AFSA launches two landmark policy briefs ahead of Africa Food Systems Forum 2025
KAMPALA, August 28, 2025— The Kampala-based Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa [AFSA] has released a new policy brief calling on African leaders to urgently recognise and support Farmer Managed Seed Systems [FMSS] as a cornerstone of climate resilience, food sovereignty, and sustainable food systems across the continent.
The brief will be officially launched at the Africa Food Systems Forum, hosted in Senegal from August 31-September 5, 2025, where high-level African ministers and policymakers are convening to shape the future of food and agriculture on the continent.
Today, over 80 to 95 percent of seeds planted by smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa come from these farmer-led systems, which embody ancestral agroecological knowledge, preserve biodiversity, and ensure resilience in the face of climate shocks. Women and youth are the backbone of FMSS, women safeguard up to 90 percent of traditional seed knowledge, yet these systems remain marginalized by restrictive seed laws, corporate pressures, and policies favoring industrial seeds.
AFSA warns that neglecting FMSS risks further biodiversity loss, weakened climate adaptation, and deepened food insecurity. By contrast, recognizing and investing in FMSS offers a “Made-in-Africa” solution to today’s food crisis—one that reduces dependence on costly seed imports, creates green jobs for youth, empowers women, and secures nutritious food for millions.
Key recommendations
The policy brief urges African governments to: Legally recognise FMSS in national seed laws, ensuring farmers’ rights to freely save, use, exchange, and sell seeds; invest in infrastructure and financing, including community seed banks, participatory breeding, and farmer training; integrate FMSS into education and research, supporting co-creation of knowledge between farmers, scientists, and institutions; and promote inclusion and equity, strengthening the role of women and youth as leaders and innovators in seed systems.
AFSA emphasises that FMSS are not relics of the past but living pillars of Africa’s food future. They represent a strategic imperative to secure food systems, protect Africa’s genetic heritage, and reduce external dependence.
As the brief concludes, “The seed does not refuse to grow—let us give it the political soil it deserves.”
A need for continental shift from synthetic fertilisers to biofertilisers and biostimulants
The brief will also be officially launched at the Africa Food Systems Forum [formerly AGRA Forum], hosted in Senegal from August 31- September 5, 2025.
AFSA notes Africa’s dependence on imported synthetic fertilisers is a triple threat, undermining economic stability, degrading soils, and draining foreign exchange. Prices of fertilisers have spiked by up to 300 percent since 2021, while more than 75 percent of Africa’s soils are already degraded. By contrast, biofertilisers and biostimulants restore soil life, enhance resilience to drought, reduce chemical dependency, and create local jobs through youth- and women-led enterprises. They offer a regenerative, low-cost, and homegrown alternative to synthetic fertilisers.
Key recommendations
The policy brief calls on African governments to: Announce national biofertiliser transition plans — replacing 50 percent of synthetic fertiliser use by 2030; redirect subsidies such as Senegal’s CFA 40 billion budget toward local B&B production and soil health packages; develop local infrastructure for composting, microbial inoculant production, quality testing, and community training; harmonise standards through AfCFTA and regional frameworks, enabling trade and mutual recognition of bio-inputs; and engage SMEs, women, and youth as leaders in production, distribution, and innovation
AFSA stresses that this transition is not only about replacing inputs but about leading a systemic shift towards agroecological soil health. With Senegal well-placed to lead as host of the Forum, biofertilisers and biostimulants represent a “Made-in-Africa solution” to the fertiliser crisis, capable of restoring soils, creating green jobs, and reducing the continent’s external dependence.
https://thecooperator.news/afsa-launches-new-podcast-the-battle-for-african-agriculture/
Buy your copy of thecooperator magazine from one of our country-wide vending points or an e-copy on emag.thecooperator.news
