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The EAC Seed and Plant Varieties Bill 2025 targets organic seeds, aiming to replace them with modified seeds, say smallholder farmers.

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10 months ago

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Smallholder farmers weeding their crops.

By Witness Radio team.

Ssetabi Rauben, a smallholder farmer from Kicuculo village in Mubende district, has a deep connection to farming that dates back to his youth. His personal journey into farming, driven by his family’s need for a livelihood, is a testament to the importance of smallholder farmers in our agricultural system. Ssetabi’s story is just one of many that highlight the potential impact of the EAC Seed and Plant Varieties Bill 2025 on individual farmers.

“With no chance for going further in education, my father gave me land to start a living, and I had to move on. I didn’t go far with my education, so the only resort was to do agriculture since it was my family’s source of living,” He said in an interview with the Witness Radio team.

At 26, Ssetabi, a father of one, dedicates most of his two-acre farm to maize and beans. However, his future in farming, a field he knows best, is under threat. The local seeds he relies on may be outlawed by the 2025 Seed and Plant Varieties Bill of the EAC, potentially dimming his hopes.

The Seeds and Plant Varieties Bill, 2025, recently introduced by the Council of Ministers of the East African Community (EAC), is part of a long-term drive to unify seed regulations across the region.

The draft Bill, as witnessed by Witness Radio, aims to provide for the coordination of evaluation, release, and registration of plant varieties among Partner States; to establish standard processes for seed certification and protection of plant varieties within the Community; and to provide for related matters. According to its promoters, the Bill, based on Article 106 of the Treaty, aims to provide for seed certification, testing, and marketing, thereby facilitating and creating an enabling environment for private sector seed multiplication and distribution.

However, the bill has sparked opposition from civil society organizations, farmer networks, and development partners across the EAC. They argue that it could consolidate corporate control over seeds, curtail the rights of smallholder farmers, and jeopardize agro-biodiversity.

Further, analysis by experts reveals that provisions that risk restricting farmers’ traditional practices of saving, exchanging, and selling seed could have far-reaching consequences for food security, agro-biodiversity, and the livelihoods of millions of rural households.

According to civil society organizations, the Bill threatens to criminalize or restrict traditional practices like breeding, saving, sharing, exchanging, and selling farm-saved seeds. It supports breeders’ rights instead of farmers’ rights. The Bill places a heavy focus on commercial and certified seeds, which could undermine the diverse, locally adapted varieties essential for resilience against climate change, pests, and diseases. This overlooks the importance of farmer-managed seed systems, which are not only central to rural livelihoods and food sovereignty but also an integral part of our cultural heritage.

Many voices warn of serious weaknesses of the bill, which lead to further marginalization of indigenous and smallholder farmers and offer no legal recognition or protection for local farmer-managed seed systems. Despite this, smallholder farmers who are likely to be affected produce the highest amounts of food in the world.

In a critical discussion about the draft bill by Civil Society Organisations and smallholder farmers across East Africa and beyond, several experts on the topic voiced their concerns. Their united front of opposition, a powerful force against the bill, underscores the collective voice’s strength in shaping the bill’s fate.

Dr Peter Munyi, a professional lawyer with extensive experience in agricultural law, explained that the draft stipulates strict testing procedures for seed varieties, with criteria such as distinctiveness, uniformity, and stability being decisive for seed approval. He, however, mentioned that indigenous or farmer-managed seed systems, which are crucial for biodiversity and local food security, are often unable to meet these criteria.

He added, “The testing takes place in laboratories and the value for use and cultivation entails multi-location trials, which is also very expensive, and the only people who can really afford these tests would be commercial seed breeders, perhaps research institutions that USDA and other agencies also fund.”

Mariam Mayet, Executive Director of the African Center for Biodiversity, revealed that the bill is discriminatory and inequitable in its approach because it doesn’t treat all farmers and seeds equally. Her insights add weight to the concerns raised by smallholder farmers and civil society organizations.

Considering the reality of the lives of small-holding farmers, such as Mr. Ssetabi, it is clear that the bill would place an unreasonable burden on the local small farming community.

“We plant and replant our seeds. Our system, inherited from our fathers, has always involved

harvesting, selecting the best breeds, and replanting them; now, if there is a shift as the bill proposes. It’s challenging for people like me because seeds can be expensive at times. Having to buy new seeds every planting season will deepen us into poverty, and people will soon abandon agriculture for those with money.” This financial burden is a stark reality for smallholder farmers like Ssetabi, and the bill only exacerbates their economic struggles.

