The 2nd Congo Basin Convening ended in Yaounde, Cameroon on August 27, 2026 with stakeholders demanding 30% public budget allocation for agro-ecology.

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.

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 Erongu, 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, Erongu 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,” Erongu 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.