Tanzania farmers warn EAC seed law could threaten indigenous seeds and farmers’ rights

Dar es Salaam. Farmer and civil society groups have urged the East African Community (EAC) to strengthen safeguards for smallholder farmers in a proposed regional seed law, warning that efforts to harmonise the seed market could undermine indigenous varieties and traditional systems of saving and exchanging seed.

The concerns emerged during regional consultations on the proposed EAC Seed and Plant Varieties Bill, 2025, which seeks to establish a common framework for the evaluation, registration, certification, marketing and protection of plant varieties.

The East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) Committee on Agriculture, Tourism and Natural Resources held public hearings across the eight EAC Partner States from August 26 to 28, 2026, bringing together farmers' organisations, civil society groups, seed producers, plant breeders, researchers and other stakeholders.

The Bill aims to harmonise national seed regulatory systems, facilitate cross-border trade and improve access to quality and climate-resilient seed.

But farmer organisations say the proposed framework must not marginalise Farmer Managed Seed Systems (FMSS), through which communities save, select, conserve, exchange and sometimes trade seed adapted to local conditions.

The African Resilience & Development Agency (AFRDA), which took part in the consultations, said the legislation should formally recognise and protect farmer-managed seed systems, indigenous seed and community seed banks.

It called for explicit protection of farmers' rights to save, use, exchange and improve seed, alongside safeguards governing access to genetic resources, traditional knowledge and benefit-sharing.

Programme Manager for Campaign, Advocacy and Lobbying at the Eastern and Southern Africa Small Scale Farmers Forum (ESAFF), Ms Irene Liborious, said smallholder farmers should not be treated merely as consumers of commercial seed.

 “Farmers must be recognised as custodians and developers of seed, not simply as consumers of commercially produced varieties. Harmonisation should strengthen regional seed systems without taking away farmers’ rights to save, use, exchange and develop their own seed,” she said.

Ms Liborious said recognising farmer-managed seed systems in the legislation would help protect indigenous and farmer varieties while strengthening biodiversity, food security and resilience to climate change.

A smallholder farmer from Morogoro and member of Mtandao wa Vikundi vya Wakulima Tanzania (MVIWATA), Mr Apollo Chamwela, said many communities depended on locally adapted seed because it was affordable, resilient and had been passed down through generations.

 “Our seed is our heritage and our insurance against climate shocks and geopolitics. If regional laws make it difficult for farmers to save and exchange their own seed, they will weaken the systems that have sustained our communities for decades and undermine our food sovereignty,” he said.

Mr Chamwela urged Eala to protect both formal and farmer-managed seed systems rather than treating them as competing models.

One of the main concerns raised during the consultations is that a regulatory system designed largely around commercial varieties could exclude locally developed seed that does not meet formal registration or certification requirements.

Farmer groups have specifically questioned the application of distinctness, uniformity and stability (DUS) testing to farmer varieties.

Although DUS standards are widely used to assess formally bred commercial varieties, stakeholders argue that locally developed varieties may not fit neatly into requirements designed for the formal seed sector.

They are calling for alternative evaluation and registration pathways that recognise the diversity and characteristics of farmer-managed varieties.

AFRDA has also called for stronger recognition of community seed banks and registration procedures suited to diverse, locally adapted seed. Stakeholders further want the Bill to strengthen protection for traditional knowledge and genetic resources, arguing that communities which have conserved and improved seed varieties over generations should have a meaningful role in decisions affecting those resources.

They are seeking stronger provisions on access and benefit-sharing, including prior informed consent where community-developed genetic resources and traditional knowledge are involved.

The proposed protection of plant breeders' rights has also emerged as a key issue.

While stakeholders acknowledge the need to encourage research and investment in developing new varieties, farmer organisations say breeders' rights must be balanced against farmers' rights and communities' contribution to conserving agricultural biodiversity.

Eala members have also acknowledged the need to strike that balance.

During a sensitisation meeting on the Bill in July 2026, members of the Eala Committee on Agriculture, Tourism and Natural Resources called for clearer provisions protecting indigenous seeds and traditional varieties alongside farmers' and plant breeders' rights.

The committee also recommended wider public consultations and clear implementation guidelines before the legislation is finalised.

The debate comes as EAC Partner States seek deeper regional integration to strengthen agricultural trade and food security.

The EAC says harmonised seed regulations could ease access to quality seed, reduce duplication in testing and certification and allow approved varieties to move more freely across Partner States.