Background

The report of the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) states that as of 2001, (we need a more recent statistic for this) about 28 million people in Africa have been facing food emergencies due to droughts, floods and strife, of which some 25 million needed emergency food and agricultural assistance. Urgent action is needed to create sustainable food security in Africa for which the development of the seed sector at the continental, regional and national levels is an essential element.

Seed is one of the most crucial elements in the livelihoods of agricultural communities. It is the repository of knowledge passed from generation to generation, and the result of continual adaptation and innovation in the face of ever-greater challenges for survival. The potential benefits from the use of good quality seed of adapted varieties by farmers can be enormous, and the availability to farmers of quality seed of a wide-range of varieties and crops to farmers can increase productivity, reduce risks from pest, drought and disease pressure, and increase incomes. Production increases through the use of adapted varieties in a given area can create employment opportunities related to processing, marketing, and other activities generated through quality seed production. Food security is heavily dependent on the seed security of the farming community. Seed sector development is essential to foster agricultural growth.

Africa has not been able to take full advantage of the advances in seed sector development, mainly because of weak seed production and distribution systems, inadequate supply of quality seed, lack of access to improved germplasm, weak entrepreneurial capacity of small- and medium-size seed enterprises, women’s limited access to and control over productive resources, and inadequate implementation of seed policies and international agreements and conventions.

The Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union (AU) in Sirte, Libya, on 5 July 2005, in discussing the importance of improved seeds for increasing agricultural productivity and food security in the continent, recognized that African governments cannot individually confront challenges represented by developments in the international seed industries and by legal and technical issues which restrict access to genetic resources and biodiversity. The Assembly of AU further stressed Africa’s potential for creating its own seed producing industry and requested its commission to consider all aspects in developing a comprehensive programme for the revitalization of the African seed sector in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).