The seed industry in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) region is among the best performing agricultural sub-sectors in some member states comprising 21 countries.
An extract from a report titled “A Regional Perspective on the Development of the Seed Industry in the COMESA Region” by the Indaba Agricultural Policy Research Institute.
This is partly because the sector is liberalized and allows for private sector-led growth while governments provide an enabling policy environment in seed marketing and trade. While the sector has some notable constraints, generally the private sector is doing well in both local and regional seed trade.
On the other hand, other sectors like the grain sub-sector have remained underdeveloped due to excessive government interventions. A good example of a sub-sector that has not been performing well due to government interference and other political economy issues is the maize grain subsector. While policy makers often argue that governments need to intervene in the grain sub-sector to help secure food security, the development of the seed sector – with limited government interventions – in the COMESA region provides some important lessons. This study was based on the top three African countries that lead in seed trade, namely Kenya, Uganda and Zambia.
The main aim of this study was to draw ‘best-practice’ lessons for the development of other sectors of agriculture from the development of the seed sector in the COMESA region by understanding its key successes, constraints and opportunities.
The study applied both quantitative and qualitative approaches. It used baseline seed trade data collected by the COMESA secretariat in Kenya, Uganda and Zambia over a period of four months (June to September, 2017). Standardized research tools and indicators were used and this made it possible to make comparisons across the three study countries. In addition to seed trade, the study also assessed the level of private sector involvement as well as governments’ role in regional seed trade.
Key Findings
The study revealed several successes, challenges and opportunities within the seed sector. The first example of the recorded successes is the vibrant private sector involvement. This is revealed through an ever-increasing number of players in the seed sector. These include domestic, regional and multi-national seed companies in all the three study countries (Zambia, Kenya and Uganda). The second example is the release of crop varieties on the market. On average, Kenya releases 20 varieties of maize seed every year while in Zambia private sector participation in the seed industry has been increasing providing the bulk (81%) of the total number of maize varieties released. In turn, there is an increasing trend in the use of certified seeds among farmers.
Another notable success has been the development of national seed policies in each of the study countries. These national seed policies provide for an enabling environment for the private sector to remain actively involved in the seed industry. The policies allow for a competitive, profitable and sustainable seed sub-sector and in turn enable farmers to access quality seed at affordable prices. Because of this enabling environment that promotes a private sector-led seed system, the seed sector in each of the study countries to show promise of growth. This is demonstrated by the increasing aggregate volume of seed sales in the study countries.
Zambia’s exports trade values increased from US$30 to 40 million between 2015 and 2018. In Uganda seed exports trade value for hybrid maize (excluding re-exports) increased by 260% from about US$25 to US$90 million within a period of four years (2014 to 2018).
Despite the successes of the seed industry, there are some challenges that the sector is still facing. These include continued use of recycled or local seed; fake seed (counterfeit seed) on the market; low adoption of improved varieties; inadequate number of breeders as well as lack of operational and production financing to both seed producers and farmers. Other challenges include poor rural infrastructure; dependence on rain-fed agriculture, prevalence of pests and diseases, controlled seed market and a long process of releasing a variety as well as government interference in maize marketing. Import and export restrictions through heavy taxation is another problem that hinders the development of the seed industry. If these bottlenecks remain unchecked, they could potentially negatively affect crop productivity.
Opportunities and role of private sector and government The major role for the governments in the growth of the seed industry has been to create and maintain enabling environments that accelerate the development of a competitive formal seed sector for the benefit of farmers and increased food and nutrition security. Another key contributing factor to improved trade volumes is improvements in import and export procedures facilitated by the harmonization process of regional seed regulations in the COMESA region through the COMESA Seed Harmonization Implementation Plan (COMSHIP).
Recommendations
Learning from the successes of the seed sector, a key recommendation for other sectors is that governments should support private sector institutions, research and development (R&D) and industry competitiveness through policy formulation and enforcement of regulations that promote private sector-led growth. There should be less political interference for the sectors to thrive. Another recommendation is that governments’ main role should be to create and maintain an enabling environment that accelerates the development of a competitive formal seed sector. This in turn can be of great benefit to smallholder farmers in terms of accessing high quality seed at affordable prices. This is a clear indication that with an enabling environment that encourages competition among players, any other sector including that of maize grain trade can flourish under such an environment.
From the challenges it can be seen that the seed sector is not perfect as well. There is a need to further improve performance of the seed sector by finding innovative ways of addressing the challenges in the seed industry. In the case of counterfeit seed sold on the market, one of the options is to tighten seed quality inspections and these should cover the entire supply chain to help remove farmers’ doubts on improved seed and ensure standard quality is adhered to.
Full report is available from IAPRI.
Source: IAPRI