Considering that smallholder farmers like Ssetabi contribute significantly to the World’s food production, the potential impact of the bill on food security is a cause for concern. Once this bill is passed, there will be a burden on food security and, hence, an increase in poverty levels. The bill’s potential impact on food security cannot be overstated, making it a critical issue for all stakeholders.

Smallholder farming accounts for approximately 75 percent of agricultural production and over 75 percent of employment in East Africa, with up to 70–80 % of seeds planted originating from farmer-managed seed systems. The bill must be reconsidered in light of these implications to prevent a potential crisis. The significant role of smallholder farmers in East Africa’s agricultural sector underscores the urgency of this issue.

“Yet, these systems are in no way recognized in the draft Bill, and the provisions of the bill would install new barriers for farmers’ seed systems and prohibit the saving, reuse, exchange, selling, and sharing in the seed system”. A civil society network raised the alarm.

Ssetabi says. “Some of us rent land, so this is another challenge. Such seeds also need fertilizers.

Now, look at the costs of renting land, seeds, and fertilizers. Don’t you think this is a ploy to remove us from the farming system?” He questioned.

The concern over the bill extends beyond Uganda to other countries where it is being introduced. In Kenya, for example, farmers and the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS)—a government parastatal mandated to ensure the quality of agricultural inputs and produce, thereby safeguarding the economy, the environment, and human health—rejected the bill. They warned that its enactment could weaken government oversight and expose farmers to substandard and counterfeit seeds.

“Giving seed producers the responsibility to determine the quality of their own seeds will erode government oversight and compromise seed quality,” The Managing Director of KEPHIS, Prof Theophilus Mutui, mentioned in an article published by the Eastleigh Voice.

Civil society organizations appeal that if the bill is to proceed, it must include strong, explicit protections for smallholder farmers, particularly around exceptions to breeders’ rights.

Additionally, stakeholders should advocate for a separate legal framework or policy that recognises and supports farmer-managed seed systems. Without such measures, the region risks enshrining a seed regime that deepens inequality, erodes biodiversity, and undermines the right to food.

Related posts:

A front page of the draft Bill.
The EAC Seed & Plant Varieties Bill, 2025, is a potential threat to smallholder farmers, as it aims to disengage them from the agriculture business, according to experts. CSOs and Smallholder farmers are urgently convening to scrutinize the EAC Seed & Plant Varieties Bill, 2025. Omoro farmers task Naro on crop varieties African governments are giving in to corporate pressure and undermining local seed systems – report Commercial sugarcane growing is killing indigenous seed varieties in the Busoga region – Report

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Govt targets land grabbers with first national public-land register

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2 days ago

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August 14, 2026

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Officials say a nationwide inventory will finally let the state prove what it owns — from school compounds to road reserves — but the exercise is beginning on a shoestring.

Mukono, Uganda — Uganda has begun building its first comprehensive national register of government land, an undertaking officials say is aimed squarely at land grabbers who for years have carved up public property the state often cannot prove it owns.

The five-year exercise, the Comprehensive Government Land Inventory, will document every identifiable state plot — schools, hospitals, police stations, road reserves, wetlands and forests among them — and record who owns each, how it is used and whether it is under threat.

“If we don’t do that, then we may never have land to protect,” Lands Minister Judith Nabakooba told a regional workshop at Rider Hotel in Mukono, east of the capital Kampala, on Thursday.

The vulnerability is considerable. Government land makes up about 23 percent of Uganda’s territory, but only roughly a quarter of it has been formally titled, according to the Uganda Land Commission — leaving the majority undocumented and, officials concede, easy to grab.

Nabakooba said Uganda’s rapid transformation was making the problem worse. Towns are spreading, infrastructure and industry are expanding, and land that was rural only a few years ago is now valuable real estate. She warned that population growth — which she said could push Uganda towards 70 million people by 2050 — would only sharpen the competition for a fixed supply of land.

The minister urged local authorities to enforce physical development plans and to build upwards rather than outwards. “Can we now begin thinking of going vertical when you are building offices and spaces for accommodation… then the rest of the land is used for agricultural purposes?” she asked. She singled out Wakiso district, on Kampala’s fringes, where development pressure is most intense, and cautioned officials against surrendering government plots simply because they appeared vacant.

