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Women’s groups demand equality in land tenure security to boost food production.

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8 months ago

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By Witness Radio team.

Women’s struggle for land rights is now a critical global issue that has garnered attention from civil society organisations, policymakers, and human rights activists. Many argue that women are often excluded from land governance, hindering economic growth.

Statistics reveal that women produce a massive amount of the world’s food, especially in developing nations, with estimates often citing 60-80% of food in developing countries and roughly half globally. Recognizing this can inspire policymakers and activists to believe in women’s vital role in food security.

Edith Nalwende, a small-scale farmer from Bugiri district, is one of the many affected by the exclusion of women from land ownership and governance.

“Somebody called me, he was desperate and needed some quick money in his land. He told me I should buy this land, and I can pay by instalments. I informed my husband that there is a good deal here. I want to pay part of that money since the person is ready to receive the instalment. The response was obvious. Why do you want to buy land? Leave that land and don’t buy it,” she revealed in an interview with a Witness Radio journalist.

Many women like Nalwende face significant barriers to land ownership and recognition. Gender stereotypes in many Ugandan and African communities often bar women from owning land.

“Because of being a woman, I was stopped by my husband from buying land. I gave up. I didn’t buy the land. So, I called the seller. But he also didn’t appreciate why I told my husband, he asked me why I had told him,” said Nalwende.

ESAFF gathered rural women to share their stories. Edith was one of them, and women farmers were empowered to secure their land rights, thereby increasing productivity and promoting economic development.

While women are pivotal to small-scale agriculture, farm labour, and daily family subsistence, they face greater difficulty than men in accessing land and productivity-enhancing inputs and services. They claim they have been sidelined in issues of land governance, land ownership, and economic development.

According to research by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), less than 15 per cent of agricultural landholders worldwide are women, and 85 per cent are men. The most significant gender inequalities in access to land are found in North Africa and the Near East, where only around 5 per cent of all landholders are women.

Organised by the Eastern and Southern Africa Small-Scale Farmers Forum in Uganda (ESSAFF Uganda) and partners, the conference, attended by more than 40 small-scale women farmers and officials from various ministries, highlighted the critical role of women small-scale farmers in Uganda’s agriculture.

“Statistics show that women contribute the majority of agricultural labour in Uganda. Yet their contributions often remain undervalued and unsupported. Despite their central role, women continue to face systematic barriers to land ownership and control. Insecure land tenure undermines their productivity, limits their access to credit, and erodes their dignity.” Said Ms Christine Okumu, a representative from the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development

She adds that, “Without secure land rights, women cannot fully invest in sustainable farming practice. Nor can they pass assets to their children. This is a fact based on all the testimonies given before us here. Unless women have that right to land, they cannot fully invest in sustainable farming practice.”

It is estimated that if women small-scale farmers had the same resources as men, their yields could increase by 20–30%, significantly boosting food security.

“Closing this gender gap could add nearly $1 trillion to global GDP and lift 45 million people from hunger. Investing in women isn’t just about fairness – it’s key to Africa’s economic and agricultural future.” According to research by FAO.

Women’s land insecurity not only affects food sovereignty but also escalates gender-based violence, exposing women to rights violations and increased vulnerability.

“Insecure land tenure exposes women to heightened risk of gender-based violence. Dispossession, forced eviction, and land grabbing often come hand in hand with intimidation, harassment, and abuse. Such acts appear on social media platforms, accompanied by hurtful messages and embarrassing pictures. I’ve seen pictures of women being chased out of their homes. And I’ve seen also pictures of women who have invested in lands, and at the end of it all, because behind them, somebody took the land from them.” Added Ms Okumu.

Unlike other years, when the conference focused on topics like women in business and leadership, this year the focus has shifted to empowering women to own land, offering a hopeful path toward stronger agricultural independence.

“We are focusing on land so that we can support as many women as possible. And also, we would want to work together with the government, which has already rolled out a program of registration of land, and we think that this is something that women can take advantage of, so that they secure their land rights, and grow healthy food, and then also increase their income.” Says Ms Nancy Mugimba, the National Coordinator for ESSAFF Uganda.

She adds, “If you don’t have your own land, your ability to grow crops, generate income, and access financial services is limited. Securing land rights enables women to produce healthy food and invest in their communities.”

Ms Christine Okumu calls for the engagement of men and cultural and religious institutions in the fight for Women’s land rights, emphasizing that collective effort can lead to meaningful progress and social cohesion.

