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East African Community member states launched public hearings this week for the Seed and Plant Variety Bill 2025, marking a significant step in shaping the region’s agricultural future.

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By the Witness Radio team

Starting August 24th, the East African member states opened a five-day window for researchers, policymakers, civil society organizations, and small-scale farmers to share their insights and concerns on the East African Community Seed and Plant Variety Bill 2025 as it moves toward its second reading in the East African Legislative Assembly.

Countries including Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi have been actively consulting citizens, inviting people from all walks of life to share their experiences and perspectives openly.

This follows the bill’s introduction in 2025 and its passage through legislative procedures, including tabling and the first reading in EALA in mid-2025.

According to EALA, the public hearings provide a critical opportunity for stakeholders to examine the Bill from multiple perspectives and contribute practical recommendations before the Assembly’s final consideration.

From farmers and seed companies to researchers, civil society, regulators, parliamentarians, women and youth in agribusiness, development partners, and private sector leaders, every voice brings experience that can shape stronger legislation and pave the way for successful implementation.

Following the high-level openings, partner states are rolling out national and regional consultations guided by the East African Legislative Assembly Committee on Agriculture, Tourism and Natural Resources. Uganda began its hearings on the 26th, while Rwanda and Kenya launched theirs on August 27, 2026. Other partner countries are also conducting the hearings.

During the launch in Uganda, East African Legislative Assembly Member, Hon. Rose Akol, said the Bill is intended to ease access to seed across the region by reducing barriers created by 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 on Wednesday.

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.

In Kenya, the EALA parliamentary committee on Agriculture, Tourism and Natural Resources held key consultative meetings with bodies such as the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) and the Ministry of Agriculture on the regional seed variety framework, as well as researchers and farmer organizations.

Kenyan member of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) Committee on Agriculture, Tourism and Natural Resources, Sankok Ole David, urged participants at every level to champion inclusivity and help craft agricultural regulations grounded in real evidence.

He warned that overreliance on seeds farmers cannot replant could create vulnerabilities if commercial supply chains are disrupted.

“Every season you have to go to the market. Suppose that market closes, what will happen to our food sovereignty and our food security?” Sankok asked.

The Kenyan discussions come against the backdrop of a broader legal debate over farmers’ rights to save, exchange and share seed.

In November 2025, Kenya’s High Court declared several provisions of the country’s Seeds and Plant Varieties Act unconstitutional after 15 smallholder farmers challenged restrictions on the sharing, exchange and sale of unregistered and uncertified seed.

Justice Rhoda Rutto found that seed saving, sharing and exchange form part of the cultural practices of Kenyan farming communities and that restrictions on indigenous seeds violated constitutional protections.

The court also found that some of the restrictions undermined the right to adequate food and could create economic dependency on commercial breeders.

The Kenyan ruling does not determine the outcome of the EAC Bill, which is a separate regional legislative process. However, it provides a recent example of the legal questions that can arise when formal seed regulation intersects with farmer-managed seed systems.

In Uganda, Civil society organizations (CSOs), Center for Food and Adequate Living Rights (CEFROHT), Participatory Ecological Land Use Management (PELUM), Eastern and Southern Africa Small Scale Farmers’ Forum (ESAFF), smallholder farmer groups, and regional trade stakeholders presented divergent positions on seed sovereignty versus commercial seed harmonization through discussions and position papers on the bill.

The Executive Director for CEFROHT, Dr. David Kabanda, who also led CSOs in Uganda in the consultation process, called for improved, further considered, and scrutinized provisions.

Kabanda says the proposed law should recognize the role farmers already play in maintaining and developing seed systems.

“We want the Bill to recognize that the formal seed sector is not the only seed system. Farmer-managed seed systems are already supporting millions of smallholder farmers, conserving agricultural biodiversity and contributing to food security,” he said.

Kabanda notes that the bill’s memorandum is silent on farmer-managed seed systems, which supply 70% to 80% of all seed planted by smallholder farmers in East Africa.

“The memorandum is silent on Farmer Managed Seed Systems, yet these systems supply between 70 and 80 percent of the seed planted by smallholder farmers in East Africa,” Kabanda said.

The organizations are proposing an amendment to the memorandum to explicitly recognize farmer rights and Farmer Managed Seed Systems as complementary to the formal seed sector, alongside issues including conservation of agrobiodiversity, biosafety, food security and food sovereignty.

If passed into law, the Act would establish common approaches to plant variety evaluation, testing, release, registration and marketing, while creating a regional framework for protecting plant breeders’ rights.

