the document highlights three key policy recommendations.
By TABIO and AFSA
The Seed Working Group (SWG) of Tanzania was formed in 2016 and has the objective of advocating for access to quality, reliable and affordable seed that meets the needs of smallholder farmers. The working group is made up of a broad range of stakeholders including civil society organisations and smallholder farmers. Among the functions of the seed working group are: advising the government on matters patterning with the inclusive development of the seed sector in Tanzania and; advocating for development and adoption of good policies and practices on seeds sector. This position paper is written in recognition of these key functions. It refers to a clause in the Seed Act amendment of 2014 which could leave smallholder farmers vulnerable to the interpretation of the law.
December 2024, by TABIO and AFSA
This presentation informs on the findings of the assignment contracted by TABIO/AFSA to assess the Agricultural Sector Development Programme II (ASDP II) and the Position of the Farmers Managed Seed System (FMSS) in Tanzania. TABIO/AFSA identified the need to conduct the assessment due low level of representation of FMSS in Tanzania agricultural policy and regulatory frameworks, despite huge contribution and dependency on FMSS. ASDP II is among the key documents to address critical constraints and challenges to sector performance and to speed up agriculture GDP, improve growth of smallholder incomes and ensure food security.
April 2024 by Siddhant Ranjan Padhi, Racheal John, Kuldeep Tripathi, Dhammaprakash Pandhari Wankhede, Tanay Joshi, Jai Chand Rana, Amritbir Riar, Rakesh Bhardwaj
Cowpea is a nutritious legume, but traditional methods to assess its nutritional value are slow and costly. Near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) provides a faster, nondestructive alternative. This study used NIRS to estimate amylose and sugar content in cowpeas, optimizing the process with two methods: SNV-DT and MSC. SNV-DT with specific adjustments gave the most accurate results (RSQexternal of 0.962 for amylose and 0.914 for sugars). Both methods were reliable, with paired t-test values over 0.05. The high accuracy of these prediction models indicates their potential for use in large-scale germplasm screening in crop improvement programs worldwide.
January 2024 by AFSA
These 21 case studies, gathered from nine African countries and India, demonstrate how farmers’ varieties meet the nutritional and economic needs of populations in traditional, agroecological production systems. They represent valuable tools for CROPS4HD’s advocacy activities, as they are designed to provide policymakers with evidence to better support peasant seed systems. But they also aim to boost the confidence of farming communities in their knowledge, skills and practices when it comes to managing genetic diversity.
December 2023 by SWISSAID, AFSA, The Development Fund, Fridtjof Nansen Institute, University of Cape Town / SKI
This report presents insights from a side event organized at the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) Governing Body Meeting 10, which took place in November 2023 in Rome. The main goal of this event was to address how seed regulations can be adapted to give farmers’ seed systems more room to deliver their benefits for food security and the preservation of seed diversity.
December 2023 by SWISSAID, MAELA, Recab Antioquia, Semillas de Identidad
This manual has been translated from the original Spanish version
This handbook is the second revised edition of the Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) for the Quality of Farmers’ seeds handbook. After 6 years of implementing the seed quality PGS, there arose a need to update and enhance the methodology handbook, fulfilling the system’s dynamic and participatory requirements. This new version serves as an (updated) methodology handbook for guardians, promoters/evaluators, and organisations committed to using PGS for seed quality as an instrument to help safeguard agrobiodiversity and guarantee quality assurance for seed distribution.
