Southern African Seed Systems Development Initiative

ICRISAT and ISU

FANRPAN-HASSP Common Vision Workshop

20-21 May 2010Johannesburg, South Africa

Southern African Seed Systems Development Initiative

Coverage

Overall Objective of the Initiative To Improve food security

and increase profitability of southern African resource poor farmers

• Changing the institutional & policy environment

• Facilitating increased and efficient availability of new varieties

• Expanding seed marketing and trade

• More choices of improved seed to farmers

Objectives of this Presentation

• Present on the progress made since project inception

• Share project experiences

• Challenges faced and suggestions on how to overcome them

• Project started in 2004/05 -- now entering its sixth year

• USAID Agriculture program – Agriculture Enabling Environment

• Collaborative work between ICRISAT, ISU, SADC FANR & regional partners

• Focus is on supporting regional seed policies harmonization & capacity building

• Concentrates on technical issues that promote marketing and regional trade of seed: - Variety Release- Certification & Quality Assurance- Quarantine & Phytosanitary Measures

Background Information

Why Seed? Why Harmonize its Trade

Policies & Regulations?• Seed constitutes the main propagule for plant growth• Sets precedence for increased agricultural activity &

economic gains among farming communities• Different policies & regulations governing seed trade

in SADC Member States (Seed trade barriers & restrictive national seed regulations)

• Seed markets are isolated• Farmer’s choices are limited• Seed prices are not subject to competition• To lure domestic foreign investment in seed,

expanded markets are imperative • Seed security is key to being food secure

Progress to Date• Technical approval of seed harmonization agreements

(2005/06)- Variety Release System- Seed Certification & Quality Assurance- Quarantine & Phytosanitary Measures

• Approval of harmonization agreements by SADC council of Ministers and the Ministers of Agriculture- In 2007 permanent secretaries approved- Inter-Ministerial Council of Ministers approved in 2007- Ministers of Agriculture approved in 2009- Ministers from DRC, Lesotho, Namibia & Swaziland signed -- 2010- Other countries could not sign as it requires the substantive Minister & not their representatives- Now need to facilitate the remaining Ministers to sign

Progress to date Cont’d

• Advisory assistance to seed industry to support implementation of accreditation/certification agreement- Training was done for private seed sector participants- Follow ups were made by ISU to assist additional companies

• Setting up of seed import/export quality manuals & quarantine pest lists- 14 countries were trained in the development of import/export manuals- Regional quarantine pest list was also developed

Progress to date Cont’d

• Collaboration with ARIPO

Regional PVP position in the SADC Member States

• Facilitating the creation of a regional variety catalogue to support implementation of the variety release agreement- Countries put together information on 19 crop varieties (2009)- Supports the implementation of the SADC Variety Release System-- Variety released in two SADC countries qualifies for trade in the region- 10 countries in the region submitted their national variety lists & these were cross tabulated at the Lusaka workshop (see next slide)- Regional variety catalogue now awaits distribution

Progress to Date Cont’dCrop Varieties Released in the region Same Varieties Released in at least 2 countries

Bean 201 24

Cabbage 85 13

Cassava 37 0

Cotton 54 5

Cowpea 42 1

Finger Millet 6 2

Groundnut 65 41

Irish Potato 94 10

Maize 839 119

Onion 104 5

Pearl Millet 22 5

Rice 40 4

Sorghum 105 11

Soybean 96 8

Sunflower 119 10

Sweet Potato 48 2

Tobacco 87 5

Tomato 245 11

Wheat 154 12

Total 2443 288

Progress to Date Cont’d

• Increased awareness of the technical agreements in seed policies harmonization in SADC countries- Distribution of information material --800 copies of the technical agreement monographs were distributed

• Development of seed quality manuals- Several—eg MRI, Kamano, ZamSeed & Dengo commercial developed manuals with the assistance of ISU

• Strengthening regional awareness & forging a common regional understanding on plant protection in the region- Involved exchange of information & appraising on policy & institutional issues to do with pests & diseases

Progress to Date Cont’d• Instituting the regional & national PBR agreement

- Protocol for PBR was developed based on UPOV convention- Mozambique & Zambia now have PBR laws joining countries like Zimbabwe & Tanzania who already had them- PBR policy brief has been prepared & now awaits printing

• Training on modalities of establishing seed & PBR laws in countries where they do not exist--2009- Workshop was held and 8 countries attended- There is significant progress in the countries

• Unplanned benefits - Pooling together of seed practitioners - Sharing of knowledge, best practices & ideas

Progress to date Cont’dYear Training program Number of

participants

2009 SADC Regional Variety Catalogue 252009 Seed & Plant Variety Protection Legal Frameworks 172008 Standardization of Seed Inspectors in the Region 212008 Plant Breeder’s Rights & Variety Release 242008 Seed Import & Export 232008 SADC Plant Technical Committee 232007 Private Sector Seed Companies 202007 Plant Breeders Rights 132006 Plant Variety Release 212006 Phytosanitary for Seed 322005 Seed Certification & Accreditation 562005/06/07 Plant Variety Protection 86

Total 361

Challenges • Signing of MoU by SADC

Ministers of Agriculture- 4 Ministers signed: DRC, Lesotho,

Namibia & Swaziland- There is need to find ways for the

remaining countries to sign

• After harmonization, then what?- Implementation - Need to facilitate seed trade –

flow of quality and improved seed across national boundaries through a series of initiatives