Seed security for food security

\u27Farmers\u27 dependence on agro-companies for agricultural inputs has been growing in east and southern Africa and beyond. At the same time, local and indigenous knowledge about seed selection, saving and multiplying has been lost. This manual for development workers outlines traditional and current methods of saving seed. It begins with some basic ground rules for working with communities. The second section gives a comprehensive guide to different ways of propagating plants and saving seed from a full range of common crops and trees. Finally, the third part offers a brief outline of the background history and the current issues and views surrounding seed - nationally, regionally and internationally

Agricultural biotechnology in southern Africa: A regional synthesis

Countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region are employing various forms of biotechnological techniques in their agricultural, environmental management, forestry, medicine, and industry efforts, and have been since time immemorial. However, without doubt Africa is the region where biotechnologies are the least developed. There are many different explanations for this situation, but several schools of thought associate it with the perennial economic problems affecting the continent. From studies conducted by the Biotechnology Trust of Zimbabwe (BTZ) in 2001 and 2002, and studies by other organizations such as the Rockefeller Foundation and International Service for National Agricultural Research, it can be seen that the main area in which biotechnology techniques are being applied in southern African countries is agriculture, with the major thrust being crop improvement. Techniques such as tissue culture are being applied in almost all the countries, mainly because of the less intensive nature of this technique in terms of human and infrastructural resources. Modern biotechnological techniques, which include genetic engineering, are being employed in few of the countries, namely Malawi, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, and to a small extent in Mauritius and Zambia. Of all these countries, only South Africa has reached the commercialization stage insofar as products of genetic engineering are concerned. The rest are still at the laboratory research stage

The Status of the Inclusion of Socio-Economic Considerations in Biosafety Regulations and Biotechnology Decision Making Processes in Southern and East Africa: Practical Implications and Consequences for Innovation GovernanceThe Status of the Inclusion of Socio-Economic Considerations in Biosafety Regulations and Biotechnology Decision Making Processes in Southern and East Africa: Practical Implications and Consequences for Innovation Governance

The paper discusses the current status of the inclusion of socio-economic considerations into biosafety and biotechnology decision making processes, laws and regulations in Botswana, Malawi, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Kenya and South Africa. The discussion includes relevant issues related to the biosafety and socio-economic assessment processes while comparing and contrasting national regulatory developments with obligations subscribed by parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety in Southern and Eastern Africa. The paper also discusses the conceptual issues related to socio-economic assessments relevant to biosafety regulatory procedures including those considered in ex ante assessments for regulatory approval procedures and ex post for post-release monitoring or conventional technology evaluator procedures. The paper discusses practical considerations for the inclusion of socio-economics in biosafety regulatory processes including inclusion options, scope, timing, implementing body, methods, decision making rules and standards, and integration of technical biosafety research and socio-economic into a cogent decision making process. The paper concludes with a discussion of potential implications and positive and negative consequences from the inclusion of socio-economic considerations in biosafety decision making and for the governance of biotechnology innovations in developing countries