“The Ministry has also developed a strategy for male involvement. You know, this fight, we cannot do it alone. If we can get allies, it can help us. If we get a few men who can advocate for some of these issues and open the minds of other men to see that whatever they are doing is affecting their wives in a very negative way,” she said.

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Ahead of COP17, development banks must confront mining’s role in accelerating desertification

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12 hours ago

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August 24, 2026

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Environmental defenders warn ahead of UNCCD’s COP17 in Mongolia that development banks are financing critical mineral projects that accelerate desertification, water depletion and deforestation while claiming to support a just energy transition.

When governments gather in Ulaanbaatar from 17 to 28 August for the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), they will pledge to restore degraded land and strengthen resilience to drought. Yet many of these same governments, as shareholders of public development banks, continue to finance large-scale mining projects that degrade fragile ecosystems, deplete scarce water resources, and accelerate desertification.

That contradiction is already evident in the run-up to the summit. In a communiqué ahead of COP17, Mongolia’s foreign minister highlighted the country’s ambition to combat desertification through artificial intelligence data centres powered by renewable energy. But while presented as part of a green future, data centres and the infrastructure that supports them are driving demand for critical minerals such as copper, lithium and rare earth elements. Their expansion risks intensifying the very mining impacts that contribute to land degradation and water scarcity in arid regions.

The production of one metric ton of lithium, for instance, requires between 1 and 2 million liters of water to produce. Gold and copper mining operations use chemicals for exploration and extraction, which need further water to be diluted; and this water, once contaminated, is then discharged back into the natural world. Over the years, the mining sector has developed standards to address or mitigate these impacts. Way too often, however, companies fail to comply with such benchmarks.

Mongolia, this year’s COP17 host, illustrates this tension well. Nearly 80 per cent of the country’s land is already degraded or affected by desertification, according to the government. Yet,  development banks are expanding support for critical mineral mining in the country, while failing to ensure compliance with social and environmental safeguards.

For more than a decade, pastoralist communities and environmental defenders in Mongolia have warned that Rio Tinto’s Oyu Tolgoi copper mine is heavily affecting South Gobi’s scarce water resources. Herders report that their land and wells have become increasingly dry since the mine began operating. Yet, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) invested a combined US$350 million in the project in 2024.

 

Oyu Tolgoi mine with caption

Development banks are financing desertification

Historically, public development banks have been cautious about investing directly in large-scale mining projects, due to the high social and environmental risks involved. In recent years, however, they have been heavily investing in this sector.

In November 2025, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), after avoiding mining investments for four decades, approved a controversial new Energy Policy that opens the door to financing critical mineral extraction. One of its flagship projects is the Reko Diq mine in Balochistan, Pakistan, which several development banks are funding. The mine, which sits in a highly militarised and conflict-affected region, threatens an already hyper-arid desert ecosystem with further land degradation and desertification.

In May 2026, also the World Bank Group unveiled a new strategy for metals and minerals, pledging to “quintuple support to the sector in the next five years”. Argentina is one of the target countries for this new strategy: since 2024, the World Bank has already committed nearly USD 2 billion in loans and an additional USD 1.9 billion in guarantees to support projects involving reforms and deregulation of the energy and mining sectors, as well as investments in logistical and strategic infrastructure for those sectors. These investments feed into the Incentive Scheme for Major Investments (RIGI), a government program granting extensive fiscal, legal and export benefits to large-scale extractive projects.

The World Bank and IDB Invest also funded the controversial Sal de Vida lithium mine, in a salt flat in the Catamarca province affected by seven other lithium mines. Water, already scarce in this arid territory, is disappearing quickly. As a result of mining activities, the Trapiche River has completely dried up and for local herders finding water and food for their llamas, goats or sheep is becoming a daily challenge.

Protest against lithium mining by indigenous communities in Salinas Grandes, Jujuy, Argentina. Credit Tomas Saraceno

In Zambia’s Copperbelt, approximately 5,000 people across eight communities surrounding the Nchanga and Konkola copper mines have endured decades of water and soil pollution. These impacts are rarely described as desertification, yet the loss of fertile soil, vegetation, water and agricultural livelihoods feeds directly into the wider degradation of productive land.

