An African civil society group has expressed concerns about the recent acquisitions of African seed companies by multinational biotech giants, warning against a “neo-colonial occupation of Africa’s seed systems”. The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) said in a 7 October press release that large parts of SeedCo, one of Africa’s largest home-grown seed companies, have been acquired by foreign companies. According to the statement, SeedCo has agreed to sell 49% of its shares in Africa’s only cottonseed company, Quton, to Mahyco, an Indian company. Mahyco is 26% owned by Monsanto and has a 50-50 joint venture to sub-license Monsanto’s genetically modified (GM) bt cotton traits in India, AFSA said. Another deal involves the French seed giant Groupe Limagrain, which has invested up to US$60 million for a 28% stake in SeedCo. These acquisitions follow on Syngenta’s take-over in 2013 of Zambian seed company MRI Seed, whose maize germplasm collection was considered to be amongst Africa’s most comprehensive and diverse. “Attracting foreign investment from the world’s largest seed companies (...) is an inevitable consequence of the fierce drive to commercialise agriculture in Africa”, AFSA warns. Taken together, three of the world’s largest biotech giants, Monsanto, DuPont and Syngenta, now have a significant foothold on the continent in markets for two of the three major global GM crop varieties: maize and cotton.