Local knowledge, national record

The Mukono meeting, billed as the “Buganda 1” engagement and the second after the programme’s national launch in July, gathered district chairpersons, resident district commissioners, land board members and civil society from central-region districts including Wakiso, Mukono, Buikwe, Kayunga, Luweero, Nakasongola and Buvuma.

Uganda Land Commission chairperson Prof Pen Mogi Nyeko told them their local knowledge was central to the exercise. “You all virtually know what land belongs to government,” he said, appealing to them to help identify and title state plots — and warning land boards not to hand public land to individuals.

He said the state was the country’s biggest developer, and that consolidated, protected land could anchor major projects. Nyeko pointed to the Amuru sugar scheme in northern Uganda, where the government compensated landowners across some 10,000 hectares for a plantation and factory, as an example of what public land could enable, describing the local opposition it once faced as “negative politics”. The project in fact has a long and contested history, resisted for years by Acholi communities and their leaders and fought through the courts over customary ownership before compensation was settled.

Nyeko also raised the grabbing of institutional land, including plots belonging to church-founded schools. “Many of you were students in these lands, in these schools. So it is you to help us get those lands protected,” he said. He stressed the commission was not after private property: “The constitution is very clear: land belongs to the people. For us, we are only interested in land which belongs to government.” A reliable inventory, he added, would let the state direct investors to suitable sites — “if we know that there is 2, 3 square miles of land belonging to government in Nakasongola… we recommend that area for industrialisation.”

A reform on a tight budget

For all its ambition, the programme is starting with little money. The commission has said it was costed at about 100 billion shillings (roughly $27m), but only 6 billion shillings was released this financial year, even after a parliamentary committee recommended more. Implementation will be phased, beginning with cities and municipalities where land values — and the incentive to grab — are highest.

Emmanuel Kaganzi, representing the ministry’s permanent secretary, said the register had to capture more than ownership. It should show whether each parcel was surveyed, titled and free of encroachment or competing claims, he said, giving government the chance “to intervene early” rather than react to disputes after the fact.

But a register was only as good as its upkeep, he cautioned. “A government land inventory completed today but not updated tomorrow will gradually lose its usefulness.” He said responsibility for keeping records current would fall across the commission, the ministry, local governments and the agencies that occupy state land, and pressed repeatedly for coordination between them. The inventory, he added, should build on systems already in place — the Uganda Land Information System, the National Land Information Centre and the ministry’s zonal offices, which have moved land services closer to citizens — rather than create new silos.

Kaganzi was blunt about the human element. “An accurate system will achieve little if public officers knowingly allow government land to be encroached, to be taken, to be grabbed, and irregularly allocated,” he said, adding that officials entrusted with public land must treat it as belonging to the people of Uganda.

Cross-checking a fragmented record

The commission’s secretary, Andrew Nyumba, said the state’s own records were part of the problem, scattered across the commission, ministries, local governments and district land boards and never fully reconciled. The existing records, he said, did not amount to a comprehensive picture of government land.

For each holding, he said, the inventory should answer a set of basic questions — what the parcel is, where it lies, its size and boundaries, the evidence of state ownership, which institution is responsible, how it is used, whether it is documented and whether it is occupied, encroached upon or disputed. The commission would draw on registry and cadastral data, ministry and local-government records, survey and planning information, asset registers, historical archives, community knowledge and, where needed, physical checks on the ground.

Those sources would be cross-checked against one another, and disagreements, Nyumba argued, were useful rather than a setback. “A discrepancy in information is not necessarily a failure of the exercise. It is also information,” he said, describing conflicting records as a signal of where further verification was required. The goal, he said, was to move “from fragmented information toward a more reliable, integrated and continuously maintained picture of government land in Uganda”.

The drive follows years of criticism over the commission’s record-keeping. The Auditor General has previously flagged the absence of a comprehensive government land database, and the body has been drawn into numerous court cases over contested public plots — the very gaps the inventory is meant to close.

Source: www.ugstandard.com/

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Why govt is launching a comprehensive digital land registry Government urges Ugandans to register their land interests to reduce land evictions. Govt moves to register surveyors to curb land conflicts Land commission starts updating govt land countrywide. Kasese district land bosses ordered to cancel land titles of gov’t land grabbers
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Experts rally the region to unite behind East Africa’s transformative Agroecology Bill.

