The collaboration of several CGIAR centers on varied crops is a fresh approach to tackling seed supply issues in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. It recognizes the multiple-interest, multi-disciplinary and multi-level nature of seed issues, and brings smallholder farmers to the foreground.

Quality seed of the right variety is a treasure to a farmer, and perhaps nowhere is this more deeply felt than in southern Africa. Farmers typically have only 1-2 hectares of land, often of poor quality, and their food security and livelihoods depend on complex, multicrop systems. But small-scale farmers in southern Africa have trouble obtaining good seed of the diverse crops they grow. They must travel long distances to trading areas where seed is sold. Most farmers also have little cash to purchase seed or lack information about the types of seed available.

"Many farmers have no choice but to use grain from their harvest as 'seed' the following crop season, or to sow grain they get by trading with neighbors,” says Marianne Bänziger, director of CIMMYT's African Livelihoods Program. “They end up with crops of variable quality and quantity, adding to their vulnerability and food-insecurity." Given the importance of good seed for successful farming and the magnitude of the challenges of getting seed to small-scale farmers, Bänziger and CIMMYT seed specialist Peter Setimela have been working for several years with an increasing number of partners in southern Africa towards more sustainable seed systems. Most recently, they have linked with other centers of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), several of which bring considerable knowledge and experience to bear on these issues.

Missing Sustainable Markets

For years non-government organizations (NGOs) in southern Africa have been loaning farmers seed, through revolving "seed bank" arrangements in which farmers repay with an equal amount of seed or an equivalent value in grain. Moreover, to make quality seed more widely available at affordable prices, some organizations have promoted the production of seed by interested farmers, who have a chance to augment their household incomes by marketing the seed. These community-based schemes have encountered various hurdles, however. Producing good seed is a complex, knowledge-intensive enterprise that varies by crop, and NGO expertise in seed production does not generally cover the entire gamut of crops grown. Furthermore, the NGOs cannot easily obtain "foundation" seed—seed of guaranteed type and quality that farmer-seed producers grow out under controlled conditions on their plots to generate quality seed for distribution or sale to peers. Finally, and perhaps most significantly, market channels are poorly developed, so the marketing of seed beyond the immediate community depends on outside intervention, such as NGOs or donor and government projects. When projects end or NGOs "hand over" operations to begin work in another community, farmer-seed producers often lose their access to markets and, thus, their incentive for producing seed.

Partnering for Seed and Food Security

Maize is by far the region's key food crop. Each person consumes on average nearly 100 kilograms of maize a year. But household food security and health are rounded out by growing many other food crops, including sorghum, pearl millet, sweet potatoes, cassava, groundnuts, green vegetables, beans, and pigeonpea. "CIMMYT has considerable expertise in maize seed production," says Setimela, "but we are partnering with other organizations to simultaneously address seed-related issues for the full range of smallholder crops. We also highly appreciate and are strengthening our many interactions with the private seed sector, NGOs, and government and donor projects." Among the partners are:

• National agricultural research programs in 10 southern Africa countries.
• The SADC Seed Security Network.

• The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).

• The Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT).

• The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA).

• The Southern Africa Root Crops Research Network (SARRNET).

The training needs of NGOs on sustainable seed systems were identified at a stakeholder workshop on the production of seed of open-pollinated varieties (OPVs) of maize, organized by CIMMYT with USAID funding in May 2003. Soon thereafter, CIMMYT began involving the partners above in jointly organized training workshops for NGOs, community-based organizations, extension workers, and farmer group representatives. Among other things, the events provided practical training on seed production for specific crops, including the right way to prepare cuttings for propagation of tuber crops, and the business skills required for small-scale seed producers. Important lessons were learned here, some expected, others surprising:

• Many NGO and extension staff did not know the difference between seed and grain.

• The lack of foundation seed was an important constraint for community-bases seed production schemes.

• The very vulnerable farmers are a poor choice for seed growers—they tend to cook or mill foundation seed instead of planting it.

• Traditional ‘security’ crops, such as cassava, sweet potatoes, and finger millets, could be revived and promoted through community-based seed production schemes.

• Farmer-seed producers have little or no access to seed markets beyond their immediate vicinity.

Training contents were published in the manual Successful Community-Based Seed Production Strategies, written by various CGIAR researchers. Setimela and Bänziger also worked with Xavier Mhike and Patience Nyakanda from Zimbabwe's Agricultural Research and Extension agency to produce the simple pictorial guide, "Improve Your Maize Harvests: Grow Certified Seed of Open-Pollinated Varieties," for extension workers and farmers. "This booklet essentially explains the difference between hybrids and open-pollinated varieties," Setimela says. "But it also describes how to maintain varietal purity, and is intended to strengthen markets by encouraging farmers to seek out certified seed of appropriate varieties."

Extending the Web

These collaborations are now maturing into a semi-formal web of country-specific activities, backstopped by various CG centers and the SADC Seed Security Network. The web has started to sustain interactions among an increasing number of actors in the region's seed sector. Information and training materials are developed and disseminated, seed information databases maintained, stronger in-country linkages fostered, adaptive research conducted, and training provided to NGO and national program staff involved in seed-related work. Within CIMMYT, the “New Maize Seed Initiative for Southern Africa” (NSIMA), launched in January 2005, will support these efforts and foster a stronger and more diverse seed sector. “Even though our efforts are focused on maize, collaboration has become natural, and together we hope to make a difference!” says Bänziger.