Supporters say harmonization could reduce regulatory barriers between Partner States, facilitate cross-border seed trade and make it easier for farmers to access quality seed. Critics, however, say common standards should not prevent farmers from continuing to preserve, exchange and select seed according to local environmental conditions and farming needs.

Protecting smallholder farmers is particularly significant in a region where smallholder farming accounts for about 75 percent of agricultural production.

For farmers who depend on locally managed seed, the outcome of the legislative process could determine how much space remains for traditional seed-saving, exchange and selection alongside the formal commercial seed sector.

But the committee emphasized that these hearings are designed as an inclusive platform, empowering stakeholders to shape the legislative process and drive evidence-based recommendations to strengthen agricultural regulation across East Africa.

These hearings are collecting vital feedback on a unified regional approach to plant variety evaluation, seed certification, testing, marketing, and plant breeders’ rights. The committee will weave these insights into a formal report, shaping recommendations before the Bill’s second reading in the East African Legislative Assembly.

Related posts:

Civil society organizations across East Africa have revived their campaign against the EAC Seed and Plant Varieties Bill 2025, just as the regional parliament opens the floor to public consultations. EAC Seed Bill: Uganda launches public consultations as debates spark over safeguarding smallholder and indigenous seed rights. 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. 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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Nabakooba orders probe into 1,500-acre land dispute

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September 18, 2026

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Lands minister Judith Nabakooba has ordered an investigation into people suspected of illegally converting nearly 1,500 acres of customary land in Nakapiripirit District into freehold land and obtaining a title without the consent of the local community.

Located in Kawach Sub-county, the disputed land is claimed by residents, who say it was given to them by government after part of the former Pian Upe Game Reserve was degazetted to resettle communities which had been displaced.

Local leaders say more than 12,000 households are affected by the dispute. Residents are against Nakapiripirit District Council speaker Richard Lochoto, who is alleged to have claimed ownership of part of the land and subsequently obtained a freehold title.

The dispute escalated after residents accused Mr Lochoto of working with members of the area land committee to process the land without consulting the community.
The minister, who visited the area to hear their grievances on September 7, handed the matter to the district security committee, headed by Resident District Commissioner Bessie Modesta Ajirong for investigation.

She directed the security team to collect all relevant information and submit a report within two weeks.
Ms Nabakooba said those found to have participated in the alleged conversion of the customary land into freehold should be arrested. She also ordered investigations into claims that signatures of local leaders were forged during the transactions.

“If there are people whose signatures were forged, we shall get a handwriting expert to establish whether they actually signed the transfer documents,” she said.
Ms Nabakooba said if investigations establish that the title was obtained fraudulently, the title will be cancelled and the land will be returned to the community.

She further directed the Ministry of Lands officials to assist residents in forming a Communal Land Association (CLA), to enable them to collectively register and manage the land.
“This will keep your land safe from grabbers. You will be in a position to decide on different land uses,” Ms Nabakooba said.

According to documents accessed by the Monitor, an approved land file for registration of a freehold title was forwarded to the commissioner land registration on November 4, 2021.
Another document of a freehold offer dated October 25, 2021, showed that the district land board had approved a grant of freehold to Mr Lochoto, following an application dated October 2, 2018.

The offer indicated that the land was intended for farming and required the applicant to meet costs related to surveying, registration and issuance of the certificate of title, as well as compensation of any sitting tenants.
The documents further show that Mr Lochoto stated that the land was vacant. The form also contained names and signatures of members of the Area Land Committee, who recommended the applicant to the District Land Board.

However, residents disputed the claim that the land was vacant, saying the community had been using and laying plans for the land before the freehold application was processed.
Mr Paul Longok Lochio, the Okudud Village chairperson, said the land was important to the community because residents had increasingly turned to farming, following improvements in security in Karamoja.

He said many residents previously depended largely on cattle and guns for their livelihoods, but the restoration of peace had enabled communities to embrace agriculture.
“Farming is a source of food for many families here. That is why land is very important to us,” Mr Longok said.
He accused land grabbers of taking advantage of illiteracy among residents to process land documents.

The Kawach Sub-county chairperson, Ms Angella Gabriel Aroor, who served as the chairperson of the area land committee at the time of the transaction, said the local leadership was not informed when the land was being surveyed.
“How can you survey land without our signatures? How can you go behind our backs and approve things which we were not informed about?” he asked.

The community now seeks a fresh survey by the Ministry of Lands to establish the actual size and boundaries of the disputed land.
Residents say they want to use part of the land to establish a community market, specifically for cattle traders.
Ms Esther Anyakun, the Nakapiripirit Woman MP and State minister for Karamoja Affairs, said government should protect this land because it was intended to benefit communities that had previously been displaced from other areas.