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4 days ago

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August 12, 2026

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By the Witness Radio team.

Across East Africa, experts and agricultural advocates are urging a united front for the proposed East African Community (EAC) Agroecology Bill, believing its passage could revolutionize food systems, empower food sovereignty, and uplift millions of farmers’ lives.

In mid-April 2026, the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) officially began the legislative process for the EAC Agroecology Bill, 2026, after the Agriculture, Tourism and Natural Resources Committee chairperson, Hon. Gideon Gaptan Thoar, received parliamentary leave to draft and introduce it. The drafting committee is now in the final stages of tabling the bill before parliament.

This rallying cry echoed through an online webinar hosted by the Center for Food and Adequate Living Rights and broadcast live on Witness Radio. The event gathered agricultural experts, food sovereignty champions, and regional legislators to explore the bill’s promise and the hurdles it may face.

If passed, it would lay the foundation for a unified regional legal framework championing agroecological farming throughout the East African Community. Supporters believe this could be a powerful tool to combat food insecurity, protect farmers’ rights and indigenous seeds, address climate change and biodiversity loss, and tackle challenges faced by smallholder farmers.

Mr. Andrew Adem, Program Coordinator for Food Systems at the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), said the region must learn from the shortcomings of the Green Revolution model, which prioritized increased yields and external agricultural inputs.

He pointed out that although the model aimed to boost yields and farmers’ incomes, it left them vulnerable when harvests fell short.

Adem noted that in tough seasons, farmers often bear the high costs of expensive inputs, while intensive farming erodes agricultural diversity and time-honored knowledge.

To address these challenges, he said, agroecology flips the script by putting farmers and their wisdom at the heart of agricultural progress.

“In Africa, food is more important than yields because it carries a lot of things. Therefore, the Green Revolution failed, and hence the Agroecology Bill presents an opportunity for us to stand up and protect the sovereignty of food in Africa,” Adem said during the Webinar meeting.

He explained that agroecology inspires farmers to break free from expensive external inputs, nurture healthier soils, diversify their crops, and tap into the wealth of local knowledge and resources.

Unlike systems fixated on monocultures and quotas, advocates say agroecology embraces nutrition, culture, biodiversity, and the enduring wellbeing of farming communities.

This legislative push arrives as hunger casts a long shadow over Africa. Jean Leonard from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) highlighted that the continent bears the World’s largest hungry population, with around 309 million people affected.

He described agroecology as a holistic approach, weaving together ecological and social principles to shape and guide agricultural systems.

“Agroecology seeks to optimize interaction between people, markets, agriculture and ecosystems while addressing environmental, social and economic systems simultaneously rather than focusing on single technologies,” Leonard said.

Leonard outlined key ingredients for the success of the Bill: dedicated lawmakers, appropriate budgets, robust funding, supportive laws, and genuine involvement from farmers. She urged greater investment in youth, believing that empowering young people with resources and opportunities could open fresh paths into agriculture and speed the shift to agroecological farming.

Hon. Jackline Amongin, a Ugandan member of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), said the proposed legislation is intended to create a common framework for agroecological farming across the EAC.

She emphasized that the East African Community’s unique character calls for unity, not fragmented efforts, in transforming agriculture.

“We shall have the best, but all efforts must be put on enacting the Bill into law. Once the law is put in place, all the desired issues of implementation and execution will be agreed on. Other factors will follow,” she added.

Advocates stress that agroecology is more than a farming method. They see it as a philosophy that links agriculture to environmental care, social justice, cultural heritage, nutrition, and economic vitality.

This approach inspires farmers to exchange wisdom, broaden their crops, and craft solutions tailored to their unique landscapes.

According to the Bill memorandum, the purpose of the EAC Agroecology Bill, 2026, is to mainstream agroecological farming by promoting agroecology principles across agri-food systems. It seeks to integrate ecological, social and participatory approaches while combining scientific and traditional knowledge to enhance biodiversity, ecosystem services, resilience, livelihoods and food sovereignty.

“The Bill will therefore be tabled and gazetted before being subjected to public consultations, hearings and participation by members of the public. It will then proceed to a second reading before being referred to the whole House Committee for detailed consideration. Once all these processes are duly followed, the Bill will be presented for a third reading and passage by EALA. It will then go through the EAC process before ultimately becoming an Act.” She concluded.

