Opportunities for Quality Seed Production and Diffusion through Integration of the Informal Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted every area of our daily activities and businesses. After the health crisis, the food crisis is the next battle to encounter, which will need to mobilize all energies to maintain social security and protect the citizens of the world. For sustained support and recovery of rural and urban populations, especially in the dryland areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, seed of the well-adapted, nutrient dense varieties should flow. The solution of quality seed flow equation is complex and involves several intervention areas, e.g., adapted and modern groundnut, chickpea, pigeonpea, sorghum and finger millet varieties, sustainable and long term approaches leveraging various seed production and delivery models, remote information and knowledge dissemination systems, digital seed production and delivery roadmaps, digitized variety release and promotion processes, smart food campaigns and trainings to promote good utilization of nutrient dense crops.

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Incorporating Male Sterility Increases Hybrid Maize Yield in Low Input African Farming Systems

10.21203/rs.3.rs-753819/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Sarah Collinson ◽

Esnath Hamidziripi ◽

Hugo De Groote ◽

Michael Ndegwa ◽

Jill Cairns ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Seed Production ◽

Farming Systems ◽

Maize Yield ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Hybrid Seed Production ◽

Seed Systems ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

Hybrid Maize ◽

The Cost ◽

Staple Crop

Abstract Maize is a staple crop in sub-Saharan Africa, but yields remain sub-optimal. Improved breeding and seed systems are vital to increase productivity. We describe a novel hybrid seed production technology that will benefit seed companies and farmers. This technology reduces the cost of seed production by preventing the need for detasseling. The resulting hybrids segregate 1:1 for pollen production, conserving resources for grain production and conferring a 200 kg ha-1 benefit across a range of yield levels. This represents a 10% increase for farmers operating at national average yield levels in sub-Saharan Africa. The yield benefit of fifty-percent non-pollen producing hybrids is equivalent to approximately six years of progress in plant breeding. Benefits to seed companies in the form of reduced production cost and improved seed purity will provide incentives to improve smallholder farmer access to higher quality seed of climate-smart hybrids. Demonstrated farmer preference for these hybrids will help drive their adoption.

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Analyzing Pathways of Nurturing Informal Seed Production into Formal Private Ventures for Sustainable Seed Delivery and Crop Productivity: Experiences from Ethiopia

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12176828 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (17) ◽

pp. 6828 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Essegbemon Akpo ◽

Gebrekidan Feleke ◽

Asnake Fikre ◽

Mekasha Chichaybelu ◽

Chris O. Ojiewo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Seed Production ◽

Value Chain ◽

Crop Production ◽

Certified Seed ◽

Smallholder Farmers ◽

Crop Productivity ◽

Economic Benefits ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Seed Supply ◽

Sub Saharan

Sustaining crop production and productivity in sub-Saharan Africa requires the availability and use of quality seed of improved varieties by smallholder farmers. The private sector has been considered as the best way to sustain seed supply and crop productivity. Unfortunately, the private sector’s share in the seed production and delivery in sub-Saharan Africa countries has not been very substantial for decades. As a consequence, farmer access to quality seed of recently released varieties remains very low. This manuscript analyzes the experiences of informal seed producers who graduated to formal private seed enterprises to understand the effectiveness of the support they receive to become viable seed ventures. We used comparative research methods to analyze the qualitative and quantitative data collected to understand the underlying mechanisms. The findings showed that the analyzed seed enterprises started with as little as about USD 300 and have already multiplied over tenfold their initial capital. They benefited from a wide variety of supports, e.g., quality seed production, marketing, partnerships, and value chain development trainings and infrastructures, from extension workers, research centers, national and international NGOs, and the other private seed enterprise operators like large public seed enterprises and agro-dealers. The seed enterprises are producing pre-basic, basic, and certified seed of cereals and self-pollinated legume crops delivered directly to farmers, institutional markets, and agro-dealers. The seed production data have been increasing for the past three years with an area expanding from about 30 ha to over 150 ha per year for chickpea. The seed production and delivery practices being employed are smallholder farmer-based practices that are environmentally friendly. For sustainable and reliable seed production and delivery systems in sub-Saharan Africa, a bold step is needed whereby the informal seed production entities are nurtured and upgraded into formal certified seed production ventures that deliver social and economic benefits to the promotors and the communities.