Zambia’s own commitments under the UNCCD set a target to rehabilitate all land degraded by mining and quarrying by 2030, in part to mitigate current desertification trends. Nevertheless, the World Bank’s US$65.6 million Zambia Mining and Environmental Remediation and Improvement Project, which explicitly targeted polluted mining areas in Chingola, brought no direct remediation to these eight communities.

 

Mining-affected communities call for stronger safeguards

From Mongolia to Pakistan, to Zambia and Argentina, local communities and civil society groups are sounding the alarm around the irreversible harms of this new wave of extractivist projects undertaken in the name of the “just” energy transition.

According to the UN, “up to 40% of the world’s land is degraded, affecting more than 3 billion people worldwide and with dire consequences for our climate, wildlife and livelihoods.” Drought, land degradation and desertification are already costing the global community an estimated US$ 878 billion every year. Yet, the concerns of mining-affected communities and environmental activists are either being ignored or used as a pretext to stigmatise them as “anti-development”, criminalise them and attack them.

The UNCCD promises, “we have the power to bring land back to life”. But to do so, governments and public development banks need to go beyond slogans and explicitly recognise the impacts that productive sectors like large-scale mining have on land degradation, water resources and the ecological integrity of ecosystems.

Ana Pandigracio, Biodiversity Director at Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (FARN), a former elected member of the UNCCD CSO Panel for Latin America and the Caribbean (2022–2024) and former elected IUCN Councillor (2021–2025), recommends that, to mitigate these impacts, they commit to not supporting further mining expansion in arid zones and require existing projects to comply with robust environmental safeguards and the highest applicable standards, including those set out by the  International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

As a group of CSOs recommended during a previous UNCCD conference, governments and development banks should also support community-led initiatives, particularly those led by women, youth, pastoralists and Indigenous Peoples, and integrate their knowledge into drought management strategies.

Economic development should not come at the cost of greater land degradation, worsening water scarcity or mounting social and environmental harms for current and future generations. Instead, public development banks need to invest in community-led solutions that protect, restore and sustainably manage ecosystems while respecting the rights of the communities that depend on them.

Source: rightsindevelopment.org

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Smallholder farmers and civil society organizations have launched a dynamic media campaign for the inaugural Eastern Africa Indigenous Seed Conference, inviting more smallholder farmers to join the agroecology movement.

Published

14 hours ago

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August 24, 2026

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By the Witness Radio team

NAIROBI, Kenya: Seed sovereignty champions, farmers, researchers, and civil society groups from across East Africa have united to launch a media campaign for the first Eastern Africa Indigenous Seed Conference. Their call is urgent: recognize and protect farmer-managed seed systems as seed regulations, commercialization, and the loss of indigenous diversity threaten the region. The campaign aims to rally smallholder farmers for the conference, highlighting how indigenous seeds and ancestral wisdom can revive biodiversity, combat climate change, and secure food sovereignty.

Set for 17 to 20 November 2026 at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa in Nairobi, the four-day conference will gather farmers, pastoralists, researchers, policymakers, seed guardians, civil society, and development partners to shape the future of indigenous seeds and food systems in the region.

The conference will be held under the theme “Realizing the Right to Food through Seed Sovereignty.”

This launch comes as farmers and seed sovereignty advocates question whether East Africa’s seed laws and regulations truly honor the farmer-managed systems that for generations have allowed communities to select, conserve, exchange, and replant their own seeds.

Activists warn that the growing focus on certified and commercial seed systems threatens traditional knowledge, reduces local seed diversity, and undermines farmers’ freedom to save, exchange, and reproduce varieties adapted to their land.

Daniel Wanjama, Executive Director of Seed Savers Network, said farmer-managed seed systems remain central to food production across the region, arguing that commercial seed systems cannot provide the seed diversity farmers need in different environments.

Wanjama added that about 80 percent of the seeds farmers use in the region come from farmer-managed seed systems, underscoring the importance of supporting farmers in conserving and developing their own varieties.

“There is no commercial seed system that can provide the seeds that farmers need because diversity is part of a resilient mechanism,” he said.

He emphasized that preserving a wide variety of locally adapted seed varieties is crucial as farmers face mounting challenges from climate change.

Wanjama also pointed out a troubling disconnect between current seed policies and the realities faced by smallholder farmers across face across “The policies across the region are not aligned, and just to give you an example, recently last year in Kenya, the high court found the act that is governing the seed sector in Kenya was unconstitutional because it is limiting the farmers’ rights in being able to access seeds,” he said.

