By the Witness Radio team.
Civil society organizations throughout the East African Community are raising their voices, urging that smallholder farmers and farmer-managed seed systems practitioners receive the recognition they deserve in the upcoming East African Community Seed and Plant Varieties Bill, 2025.
This call to action follows public hearings held across EAC partner states from August 26 to 28, 2026. Diverse voices gathered to shape the future of regional seed legislation. However, participation by smallholder farmers and farmer-managed seed systems practitioners was limited.
These hearings united government officials, farmers, civil society groups, researchers, seed regulators, commercial seed sector representatives, and other stakeholders, all eager to share their perspectives and recommendations on the Bill.
The proposed legislation aims to create a unified approach to seed and plant variety regulation across the region. It covers seed certification, variety release, and the movement and trade of seeds across borders.
Civil society organizations from several countries argue that the proposed framework overlooks the vital role of smallholder farmers and farmer-managed seed systems practitioners who have sustained farming communities for generations.
They emphasize that although the formal and commercial seed sector is important, farmers must retain the freedom to save, exchange, multiply, and replant seeds within their communities.
In Kenya, civil society organizations participated in the public hearings, advocating for recognition of farmers, farmer-managed seed systems, traditional landraces, and community seed banks.
Tabby Munyiri of Seed Savers Network said the concern was not about rejecting the formal seed sector, but ensuring that farmers have a choice.
“We recognize the importance of the formal seed system, and we believe that farmers should be able to have an option; farmers should be able to have a choice, and that is why we are calling for an inclusive law,” Munyiri said.
She highlighted that traditional and indigenous seed varieties are crucial for preserving biodiversity and equipping farmers with more options as they adapt to shifting climate conditions.
In Uganda, civil society organizations echoed these concerns, stressing the need to explicitly recognize farmer-managed seed systems rather than relying on vague references to farmers in the proposed regional framework.
During the consultations, Dr. David Kabanda of the Center for Food and Adequate Resources Rights Africa (CEFROHT) urged lawmakers to safeguard farmers’ rights and ensure that commercial interests do not undermine farmer-managed systems.
“We need to critically and deeply think about this issue as East Africans. We can wake up to a very sad reality, and it has started happening, when a few corporate companies take over everything,” Kabanda said.
Kabanda also questioned whether the proposed Bill aligns with the international and African commitments that EAC partner states have pledged to uphold.
He cited the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, particularly Article 9, which addresses farmers’ rights. Kabanda argued that the regional legislation should reflect these commitments and criticized the Bill for what he described as inadequate attention to farmers’ rights.
In Tanzania, civil society representatives described a consultation process that brought together a wide range of stakeholders. David Manongi of the Tanzania Alliance for Biodiversity (TABIO) noted that farmers, women, youth, civil society organizations, government officials, researchers, and seed regulators all took part in the discussions.
He added that civil society organizations held preparatory meetings before the public hearing to review the Bill and consolidate concerns and recommendations.
“The meeting provided us with an opportunity to review the Bill and consolidate the concerns and recommendations,” Manongi said.
According to Manongi, stakeholders advocated measures to safeguard farmer seed systems. They focused on ensuring that farmer-managed seed systems and community seed banks are recognized within the regional framework.
In Rwanda, civil society representatives voiced worries about the lack of awareness among organizations that work directly with smallholder farmers regarding the consultations.
Dieudonne Sindikubwabo, who works with the Rwanda Organic Agriculture Movement (ROAM), said many organizations working closely with farmers were unaware that the public hearings were taking place until the process had begun.
“I work with smallholder farmers daily. But when you look at how the Bill is designed, I feel very little involvement of smallholder farmers was done,” Sindikubwabo said.
He explained that his concerns went beyond participation to the substance of the proposed legislation.
Sindikubwabo pointed out that the Bill favors commercialization but falls short in clearly outlining farmers’ rights to keep, exchange, and multiply seeds.
“The Bill is not in favor of smallholder farmers, because they are just focusing on commercialization,” he said.
In Burundi, civil society representatives questioned the inclusiveness of the consultation process, noting they were not formally invited and that farmers were missing from the discussions.
Tusiime Pauline, a legal adviser assisting Burundian civil society organizations, stressed that the absence of farmers was especially troubling since the proposed legislation will directly impact them.
“We didn’t have the farmers there because farmers were not invited,” Pauline said.
She noted that civil society representatives still attended and presented recommendations after preparing submissions and proposed amendments to the Bill. However, she lamented that the discussions largely ignored concerns about farmers’ absence.
“We managed to attend the hearings despite lacking a formal invitation. Leaving out civil society and farmers without inviting them makes the process unfair,” she said.
In Somalia, civil society representatives voiced broader worries about whether rural communities have the awareness and capacity to understand and participate in policy discussions that directly affect them.
Mohammed Hassan from the Center for Dryland Development & Resilience Systems (CDDRS) emphasized the need to share information about the proposed legislation with rural communities, especially those relying on farming and traditional production systems.
“We need to make sure information about these policies reaches rural communities, so the people directly affected can understand what is being discussed and have an opportunity to participate.”
Hassan pointed out that public awareness is crucial because many rural communities may lack sufficient information about policy debates at national and regional levels.
The stories shared by civil society representatives from six of the eight EAC partner states reveal a patchwork of experiences with the consultations, bringing a range of perspectives into the ongoing debate over seed and plant variety regulation in East Africa.
Although the proposed law aims to establish a unified regulatory framework for the region, civil society organizations are urging lawmakers to ensure it also reflects the lived realities of farmers who rely on seed systems beyond the formal commercial market.
Their submissions raise broader questions about how the regional seed system can balance commercial interests, farmers’ rights, biodiversity, and the ongoing use of indigenous and farmer-managed seed systems.
The organizations are also calling for the concerns voiced during the consultations to be genuinely considered before the Bill moves forward in the legislative process.
For farmers, the outcome of this process could determine how they access, save, exchange, and use seeds for years to come. As the EAC weighs the recommendations from the consultations, all eyes are now on how these competing perspectives will shape the next version of the proposed law.
