Profile 8 Seed Review

Rationale:

The process of analyzing the seed situation in Africa must take place at several levels to be able to grasp the full dimensions of factors that contribute to hinder the development of the seed industry on the continent. Much has been gathered at continental, regional and national levels to make it possible to formulate the Africa Seed and Biotechnology Programme. However, in view of the large number of countries involved and the varying complexities of their seed situations, it is necessary to conduct a thorough review of each country’s seed sector to be able to base the eventual national interventions on sound basis. A seed review is a thorough and searching study of the strengths and weaknesses of a seed programme, at all levels, with a view to prescribing corrective interventions and recommending resources and actions required over a stipulated time frame.

For the purpose of the ASBP implementation, seed reviews will consider the agricultural context of the country, the whole gamut of the seed sector, from the management of PGRFA and variety development, through seed production and conditioning to seed marketing and usage, extension, the informal sector issues, private sector development, human resource development etc. Being a national exercise, it will engender ownership and improve the chances of success during implementation. On the other hand, there may be some expertise that may be lacking in the country and the authorities may well request technical assistance from FAO and its development partners to strengthen the national seed review team. Such technical assistance will take the form of short term consultants or FAO staff who may be seconded to the national seed review team to fill the gap. The attachment of such staff and consultants will also ensure that the review process benefits from an infusion of fresh external perspective and stays relevant to the general thrust of the ASBP.

The first wave of project profiles prepared for ASBP contains only a few country project profiles. Following the seed reviews, a further list of country project profiles will be prepared which will contain all the priority projects that will be required to address the development needs of participating countries.

Objective:

The objective of the project is to assist countries participating in ASBP to conduct national seed reviews by which to analyse their seed industries and prescribe corrective interventions. This assistance will take the form of provision of technical assistance to strengthen the national seed review teams to have the necessary expertise for the assignment. The result of the seed review, and the government’s intensions following it, will form the basis of resource mobilization to address the recommendations emanating from the review.

Activities:

The project will be expected to run for a period of two to four years. All activities will be at the national level, although there will be linkages to relevant regional and continental studies that may be on-going at that time. At the beginning of ASBP implementation, AU, with the cooperation of FAO, will assist all participating countries with written guidelines for a national seed review. FAO will then consider participating countries’ requests and provide necessary technical assistance which will be funded from the project funds. While the funding will be largely limited to the cost of externally provided experts, some limited funding to assist the national teams will also be considered. Governments of participating countries will however be expected to provide the major portion of the funding required for this exercise in order to show commitment for the exercise.

At the end of the review, detailed reports, cleared by the relevant national authorities, will be tabled for discussions among the relevant stakeholders in order to agree on the way forward and for resource mobilization or allocation to be discussed.

The activities of the project are summarized as follows:
• Preparation of guidelines for the use of participating countries in the conduct of national seed reviews

• Assessment of national applications for technical assistance for seed reviews and the allocation of resources in response to approved review plans

• Analysis of results of seed reviews in close consultations with national governments, prioritization of findings and needs and preparation of project profiles as first step towards resource mobilization and project implementation.

Expected Results and Outputs:

The project is expected to result in a large number of published results of national seed reviews which will serve as credible basis for interventions under the ASBP. While the main output for each country will be the published national seed review, the exercise will also serve to prepare national systems for the task of rehabilitating the national seed industry, begin to sensitize groups who will be expected to play key roles in the ASBP and enable partners and donors to begin to develop their interests and positions. The project will also enable FAO, AU and the ASBP management office to update their data on country situations and be able to prepare the necessary profiles to support potential areas of interventions.