El Batán, Mexico
February 29, 2008
Source:
CIMMYT e-newsletter vol 5 no 2
 Despite
strong growth in the private seed sector in eastern and southern
Africa over the last decade, most of region’s millions of
small-scale farmers lack easy access to affordable, quality seed
of maize, the number-one food staple. A major study by CIMMYT
shows the need for active investments in the region’s seed
sector and for policies to support its development.
Since the mid-1990s, when many countries in eastern and southern
Africa opened maize seed markets to private enterprise,
registered seed companies have proliferated—now numbering almost
80—along with other types of seed producers. Previously,
improved maize seed was produced chiefly by public organizations
or parastatal companies. In the 2006-07 cropping season,
registered companies produced the bulk of just-over 100,000 tons
of improved maize seed that were marketed in the region—enough
to sow 35% of the region’s maize lands.
“This implies a significant, unmet demand for seed,” says CIMMYT
economist Augustine Langyintuo. “The farmers who don’t purchase
fresh seed are recycling from the previous harvest, meaning they
are losing out on potential yield, or sowing unimproved,
low-yielding local varieties.” Experts cite average yield losses
of 5% for recycled seed of open-pollinated varieties, and more
than 30% in the case of hybrids. In addition, more than half the
maize area in the region is still under low-yielding traditional
cultivars, partly because farmers lack knowledge of or access to
affordable, quality seed of improved maize varieties.
Finding bottlenecks in seed supplies
As part of research by CIMMYT and the International Institute of
Tropical Agriculture (IITA) on drought tolerant maize for
African farmers, Langyintuo led a joint study to characterize
seed providers and bottlenecks to seed supplies in eastern and
southern Africa. A total of 116 representatives from 73 seed
companies and 35 national agricultural research systems (NARS)
and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) participated, and
information was gathered on the seed sectors in Angola,
Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania,
Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. “There was an extraordinary 100%
return on questionnaires sent, evidence of partners’ trust in
CIMMYT and interest in addressing the problem,” says Langyintuo.
The main finding was that investment capital requirements and a
shortage of qualified staff hinder the growth of small, local
seed companies that have emerged on the continent over the past
decade, according to Langyintuo. “The costs of setting up and
running an office, recruiting and retaining qualified personnel,
and procuring and operating production, processing, and storage
facilities are beyond what many local businesses can afford, and
access to operational credit is limited or nil,” he says.
One operating expense that virtually no companies in the region
have been able to take on is that of marketing seed. “Most
companies rely on third-party agents such as agro-dealers, large
retail stores, NGOs, or the government to retail most their
seed,” says Langyintuo. “The bulk of the agro-dealers in turn
lack funds to purchase seed, and so must take it on consignment,
forcing companies to retrieve unsold seed at cost. The dealers
are normally not knowledgeable enough about the seed they sell
to promote it effectively, and have also been known to
adulterate seed with mere grain.”
Other hurdles include poor infrastructure (bad roads and storage
facilities), cumbersome varietal registration and seed
certification regulations, restrictions on foreign trade or
investment in seed, and low adoption rates of improved
varieties.
Getting farmers the seed they want
Langyintuo suggests that governments, development investors,
international centers like CIMMYT and IITA, and the region’s
universities need to assist and support current seed companies
to improve their seed outputs and profits. “They would benefit
from access to credit, improved experimental maize, good seed
production sites and affordable inputs, and training in
effective business practices,” he explains. CIMMYT normally
distributes its germplasm freely to everyone, but Langyintuo
says that granting companies some degree of exclusivity in the
use of CIMMYT inbred lines would facilitate branding and promote
sales.
“Moreover, as long as seed companies are reluctant to invest in
retail networks, agro-dealers need support with targeted loans
from governments and development investors to buy and sell seed
and maintain good storage facilities,” he says. “Farmers’
awareness of useful new varieties can be raised through
extension messages, better retail networks, and access to
credit.”
Sharpening business acumen
As part of its support to the seed sector, CIMMYT organized a
course in the region in 2007 on good business practices for
maize seed companies. As part of this, representatives from
leading companies in Zimbabwe allowed participants to visit
their facilities and learn how they operated. “We essentially
asked them to show key parts of their business to 25 future
competitors, and they agreed to it,” says CIMMYT maize seed
systems specialist, John MacRobert, who organized the course.
“Strengthening internal seed laws and regulations to police fake
seeds, policies that stimulate the private seed trade, and
avoiding undue delays in the release of cultivars could benefit
the seed industry tremendously,” says MacRobert.
Where applicable, carrying out the distinctiveness, uniformity
and stability (DUS) tests alongside national performance trials
(NPT) could speed up the release to farmers of new, improved
varieties, according to Langyintuo. “For rapid spillovers of
cultivars released in one country to similar agro-ecologies in
different countries, the regional harmonization of seed laws and
regulations initiated by the sub-regional organizations, CGIAR
centers, development investors, and other relevant stakeholders
should be expedited.”
For more information: Augustine Langyintuo, economist (a.langyintuo@cgiar.org) |
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