Locally-owned seed companies involving in the production of high-yielding crop varieties to smallholder farmers have become the largest seed producers in sub-Saharan Africa, signaling a surging demand for certified seeds.
Data from the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa reveals that 80 small- to medium-size African seed companies in 16 African countries are on track to produce over 80,000 metric tonnes of professionally certified seeds.
AGRA is a Nairobi-based non-governmental organisation working across the African continent to help millions of small-scale farmers and their families lift themselves out of poverty and hunger.
Since the emergence of private seed companies in the Sub Saharan Africa in the late 1990’s, Tanzania leads in the East African region with 14 local and four foreign owned companies involving in the production of high yielding seeds compared with 10 local firms and three foreign firms in Uganda.
Kenya has seven local and four foreign firms compared with only three local firms dealing in commercial seed production for farmers in Rwanda.
Executives in the seed sector told The EastAfrican that the surge in demand for high yielding seed varieties are the key drivers for an increase in local firms dealing in commercial high yielding seed production for farmers.
“The demand for seeds is rising every year in Uganda and the neighbouring countries-Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan – and that explains the rapid growth of the sector because of the available market,” Uganda’s Pearl Seeds managing director Richard Musagazi said.
Ms. Jospehine Okot, the managing director at Victoria Seeds in Uganda told The EastAfrican that farmers in east African region are increasingly adapting high yielding seed varieties, as population growth raises amidst limited land.
AGRA’s Director of Program for Africa’s Seed Systems Dr. Joe DeVries said Africa’s entrepreneurial spirit has been evident in the rapid growth of local seed companies.
“The rapid growth of local seed companies over a very short time period is a testament to the entrepreneurial spirit percolating in communities across Africa and to the pent-up demand among Africa’s smallholder farmers for improved, high-yield crop varieties,” said Dr. DeVries said.
The AGRA report notes that there are already indications that increasing access to the improved seed is helping farmers realize an increase in food production by 50 to 100 per cent out of the same amount of land.
For example, 69 percent of farmers surveyed in Kenya, 74 percent in Nigeria, and 79 percent in Mozambique said improved maize varieties had allowed them to double the amount of maize harvested per hectare.
Similarly, 79 percent of farmers surveyed in Ghana reported doubling rice yields, and 85 percent of farmers surveyed in Uganda reported doubling yields from cowpea.
However, the surge in demand for high yielding seeds and other agricultural inputs including fertilizer and herbicides has led to an increase in counterfeits in the market, according to officials in the sector.
“It is because of high demand for high yielding seeds, surpassing supply that we are experiencing increased incidences of counterfeits farm inputs,” Ms. Okot said.
Counterfeit products have been identified as the biggest threat to agriculture in Sub Saharan Africa, affecting germination, crop health, food security and production.
In this scenario, even as more than 70 per cent of the Sub-Saharan Africa’s population is directly engaged in agriculture, production has been hampered with low funding to acquire farm inputs by farmers including seeds or the effects of counterfeits have tended to discourage able farmers from buying inputs and hence low agricultural production.
Dr. DeVries said national governments need to free up the supply of foundation seed developed by their public-sector breeding programs and offer tax incentives to encourage investments in processing equipment, irrigation technology, and other seed production infrastructure.
Also, local seed companies need more access to investment capital, and farmers need to learn more about the benefits of investing in quality seed of superior varieties. END
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