November 2023 by Manju Kumari, Siddhant Ranjan Padhi, Sushil Kumar Chourey, Vishal Kondal, Swapnil S. Thakare, Ankita Negi, Veena Gupta, Mamta Arya, Jeshima Khan Yasin, Rakesh Singh, Chellapilla Bharadwaj, Atul Kumar, Kailash Chandra Bhatt, Rakesh Bhardwaj, Jai Chand Rana, Tanay Joshi and Amritbir Riar
Horsegram (Macrotyloma uniflorum [Lam.] Verdc.) is an underutilized pulse crop primarily cultivated in South Asian countries like India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. It offers various nutraceutical properties and demonstrates remarkable resilience to both biotic and abiotic stresses. As a result, it has emerged as a promising crop for ensuring future food and nutritional security. This study assesses the nutritional profile of 139 horsegram germplasm lines obtained from 16 Indian states that were conserved at the National Gene Bank of India. With superior nutritional compositions compared with commonly grown pulses such as chickpeas, redgram, greengram, and blackgram, horsegram has substantial potential to be promoted as a primary pulse crop in India. Based on these findings, the authors conclude that horsegram holds great promise as a future crop worth exploring.
November 2023 by Deepika D. D, Siddhant Ranjan Padhi, Padmavati G. Gore, Kuldeep Tripathi, Ashvinkumar Katral, Rahul Chandora, G.J. Abhishek, Vishal Kondal, Rakesh Singh, Rakesh Bharadwaj, Kailash C. Bhatt, Jai Chand Rana, and Amritbir Riar
The adzuki bean (Vigna angularis) is highly nutritious and can help improve food security, especially for low-income, vegetarian, and vegan populations. This study examined 100 different adzuki bean accessions, analyzing key nutrients using standard methods. It establishes the presence of significant variations in eight nutritional traits across the adzuki bean accessions preserved at the National Gene Bank of India. These promising accessions can serve as parental candidates for augmenting the nutritional profile of adzuki beans in crop improvement programs. Moreover, accessions displaying favorable agronomic traits and superior nutrient compositions can be further selected, paving the way for the development of enhanced varieties after extensive multilocation and multiseason trials.
November 2023 by Daud N. Manongi (TABIO), Lukas Reinhard (SWISSAID), Emmanuel Kasembe (IDP) and Faith Juma (ECHO East Africa)
This paper summarizes a comprehensive assessment of community seed banks (CSBs) conducted in the Northern and Southern regions of Tanzania under the KILIMO ENDELEVU and CROPS4HD programs. Building on previous research, this study examines the sustainability of CSBs in Tanzania, mainly focusing on socio-economic factors while considering the importance of agricultural practices.
October 2023 by CROPS4HD
Pluralistic seed systems development is a policy and regulatory approach aiming to foster a diversity of seed systems which interact in a synergistic way and to make best use of the specific advantages of each type of seed system. This CROPS4HD position paper defines and argues in favor of this approach.
September 2023 by SWISSAID, FiBL and CROPS4HD
This publication looks at the reasons behind the dwindling diversity on our plates and explains why agrobiodiversity must play an increasingly important role in the future of a sustainable food system worldwide, particularly as climate change increases the challenge for many to consume a nourishing diet.
August 2023 by I Am Organic
This cookbook created by CROPS4HD’s Tanzanian partner I Am Organic features over 25 recipes based on NUS.
July 2023 by Rakesh Bhardwaj, Rashmi Yadav, Harinder Vishwakarma, Kriti Sharma, Rahul Chandora, Jai Chand Rana and Amritbir Riar
Quinoa belongs to the family Chenopodiaceae, a pseudo-grain having high nutritional value, and is considered an underexploited vegetable crop with the potential to improve the nutritional security of millions. Therefore, assessing genetic diversity in Chenopodium germplasm to untap nutritional and site-specific adaptation potential would be of prime importance for breeders/researchers. This study used 10 accessions of two Chenopodium species, that is, C. quinoa and C. album. Quantitative and qualitative phenotypic traits, proximate composition, minerals, and amino acids profiles were studied to compare the differences in nutritional value and extent of genetic diversity between these two species. The results showed that C. album and C. quinoa seeds had good nutritional value and health-promoting benefits. IC415477 and other potential accessions observed in this study may be taken up by breeders/researchers in the near future to dissect nutritional value of Chenopodium and related species for dietary diversity, which is imperative for the nutritional security of the ever-growing world’s population.
