Locally owned companies now dominate seed production in Sub Saharan Africa

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

South Korea opens a research centre in Uganda

Rural Development Administration of South Korea has opened up a research centre in Uganda aimed at increasing the country’s agricultural productivity through research.

Executives at the state-run agricultural research institute at the National Crop Resources Laboratories, Kawanda, will provide technical cooperation for a range of activities, from agricultural development projects to the training of Ugandan researchers and farmers.

RDA Deputy Administrator Dr. Ra Seungyong said Korea Project on International Agriculture-Uganda will work with NARO in developing locally adaptable technologies and seeds by sharing knowledge and experience with the country’s researchers.

“We also hope to disseminate localized technologies and practices to local farmers through demonstration projects as well as build better research capacity through exchange programmes for scientists and experts,” Dr. Seungyong said in Kampala last week during the launch of the new centre.

So far, KOPIA-Uganda has already partnered with National Animal Genetic Resource Center and Data Bank to come up with a preservation protocol of the Ankole Semen and plans are underway to unveil a $3.5 million farmer’s training college in Mpigi District in July.

The new development comes at the time Uganda’s agricultures sector is struggling with low funding amidst employing over 70 per cent of the population, the scenario that has consistently led to low contribution to the to the country’s Gross Domestic Product compared with other sectors like services and manufacturing.

In Uganda, agriculture’s contribution to GDP has averaged 20 per cent for the past five years, with growth figures as low as three per cent.

Dr. Ambrose Agona, the director general at NARO said the new partnership with the Korean scientists will boost agricultural productivity, which has over the years remained low leading to low incomes to farmers, food insecurity and malnutrition.

“We strongly believe that this relationship is going to uplift our Ugandan farmers from subsistence farming to commercial in the coming years,” Dr. Agona said, in reference to South Korea’s development model.

For the last 50 years, South Korea has experienced dramatic and unprecedented transformation in its agriculture sector, driven by revolutionary technological advancement, which set the war-torn nation free from chronic famine and food shortage.

Having almost no natural resources and always suffering from overpopulation in its small territory, which deterred continued population growth and the formation of a large internal consumer market, South Korea later adapted an export-oriented economic strategy to fuel its economy.

Currently, South Korea is one of the world's wealthiest nations, and is a member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the G-20 major economies.

The Agriculture Minister in Uganda Dr. Zarababel Nyiira said it is time for Ugandan farmers to benefit from South Korea’s technologies to grow their incomes especially with value addition.

South Korea established RDA in 2009 to share its experience and knowledge with the developing countries developing for economic transformation.

RDA has now set up 20 KOPIA centers in Africa, Southeast Asia, central Asian states, and Latin America to deal with local and regional issues in agriculture and rural development such as food security, resource depletion and climate change.

In Africa, KOPIA has research centres in Kenya, DR Congo, Algeria, and Ethiopia working on various projects and technologies such as rice growing and artificial insemination in livestock. END