She said residents had petitioned the government over lack of land after people were evicted from areas occupied by government institutions, including prison land and other protected areas.
“This particular land was given to communities by government because many people were found to be squatters on prison land and had no where to go,” Ms Anyakun said.
Ms Anyakun warned that the land dispute had become tense, with rival groups allegedly threatening one another.

She urged the District Land Board to conduct physical verification before approving applications involving large chunks of land.
She advised the board to conduct ground checks whenever applications for 10 or more acres are submitted, to establish whether the land exists, whether it is occupied and whether there are competing claims.

The Nakapiripirit District Land Board secretary, Mr Jobs Ilukol, said the board had followed procedures required in processing Mr Lochoto’s application.
He said the board relied on records and minutes submitted by the Area Land Committee before considering the application.

Mr Ilukol said the District Land Board does not own or sell land and only processes applications based on documents submitted to it.
“The board’s job ends after approving or rejecting an application. The applicant is responsible for pursuing registration and obtaining a certificate of title,” he said.

Source: monitor.co.ug

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Lira siblings reclaim father’s land after bitter family dispute

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September 18, 2026

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Krispus Adula and his aunt, Betty Akello, plant maize in their garden in Teyao Village, Ogur Sub-county, Lira District, on September 15, 2026. PHOTO/BILL OKETCH.

On a sunny Tuesday afternoon, Crispus Adula dug into the soil with a hand hoe in Teyao Village, Alwala Parish, Ogur Sub-county in Lira District. Behind him, his aunt, Betty Akello, followed slowly, planting maize seeds in a garden the family had spent months fighting to reclaim.

The land is part of 12 gardens that once belonged to Adula’s late father, Sylvesto Obile, and was formally restored to Adula and his two sisters, Jacklyn Anam and Immaculate Auma, on September 15, 2026.

Mr Obile died in 2019, leaving his children still young. Their mother, Silvia Amony, left the family home shortly afterwards and died in 2022.

Following their father’s burial, members of the Abwor Bako Omorikidi Clan met and agreed to place the children in the custody of their cousin, Oyugi. He was also entrusted with the family’s property, including the 12 gardens, four cattle, chickens and household belongings.

“After being handed over to our cousin, I dropped out of school in Primary Three because he was not taking good care of us,” Adula told Monitor.

He said that after turning 17 in 2025, he asked clan members to allow him and his siblings to return to their former homestead and begin living independently.

“So, when I reached 17 years of age in 2025, I demanded that clan members allow my siblings and me to go back to our former homestead, where our father died and left us, to start living on our own,” he said.

The siblings left Oyugi’s home in January 2025, prompting clan leaders to convene a meeting to formally return the family’s property.

By then, however, the cattle and chickens had disappeared, while Oyugi had reportedly hired out most of the 12 gardens to tenants and collected payments from them.

“It was only the gardens remaining,” Adula said. “But out of the 12 pieces, our cousin had hired out most of them, and he had taken money from those people.”

Clan members ordered Oyugi to return the land, and he agreed, except for two gardens which he claimed he had sold to raise money for the children’s school fees.

The dispute escalated when the siblings went to reclaim the two gardens.

“Our cousin came with his wife and found us digging the land, and they threatened to kill one of my sisters with a panga (machete) he was holding,” Adula recalled.

“We overpowered them, took the panga, and ran to the clan leader, and eventually to the LC1 chairman of Teyao Village, who referred us to the police,” he added.

According to Prossy Akello, an attorney with Redeem International, Oyugi and his wife later returned and began digging the same garden despite the children having reported the matter to police.

Police at Ogur Central Police Station charged the couple with criminal trespass and threatening violence before referring the case to Redeem International.

The organisation, a nonprofit that works with local law enforcement to combat violence and exploitation against widows and orphans in developing countries, supported the investigation and prosecution through its Lira City Field Office.

“We supported the police to conclude the investigation they had initiated, and then we supported the complainants to follow up the case — ensuring they were always present in court, and that their witnesses were always transported to attend,” Ms Akello said.

Redeem International also helped Adula return to school.

“We usually don’t pay school fees or give scholarships,” Ms Akello said, “but in this case our social worker did a needs assessment, and we looked out for other partners within Lira. We were able to secure a scholarship for Crispus, and right now he’s studying at one of the technical schools in Lira.”

Police completed their investigation, and Oyugi and his wife were summoned, recorded statements and were later arraigned before Lira Magistrate’s Court.