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Closing Gender Gaps in Climate-Smart Agriculture through Strengthening Women Rice Seed Farmer’s Capacities and Access to Quality Stress-tolerant Seed in Benin

Sustainable Agriculture Research ◽

10.5539/sar.v10n3p41 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (3) ◽

pp. 41

Author(s):

Espérance Zossou ◽

Afiavi R. Agboh-Noameshie ◽

Alidou Assouma-Imorou

Keyword(s):

Seed Production ◽

Division Of Labour ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Rice Seed ◽

Design Strategies ◽

Rice Varieties ◽

New Varieties ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

Smart Agriculture ◽

And Control

Climate change and stress conditions (drought; submergence, salinity, iron toxicity, and cold) disproportionately affect the poorest and most disadvantaged rice farmers, forcing them deeper into poverty. Recent advances in genetics and breeding enable the development of rice varieties tolerant of these abiotic stresses and their cultivation can substantially contribute to poverty alleviation in unfavourable environments and for poor rice consumers globally. Through the program Stress-Tolerant Rice for Africa and South Asia (STRASA), fourteen new stress-tolerant varieties were released, produced and distributed in Sub-Saharan Africa to reach millions of poor farmers. However, ignoring women’s contributions to agriculture and particular in seed production and failing to design strategies to reach them with new varieties miss significant opportunities to reduce poverty. This study investigates on gender issues in rice seed production in Benin through a gender analysis of the division of labour, access and control of resources, livelihood, and constraints and opportunities faced. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected with 29 women and 29 men seeds producers using both the Harvard Analytical and the Sustainable Livelihoods Frameworks. Data showed that women are central in rice seed production; but are marginalized in their access and control of resources. Given to women resources property rights as well as improving their control on resources will help them to be more performant as seed producers. These areas for action are important in designing and implementing activities in gender-responsive ways for sustainable Stress-Tolerant Rice seed multiplication, dissemination and out scaling in Africa.

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An Analysis of the Adoption and Diffusion of Carioca Beans in Zambia Resulting from an Experimental Distribution of Seed

Experimental Agriculture ◽

10.1017/s0014479700020949 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 29 (3) ◽

pp. 379-386 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

W. Grisley ◽

Moffat Shamambo

Keyword(s):

Household Head ◽

Continuous Cultivation ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Experimental Distribution ◽

Modelling Framework ◽

Research Programmes ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

Adoption And Diffusion ◽

Bean Research ◽

And Diffusion

SUMMARYSeed of the new heavy yielding bean cultivar Carioca was distributed directly to 400 farmers in Zambia during 1986 in order to speed its adoption and diffusion. Three years after distribution, 55% of the farmers who participated in a follow-up survey were still sowing Carioca. Diffusion of the new cultivar had occurred, with 3.7 times as many farmers estimated to be growing Carioca in 1988/89 as in 1986, an annual rate of diffusion of approximately 49%. Use of a logistic modelling framework suggested that the variables directly associated with the decision to adopt the cultivar were the farmer's total area in cultivated crops and the area in local maize. Variables indirectly associated with adoption were the level of education of the household head, the average number of years that the fields had been in continuous cultivation and the number of cattle owned. These results will help guide the development of effective strategies for the release and distribution of new bean cultivars from national bean research programmes in sub-Saharan Africa.Adopción y difusión del poroto Carioca en Zambia

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RTS,S/AS01, a vaccine targeting pre-erythrocytic stages of Plasmodium falciparum

Emerging Topics in Life Sciences ◽

10.1042/etls20170101 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 1 (6) ◽

pp. 533-537

Author(s):

Lorenz von Seidlein ◽

Borimas Hanboonkunupakarn ◽

Podjanee Jittmala ◽

Sasithon Pukrittayakamee

Keyword(s):

Protective Efficacy ◽

Age Groups ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Phase Iii ◽

European Medicines Agency ◽

Older Children ◽

Pivotal Phase ◽

Malaria Epidemiology ◽

Maximum Benefit ◽

Sub Saharan

RTS,S/AS01 is the most advanced vaccine to prevent malaria. It is safe and moderately effective. A large pivotal phase III trial in over 15 000 young children in sub-Saharan Africa completed in 2014 showed that the vaccine could protect around one-third of children (aged 5–17 months) and one-fourth of infants (aged 6–12 weeks) from uncomplicated falciparum malaria. The European Medicines Agency approved licensing and programmatic roll-out of the RTSS vaccine in malaria endemic countries in sub-Saharan Africa. WHO is planning further studies in a large Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme, in more than 400 000 young African children. With the changing malaria epidemiology in Africa resulting in older children at risk, alternative modes of employment are under evaluation, for example the use of RTS,S/AS01 in older children as part of seasonal malaria prophylaxis. Another strategy is combining mass drug administrations with mass vaccine campaigns for all age groups in regional malaria elimination campaigns. A phase II trial is ongoing to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of the RTSS in combination with antimalarial drugs in Thailand. Such novel approaches aim to extract the maximum benefit from the well-documented, short-lasting protective efficacy of RTS,S/AS01.

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