What is Biowatch South Africa's Seed and Knowledge Initiative (SKI)?

SKI is one of the named work areas on Biowatch South Africa's website, listed in the main navigation alongside "Advocacy and research" and "Promoting agroecology." The site identifies it as the "Seed and Knowledge Initiative (SKI)" but the homepage excerpt does not describe its activities, partners, or outputs in detail. To understand what SKI actually does, you need to go to its own section of the site or to Biowatch's publications and news pages.

Where SKI sits in Biowatch's structure

Biowatch describes its overall mission as challenging the industrialised food system to ensure biodiversity, food sovereignty and social justice. Its work is grouped into:

• Advocacy and research – grounded in the direct experience of the communities it works with, supporting smallholder farmers who build evidence for agroecology.
• Promoting agroecology – practical support and promotion of agroecological farming.
• Seed and Knowledge Initiative (SKI) – a distinct programme area, listed as its own menu item.

The placement of SKI as a separate top-level item, rather than a sub-page under advocacy or agroecology, indicates it is treated as a core programme rather than a one-off project. The name itself signals two linked concerns: seed (planting material, varieties, seed systems) and knowledge (farming knowledge, learning, exchange).

What the name implies, and what it doesn't tell you

"Seed and Knowledge" points to the intersection Biowatch works in: who controls seeds and who holds farming knowledge. For agroecology organisations, seed is often about farmer-managed seed systems, local varieties and biodiversity, while knowledge is about farmer-to-farmer learning and validating practice-based expertise.

However, the homepage evidence does not confirm the specific activities, regions, or partners of SKI. Treat the name as a pointer, not a full description. Anything more specific — whether SKI runs seed exchanges, training, research, or all three — should be checked on the SKI page itself.

How SKI relates to Biowatch's wider work

SKI is best understood as one entry point into the same agenda the rest of the site describes:

All three sit under the same stated goal: biodiversity, food sovereignty and social justice against the industrialised food system. If you are researching Biowatch, SKI is likely where seed-system and farmer-knowledge questions are handled, while the other two areas cover policy/research and general agroecology promotion.

Where to find more detail

The homepage points to several places where SKI-related material may appear:

• Publications & Documents – described as a wide range of resources, with specific titles listed on the site.
• News & Updates – recent items include a June 2026 webinar on agroecology in South Africa's National School Nutrition Programme, a May 2026 mapping of agroecology initiatives in South Africa (conducted with the Agroecology Action Collective), and a March 2026 research paper on smallholder farmers, school food gardens and the NSNP.
• Good Food Podcast – listed in the navigation.
• Subscribe – the site offers a news and updates subscription, framed as "Join the transition to agroecology!"

None of these homepage items explicitly names SKI, so the most direct route is the SKI menu item itself, followed by the Publications & Documents section if you want documents rather than web pages.

Practical next step

If your question is "what does SKI do?", open the SKI page from the main navigation first. If it is thin, check Publications & Documents and the News archive for items tagged or titled around seed and knowledge. If you need to track new SKI output, the site's subscribe option is the stated way to receive news and updates.