By the Witness Radio team.
Uganda has begun public consultations on the proposed East African Community Seeds and Plant Varieties Bill, 2025, bringing together farmers, researchers, regulators, policymakers, and other stakeholders to explore how this regional law could reshape access to seed, farmers’ rights, and seed systems throughout East Africa.
The consultations are part of wider public hearings across EAC Partner States before the Bill is considered by the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA).
The proposed legislation seeks to harmonize seed regulation across the region by establishing common procedures for plant variety evaluation and release, seed certification and plant variety protection.
Its proponents say harmonizing the rules would make it easier for quality seed to move across borders, reduce duplication of regulatory requirements, and encourage investment in the regional seed sector.
Yet these consultations have sparked questions about whether the regional framework can truly safeguard indigenous seed systems, farmers’ rights, biodiversity, and food sovereignty while welcoming commercial seed companies.
East African Legislative Assembly Member of Parliament Rose Akol chaired the first hearing in Uganda. She and her team examined provisions of the Bill that participants said required clarification or modification, including issues around seed certification and the movement of seed between Partner States.
Akol said the Bill aims to ease access to seed across the region by reducing barriers from differing national requirements.
“The preamble of the Bill is meant to ease access to plant and seed varieties by farmers in the community, so as not to make it difficult for them to access seeds because of non-tariff barriers where countries have their own standards and requirements in terms of registration, certification and laboratory testing,” Akol said.
One concern was how a harmonized certification system would operate across countries with different laws, standards, registration requirements, laboratory-testing procedures, and regulatory systems.
She said harmonizing standards across Partner States would make it easier for farmers to obtain seed from other countries within the region.
“Once the member states have a harmonized law applying the same standards, it will be easier for farmers to access seeds from across borders,” she added.
The East African Community Seeds and Plant Varieties Bill, 2025, is designed to create a common regional framework for seed regulation, plant variety evaluation and release, seed certification and plant variety protection.
The Bill also seeks to promote investment and innovation in the seed sector while supporting food security and sustainable agricultural development.
Moses Edward Erong, a Senior Agriculture Inspector at the National Seed Certification Service in the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, said the consultations were important because they allowed stakeholders to examine and validate the provisions of the proposed law.
He said harmonization could make it easier for farmers to obtain seed from other EAC countries and create opportunities for seed companies to invest in production within the region.
“If we harmonize this law, it will be easier for investors to establish anywhere because they will no longer fear the different regulatory regimes. They can look at comparative advantages—for Uganda, for example, where we have two seasons—and seed companies would be interested in investing here, producing seed in Uganda and supplying other parts of the region. That creates employment for our people and income for farmers who will be engaged as out-growers.”
Still, worries linger that greater commercialization and regional harmonization might threaten the livelihoods of farmers relying on locally produced, farmer-managed seed.
When Witness Radio asked whether the proposed Bill could leave smallholder farmers dependent on commercial seed companies, Erong rejected the suggestion that the legislation could result in “seed slavery.”
“There is nothing like seed slavery. This encourages farmers to access seeds because smallholder farmers are the ones who utilize the seed,” he added. Making seed more accessible would allow smallholder farmers to benefit from improved agricultural technologies and potentially increase their productivity and returns.
“If you don’t make procedures easier for them to get seed, they are kept out of the technology. As technology grows, they remain excluded and continue using inferior seed material, which means they cannot get a gainful return from their farming efforts,” Erong added.
Traders at the consultations voiced support for harmonized regional rules, arguing that lifting non-tariff barriers could ease the transport of seed and other agricultural inputs across EAC borders.
Meanwhile, civil society organizations and farmer-rights advocates are set to share their perspectives on the proposed legislation in full later today, 27 August 2026.
Their stance will carry significant weight, as the Bill addresses crucial issues such as farmers’ rights to save, exchange, and access seed; the safeguarding of indigenous seed systems; biodiversity; and the influence of commercial seed companies.
Public hearings continue today, with stakeholders poised to offer more insights before the proposed regional law moves forward to its next stage.