He argued that some African seed laws borrow regulatory models from highly commercialized agricultural systems abroad, making them ill-suited for local contexts.

“The laws are cut and paste from the global north where farming is largely commercial and large-scale; they don’t fit our circumstances. That’s why we need to come together and discuss what we can do about it,” he added.

Amid the seed sovereignty debate, African farmers and civil society organizations are championing Farmer-Managed Seed Systems, building community seed banks, and pushing for greater recognition of farmers as stewards of seed conservation and exchange.

In Uganda, farmers and civil society groups are increasingly turning to community-driven seed conservation, offering a grassroots alternative or complement to formal seed supply systems.

Nancy Mugimba, National Coordinator of the Eastern and Southern Africa Smallholder Farmers Forum (ESAFF) Uganda, said farmers sometimes face planting delays because existing support systems provide inadequate access to seed.

She said some of the seeds provided to farmers are also not necessarily suited to the conditions of particular communities.

Mugimba noted that efforts are now focused on strengthening community seed banks, empowering farmers to cultivate and safeguard the varieties they know and trust.

“We have introduced seed banking in communities, which is not new because farmers were already doing it at home. We have just increased capacity to ensure it works effectively,” she said.

She observed that farmers are more motivated to protect indigenous varieties when they see their vital role in sustaining food supplies and ensuring seed access within their communities.

Panelists urged governments to boost support for farmer-managed seed systems, advocating for multiplying indigenous varieties beyond research and breeding. They stressed that empowering community seed banks and local seed multiplication would expand access to diverse, locally adapted varieties.

The discussions also showcased the diverse strategies emerging across East Africa to revitalize and improve seed systems.

In Tanzania, the seed sector is undergoing reforms to expand access to and use of improved seed while strengthening seed production, quality assurance, and commercial distribution. The Tanzania Seed Sector Development Strategy (TSSDS), approved in May 2026 and covering up to 2030, aims to double the area under improved seed from about 3 million to 6 million hectares and expand the agro-dealer network from around 3,000 to 12,000 to improve farmers’ access to quality seed.

Daud Manongi, Program Lead for the Biodiversity Conservation Program at Tanzanian organization TABIO, said farmers still face restrictions on selling seed within the country’s formal regulatory framework.

“Our farmers are currently not allowed to sell their seeds within the developed framework, but so far we have approved seeds,” Manongi said.

He said the Tanzanian government has approved 13 local varieties for wider production and use. At the same time, discussions are ongoing with the Tanzania Seed Certification Agency (TASC) on how to make registration and market processes more accessible to smallholder farmers.

Manongi noted that farmers and organizations championing local varieties still face hurdles like taxation and limited dialogue with policymakers.

“There is inconsistent engagement with policymakers, and sometimes it is difficult for them to cooperate with farmers on accessing locally adapted varieties because of tax issues,” he said.

He also said agricultural extension services often prioritize commercial seed production, leaving farmers with little support for indigenous varieties.

According to Manongi, farmers urgently need access to knowledge about indigenous seed production and conservation to boost the availability of locally adapted varieties.

Activists insist that farmers’ power to conserve, exchange, and reproduce seeds is deeply tied to food security, biodiversity, cultural heritage, and the resilience of communities facing climate change.

The inaugural Eastern Africa Indigenous Seed Conference, organized by Seed Savers Network with partners like Witness Radio, promises to be a vital regional platform for these urgent issues.

This November, the conference will spotlight the defense of farmer-managed seed systems against corporate and legal pressures, while also strengthening climate resilience, safeguarding biodiversity, and weaving stronger regional networks among farmers, researchers, policymakers, and civil society.

The event comes as climate change, biodiversity loss, commercial agriculture, and shifting policies intensify strain on traditional farming systems across the region.

For smallholder farmers, seed sovereignty is about more than where seeds come from. Advocates say it is a question of who holds the power over food production, and whether farmers will retain the freedom and ability to save, share, and reproduce the seeds that sustain their communities.

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MEDIA FOR CHANGE NETWORK

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.

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14 hours ago

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August 24, 2026

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By the Witness Radio team

Civil society organizations across East Africa have increased their opposition to the proposed East African Community (EAC) Seeds and Plant Varieties Bill, 2025, warning that some provisions threaten to erode farmer-managed seed systems and give commercial seed interests greater power.