“The accused pleaded not guilty, and we had to go for a full trial,” Ms Akello said. “Judgment was delivered in June.”

Because both sides claimed ownership of the two disputed gardens, Magistrate Jonathan William Wamimbi ruled that either party could pursue a civil claim in court to determine ownership.

In the meantime, the magistrate ordered that the children, who were already in possession of the land, continue using it.

“That is why the children are still using the land,” Ms Akello said. “We’ve come back [today, September 15, 2026] to officially inform the public that these children will remain in possession until any other person moves to court by way of a civil suit to claim ownership.”

Bosco Adwale, clan chief of Abwor Bako Omorikidi, called for reconciliation between the relatives.

“Now that the matter has been resolved, we’re asking the children to forgive their cousin brother and his wife, for peace to prevail,” he said.

Bosco Otim, LC2 chairman of Alwala Parish and a member of the Area Land Committee, said the dispute also exposed a wider challenge of undocumented land ownership in the area.

“In the entire Teyao Village, there is only one person who has processed a land title,” he said.

John Kalisto Apita, a clan leader, said the dispute had been complicated but called on residents to learn from the case.

“This was a very complicated case, but I thank God it has been put to rest. I ask members of the community to pick a lesson from this land dispute,” he said.

Lira Assistant Resident District Commissioner Richard Okello [centre] hands over a package donated by Redeem International to Krispus Adula after he was officially restored to his land in Ogur Sub-county on September 15, 2026. PHOTO/COURTESY.

Michael Odongo, LC3 chairman of Ogur Sub-county, urged families to follow the law when distributing property left behind by deceased relatives.

Oyugi, for his part, said he no longer holds a grudge against his cousins and attributed his actions to being misled by “the devil”.

Jane Acola of Redeem International’s Lira Field Office said the case reflected a wider challenge facing widows and orphans in northern Uganda, where many households depend on land for their livelihoods.

“The majority of our people in northern Uganda derive their livelihood mainly from agriculture, but for production to take place there must be land. When there is a land conflict, you cannot do anything,” she said.

Source: monitor.co.ug

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After weeks behind bars, six anti-oil activists have been granted cash bail by the LDC Court.

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September 17, 2026

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By the Witness Radio team.

After more than two weeks in detention, six young activists challenging Uganda’s oil projects have secured cash bail, facing unlawful assembly charges.

All six belong to the Rooted in Resistance movement. On Thursday, September 17, they appeared before the LDC Magistrate’s Court in Kampala, where the court granted each cash bail of Shs300,000.

The activists granted bail are Isaac Mukiibi, Alphat Mawanda, Nicholas Mugezi, Innocent Opio, John Friday and Ronald Onyango.

Rooted in Resistance, formerly known as Students Against EACOP, has emerged as a steadfast force challenging the spread of fossil fuels in Uganda.

The activists were held in Luzira Maximum Security Prison after being arrested during demonstrations in Kampala against Uganda’s ongoing fossil fuel projects.

The activists were charged with unlawful assembly under the Penal Code Act.

Section 65(1) of the Act defines an unlawful assembly as a gathering of three or more people who intend to commit an offense, behave in a way that creates reasonable fear, or gather without a legitimate reason in circumstances likely to provoke others to breach the peace.

Under Section 66, taking part in an unlawful assembly is a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison.

On August 31, 2026, police arrested the six during Kampala demonstrations, as Rooted in Resistance rallied against Uganda’s oil development.

Determined to be heard, the activists tried to deliver petitions to Parliament and TotalEnergies offices in Kampala, urging closer examination of oil projects and rejecting further fossil fuel investment.

During the demonstrations, police detained a total of 16 activists.

Police arrested ten at Parliament and charged them with public nuisance, while arresting six more at RR Pearl Tower One on Yusuf Lule Road, where TotalEnergies’ offices are located.

The six soon appeared before the LDC Magistrate’s Court, where they were remanded to Luzira Prison.

The activists say their resistance stems from concerns about the environmental and social fallout of oil development, especially its impact on communities, livelihoods, and the natural world.

They are urging a shift toward investing in renewable energy, rather than pouring more resources into fossil fuel infrastructure.

After the court granted bail, Rooted in Resistance celebrated the release of its members but condemned what it sees as ongoing attempts to silence their movement through arrests and charges.

“We will never be intimidated by the continued trumped-up charges and the brutal arrests being subjected to us,” the group said in a statement following the release on its X handle.

The group pledged to keep rallying for an oil-free economy and what it calls true economic freedom.

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