FAO-ASBP regional workshop on promoting vegetable seed

Supporting the implementation of the African Seed and Biotechnology program (ASBP) through strengthening the vegetable seed systems in central and West Africa: A regional technical consultation workshop

Background
In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), vegetable production is beset by several constraints. Of paramount importance, is the access to quality seeds of improved and adapted varieties by smallholder farmers. Currently, with the exception of a few commercial large-scale plantations, the majority of vegetable production in SSA is at the subsistence level and most of the land is cultivated by smallholder farmers. For the most part, these farmers rely on own saved seed or seed secured through informal networks. These sources tend to be inconsistent in terms of quality, susceptibility to pests and diseases, and while cheap, take up valuable land due to extremely low productivity. Reliance on importation has its own problems. Some of these problems include the introduction of unadapted varieties, the risk to introduce pests and diseases, and the continuous drain on scarce foreign exchange. In addition, the use of non adapted varieties tends to discredit the formal sector seed in farmers’eyes. Seed enterprises will develop only when they can offer farmers a clear advantage over seed saving. Such advantage can take several forms, including convenience, access to superior varieties, and seed quality.

Since the pre-independence era, African agriculture has focused on a narrow band of commodities that include food crops (cereals and pulses), oil crops (soybean, groundnut, sunflower) and industrial crops (coffee, cocoa, tea, oil palm and rubber tree). Vegetable crops which are inter alia, important for nutrition security, employment and income generation, have comparatively received very little attention. Unlike in eastern and southern Africa, in many central and west African countries, the situation is further compounded by the government policies relating to the regulations of seed production and commercialization which have been designed to address field crops and do not take into account the specific technical requirements for vegetable crops, affecting the emergence of a strong and sustainable vegetable seed sector. Moreover, owing to the diversity of vegetable crops in west and central Africa, the seed market is very segmented and thin. Just like a crop requires the proper soil in which to grow, seed enterprises will only thrive in an appropriate environment. The primary characteristic of such environment would be the incentive for farmers to purchase seeds, at least occasionally, rather than using farm-saved stocks. Experience shows that private seed companies are the most effective organizations in dissemination of new seed in many situations. They often have more incentive to work in a sustained, competent manner as their ultimate goal is usually profit oriented and less affected or influenced by national political considerations that often beleaguer the national public systems.  Experience also shows that the earliest entry in a nation’s formal seed system is often vegetable seed. Indeed, the seed of many vegetable species is time-consuming to prepare from a farmer’s own crop and in some cases seed production requires cultivating a proportion of plants beyond their fruiting stage. Moreover, in most cases, the vegetable seed is not the edible part of the plant.

In collaboration with various major stakeholders, FAO recently assisted sub regional organizations of West Africa (ECOWAS and UEMOA) in developing a policy framework for the harmonization of seed legislations to facilitate across border seed movement in order to boost regional seed trade. A similar arrangement is being put in place in Central Africa with CEMAC.

The proposed initiative, contributing to the implementation of the African Seed and Biotechnology program (ASPB) of the AU and to the CAADP of NEPAD,   expects to build on the above achievement on harmonization of regulations for seed movement and trade. FAO through ASBP will assist the public and private sector partners in west and central Africa in setting up a collaborative framework for sustainable vegetable seed production and delivery systems whereby end-users will have been empowered in technology generation (seed production). At the same time, the public and private sector will benefit from this input thereby adding to their capacity in generating and disseminating new technologies.

Goal: the goal of this project is to contribute to the sustainable development of vegetable seed systems in Africa through ASBP.

Description of Activities
FAO will contribute to the organization and implementation of a regional technical consultation workshop on vegetable seed systems. The major objectives of this workshop would be to: i) assess the current status of the vegetable seed systems in selected countries of central and west Africa; ii) identify the training needs and; iii) design an action plan to build the capacity of the farmers, policy makers, regulatory agencies, public and private sector.

The proposed venue of the workshop is Abidjan in Ivory Coast. Target countries include DRC, Cameroon, Benin, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal. The FAOR in Ivory Coast will develop a letter of agreement with the African Seed Network to help support the expenses related to the organization and implementation of this workshop to be held in Abidjan on 25-26 November 2009.

Expected outcomes
•    The status of vegetable seed systems documented in target countries
•    A framework for a sustainable vegetable seed production and distribution developed
•    Training needs for policy makers, contract growers, regulatory agencies, research and extension personnel, seed company personnel identified and prioritized

Timing
The workshop is tentatively scheduled on 25-26 November 2009.

Partners
•    National Agricultural Research and Extension Systems and Selected Indigenous Seed Companies of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Mali and Senegal
•    African Seed Trade Association
•    African Seed Network
•    African Seed Biotechnology Program
•    West Africa Seed Alliance
•    Hassan II Institute of Agronomy & Veterinary Medicine