Related posts:

East African lawmakers and CSO leaders are meeting in Uganda to draw up plans to promote Agroecology as an alternative to climate change mitigation. Agroecological farming: EAC Bill moves to Parliament to establish a regional legal framework to protect and promote sustainable farming and food systems. EALA members renew push for unified sub-regional Agroecology Law during Mukono meeting. The Indigenous Seeds movement in East Africa is convening in Kenya, with the potential to reshape the region’s food systems. The EAC Seed & Plant Varieties Bill, 2025, is a potential threat to smallholder farmers, as it aims to disengage them from the agriculture business, according to experts.
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Four youth activists now face public nuisance charges after their arrest during a bold march toward Parliament.

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5 days ago

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August 11, 2026

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By the Witness Radio team.

At Buganda Road court, four youth activists from the Rooted in Resistance Movement were charged with public nuisance after their arrest during a passionate plea to Parliament for an oil-free Uganda.

Activists Ssembalirwa Aniwally, Mugoya Hassan, Aron Patrick Ariong, and Okanya Ivan were detained by parliamentary police as they marched with determination toward Parliament, urging the Ugandan government to abandon oil dependency in favor of an ‘oil-free economy’ built on economic freedom, sustainability, and citizen involvement.

According to the charge sheet seen by Witness Radio, the prosecution alleges that on August 10, 2026, at about 9:00 am, the four activists, along with others still at large, were at King George Way Street in Kampala Central. They wore orange T-shirts bearing the words “Rooted in Resistance” and carried placards with messages including “Prioritize Other Sectors of the Economy,” “Oil Is Temporary, Nature Is Permanent,” and “Oil Today, Problems Tomorrow.”

Prosecutors claim the activists stood on the road, disrupting traffic and creating hazards.

The activists appeared before Grade One Magistrate Her Worship Rophine Achayo at Buganda Road court yesterday, where they were charged with being a nuisance on the public road, contrary to Section 67(1) of the Road Act, Cap. 346.

Section 160(1) of the Penal Code Act, which defines a common nuisance, provides that any person who does an act not authorized by law or fails to discharge a legal duty and thereby causes “any common injury, or danger or annoyance,” or obstructs or causes inconvenience to the public in the exercise of common rights, commits the misdemeanor of common nuisance and is liable to imprisonment for one year.

The four pleaded not guilty and now await their fate in Luzira Prison, remanded until August 28, 2026.

The group’s mission was to urge Parliament to rethink Uganda’s reliance on petroleum, warning that true prosperity cannot be built on a resource that will one day run out.

The activists contend that despite years of promises—jobs, industry, infrastructure, and poverty relief—oil’s benefits have reached only a privileged few, while many others remain trapped in poverty.

“Our demand for an oil-free economy is not a rejection of development, but a demand for a different development model, one that places Ugandan citizens, productive sectors and sustainable wealth creation at the center of national planning,” the group said.

They call for bold investment in other sectors, insisting Uganda should chart a path toward sustainable wealth, citizen empowerment, and true economic independence instead of clinging to petroleum.

These arrests are part of a troubling pattern as more Ugandans face criminal charges for protesting oil projects or demanding accountability for their social and environmental costs.

12 environmental activists were arrested in Kampala in August 2025 during a protest against the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). Eight out of the 12 activists were later convicted and sent to prison to serve an eleven (11) month sentence. They were released from Luzira Prison on April 21, 2026, as time spent on remand had effectively covered their 11-month sentences.

The other four, including Ivan Wamboga, Baker Tamale and Habibu Nalungu, pleaded guilty and were released on November 19, 2025, after being ordered to perform community service. Mark Makoba also pleaded guilty and was released on November 6, 2025, without any additional penalty.

These cases reveal the risks faced by those who challenge Uganda’s oil agenda. Even after release, the activists’ ordeals have intensified fears for freedom of expression and assembly across civil society.

Related posts:

Youth activists detained as they boldly petition Parliament, demanding a future for Uganda free from oil dependency. Ugandan Activists Face Criminal Charges Following Pipeline Protest Breaking: 15 Anti-EACOP Activists have been charged with common nuisance and remanded to Luzira prison. Another group of eleven environmental activists have been charged with common nuisance and remanded to Luzira Prison for opposing the EACOP project. Youth climate activists raise frustration over govt’s silence on EACOP
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