Earlier last week, the organizations met online to plan their advocacy ahead of the public hearings on August 27 and 28.

The EAC Seeds and Plant Varieties Bill, 2025, was introduced before the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) in June 2025. The legislation seeks to establish a harmonized regional framework for seed certification, registration, evaluation, and plant variety protection across EAC partner states.

Civil society groups and smallholder farmer advocates warn that the Bill could restrict the use, exchange, and sharing of farmer-managed seeds while tightening intellectual property rules in favor of commercial plant breeders.

During the webinar, champions of agroecology, food sovereignty, and farmers’ rights discussed how to shape the legislative process and present alternative proposals at the upcoming hearings.

Doreen Akware from the Center for Food and Adequate Living Rights (CEFROHT) told participants that the public hearings are scheduled for August 27 and 28, with stakeholders expected to present their views on the proposed legislation.

Akware said the relevant committee will compile the hearings’ views into a report before the Bill moves to the next stages of consideration.

The EAC Seed and Plant Varieties Bill, 2025 has passed several legislative stages, including publication and introduction in the East African Legislative Assembly. It is now before the relevant EALA committee and will go to public hearings before the Assembly considers it further.

If enacted, the legislation would establish a regional framework governing the evaluation, release, registration and certification of plant varieties and seeds across EAC partner states.

Participants noted the proposed legislation arrives as governments across the region urge farmers to adopt more sustainable, locally rooted agricultural practices.

Dr David Kabanda, Executive Director of CEFROHT, said communities in Uganda are already experiencing what he described as “seed poverty”, where farmers increasingly depend on commercial seed suppliers instead of saving and reusing seed from previous harvests.

Kabanda acknowledged some government programs distributing improved seeds are well-meaning but cautioned that growing reliance on commercial seed risks undermining the tradition of seed-saving.

“If we are coming up at the East African level to promote the intellectual property of seed breeders and also only highlighting or certifying seeds which they only understand in the context of a framework of only plant breeders without farmers’ rights and community seed systems on board, then we are destined to a very precarious time ahead of us,” Kabanda warned.

He insisted that true sustainability in agriculture and food systems is impossible if communities are excluded from decisions about the seeds and resources they rely on.

Kabanda also voiced worries about how the proposed regional law could impact national sovereignty, farmers’ rights, and the future of community-managed food systems.

Simon Degelo, senior adviser on seed systems at SWISSAID, raised concerns about provisions that could criminalize or restrict the sale and exchange of farmer-managed seeds lacking formal certification.

Degelo argued that requiring farmers to certify seeds before exchange or sale could put farmer-managed seed systems at a disadvantage against commercial seed companies.

He also questioned the Bill’s vague approach to plant variety protection and intellectual property rights, noting key provisions are postponed for future decisions instead of being detailed now.

“At least the essential provisions should be part of the law. We don’t even know what would be coming in the plant variety protection because the provisions are not in the law,” he said.

Degelo also warned the new regional framework might clash with existing national laws in EAC countries, especially where seed legislation is already involved in legal or constitutional disputes.

Over 60 participants from East Africa and beyond joined the webinar, pooling ideas and strategies to make their voices heard at the upcoming public hearings.

The organizations are rallying farmers’ groups, civil society, researchers, and other stakeholders to participate in the hearings and engage with EALA members.

Their main concern is to ensure that any regional seed law upholds farmers’ rights, safeguards community seed systems, and does not tip the scales in favor of commercial seed companies and plant breeders.

The organizations plan to use the public hearings to challenge restrictive provisions and demand greater recognition for farmer-managed seed systems.

This debate unfolds as East African nations work to harmonize agricultural policies and boost regional trade. Civil society groups insist that harmonization must not sacrifice farmers’ centuries-old ability to save, share, and nurture locally adapted seeds.

The proposed legislation now faces a pivotal test in the weeks ahead, as stakeholders ready their submissions to EALA and press for a seed governance framework that strikes a fair balance between commercial interests, farmers’ rights, biodiversity, and food sovereignty.

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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. Smallholder farmers and civil society organizations have launched a dynamic media campaign for the inaugural Eastern Africa Indigenous Seed Conference, inviting more smallholder farmers to join the agroecology movement. Happening shortly! Kenya’s upcoming court ruling on the Seed Law could have a significant impact on farmers’ rights, food sovereignty, and the country’s food system.
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