Africa lacks a steady supply of good quality seed due in part
to lack of timely development and
conveyance of seed technologies to farmers. This study
evaluated the performance of national seed
systems of five countries in eastern and southern
Africa where a consortium of public- private
organizations are implementing the Water Efficient
Maize for Africa (WEMA) project. WEMA aimed at
developing and deploying drought-tolerant and
insect-pest-protected maize hybrids (climate-smart
hybrids) to smallholder farmers royalty-free. The
objectives of the study were to assess the main
components of the seed maize systems, their
institutional frameworks, and estimate the potential
demand for WEMA climate-smart hybrid maize seed to
guide in upscaling the seed technology to
other African countries. Primary data was gathered from
key experts in the seed maize value-chain of
each country. Secondary data came from national
statistics bureaux to estimate the potential demand
for WEMA seed maize. Results showed that farmers in all
five countries except South Africa
overwhelming rely on the informal seed system. The
formal seed system is over-regulated creating
unnecessary delays in the release and commercialization
of improved seed varieties. It also increases
the cost of developing new seed technology. Except
South Africa, the demand for seed maize in the
other four WEMA countries will grow by 4.1% annually
from 31,614 to 35,863 metric tons of certified
seed over 2014-2020 period. The study advances several
recommendations to improve the efficiency
of the seed maize systems, which when implemented, will
undoubtedly improve food security in
Africa.
Author
(s) Details
George Marechera
African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), Nairobi, Kenya.
Grace Muinga
African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), Nairobi, Kenya.
Dr. Patrick Irungu
University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya.
View Book :- http://bp.bookpi.org/index.php/bpi/catalog/book/266
No comments:
Post a Comment