May 2023 by Ruchi Tyagi, Rakesh Bhardwaj, Poonam Suneja, Amish K. Sureja, Anilabh D. Munshi, Lalit Arya, Amritbir Riar and Manjusha Verma
Luffa cylindrica (L.) Roem. is an important cucurbit crop that assures food security and dietary diversity among the poor communities. In this study, seeds of 42 genotypes of Luffa cylindrica were evaluated for their potential use as oil seed crop. This paper shows that there is large variability in sponge gourd genotypes for biochemical parameters, and these variations have a tremendous potential to be used to create genotypes with improved oil quality and nutrient content. The nutritional value, fatty acid composition, and phenolic content of sponge gourd seeds enable for both their use as an oil source for industrial purposes as well as a dietary food supplement to meet the nutritional demands of developing nations. As a result, NDSG-1, Pusa Sneha, DSG-95, DSG-98, DSG-26 genotypes of sponge gourd can be used as a nutritious vegetable, while DSG-10 high oil yield can be used to make edible or industrial oil. More research is required before sponge gourd seeds are recommended for human nutrition.
February 2023 by SWISSAID, Geneva Academy and South Center
This publication looks at the implementation of the right to seed in Africa from the perspective of peasant’s rights declaration (UNDROP).
23 September 2022 by FiBL, ICAR and CIAT
This publication presents the prediction models that will facilitate high throughput screening of large cowpea germplasm in a non-destructive way and the selection of desirable chemotypes in any genetic background with huge application in cowpea crop improvement programs across the world. Cowpea is a representative legume that can facilitate achieving sustainable nutrition and climate change goals.
10 June 2022 by AFSA
This framework aims to ensure the recognition and protection of the right of farmers to define rules, based on their habits and customs, within their communities, networks, or other collectives, for the organisation of their seed activities, as well as the need for the State to accompany them in this.
10 June 2022 by AFSA
This study report provides a national mapping of existing seed policies, a national mapping of seed-related laws and regulations, and a mapping of national actors involved politically, legally and technically (farming practices) in Tanzania and East Africa.
10 June 2022 by AFSA
This study report provides a national mapping of existing seed policies, a national mapping of seed-related laws and regulations, and a mapping of national actors involved politically, legally and technically (farming practices) in Chad and Central Africa.
10 June 2022 by AFSA
This study report provides a national mapping of existing seed policies, a national mapping of seed-related laws and regulations, and a mapping of national actors involved politically, legally and technically (farming practices) in Niger.
March 2020 by SWISSAID
This brochure provides a synthetic overview of seed systems (Community Seed Banks, Participatory Guarantee Systems – PGS) in Latin America and particularly presents the results of SWISSAID initiative ‘Semillas de Identidad’.
29 November 2021 by APBREBES and Both ENDS
This policy brief is an abstract of the report ‘Plant variety protection & UPOV 1991 in the European Union’s Trade Policy: Rationale, effects & state of play’.
06 October 2021 by APBREBES
The study “Searching for flexibility – Why parties to the 1978 Act of the UPOV Convention have not acceded to the 1991 Act” explores the debates around plant variety protection (PVP) in nine countries that are parties to UPOV 78.
17 December 2020 by APBREBES
This publication compiles selected literature on this issue of plant variety protection (PVP) and espacially on the relevance and impact of the 1991 Convention of the International Union for the Protection of the New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) in the context of developing countries.
20 September 2019 by APBREBES
This policy bried discuss the recently published Access to Seed Index data that seems to confirm that there is no causal relationship between the UPOV system and a dynamic seed sector. On the contrary countries with a non-UPOV sui generis plant variety protection (PVP) legislation or even without a PVP legislation have in some regions the most vibrant seed sector.
18 April 2019 by Mohamed Coulibaly, Robert Ali Brac de la Perrière, with contributions from Sangeeta Shashikant
01 October 2015 by Carlos M. Correa (University of Buenos Aires), with contributions from Sangeeta Shashikant (Third World Network) and François Meienberg
05 March 2020 by APBREBES