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Journal of Crop Improvement
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Integrated Seed Sector Development
in Africa: A Conceptual Framework for
Creating Coherence Between Practices,
Programs, and Policies
Niels P. Louwaars
a
b
& Walter Simon de Boef
c
d
a
Wageningen University and Research Centre, Centre for Genetic
Resources, The Netherlands, Wageningen, The Netherlands
b
Wageningen University, Department of Law and Governance,
Wageningen, The Netherlands
c
Federal University of Santa Catarina, Centre for Agricultural
Sciences, Florianópolis, Brazil
d
Wageningen University and Research Centre, The Netherlands,
Centre for Development Innovation, Wageningen, The Netherlands
To cite this article: Niels P. Louwaars & Walter Simon de Boef (2012): Integrated Seed Sector
Development in Africa: A Conceptual Framework for Creating Coherence Between Practices,
Programs, and Policies, Journal of Crop Improvement, 26:1, 39-59
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15427528.2011.611277
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Journal of Crop Improvement, 26:39–59, 2012
Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 1542-7528 print/1542-7536 online
DOI: 10.1080/15427528.2011.611277
Integrated Seed Sector Development in Africa:
A Conceptual Framework for Cr eating
Coherence Between Practices, Programs,
and Policies
NIELS P. LOUWAARS
1,2
and WALTER SIMON DE BOEF
3,4
1
Wageningen University and Research Centr e, Centre for Genetic Resources, The Netherlands,
Wageningen, The Netherlands
2
Wageningen University, Department of Law and Governance, Wageningen,
The Netherlands
3
Federal University of Santa Catarina, Centre for Agricultural Sciences, Florianópolis, Brazil
4
Wageningen University and Research Centre, The Netherlands, Centre for Development
Innovation, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Public sector seed programs in most sub-Saharan African countries
targeted the dissemination of quality seed of improved varieties in
the 1970 and ’80s, assuming that the informal seed system would
disappear. The orientation in 1990s shifted toward withdrawal of
the public sector, promoting privatization and liberalization of
the seed market. The informal seed system remained dominant.
Integrated seed sector development aims to better link informal and
Received 11 July 2011; accepted 3 August 2011.
This paper is a partial result of the authors’ facilitation and coordination of the Integrated
Seed Sector Development in Africa Project (ISSD Africa), which was implemented by
Wageningen University and Research Centre (Wageningen UR) in collaboration with the
Commission of the African Union, in the context of the African Seed and Biotechnology
Program (ASBP), and with partners in Ethiopia, Mali, Malawi, South Sudan, Uganda, and
Zambia. The ISSD Africa project was implemented by the Wageningen UR /Centre for
Development Innovation. The project was financed by the Netherlands Ministry for Economic
Affairs, Agriculture, and Innovation (EL&I). Any opinions and conclusions expressed herein
are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the EL&I, ASBP, or our
partners in the ISSD project. We would like to thank participants of the various national and
regional workshops that were organized during the ISSD Africa project for their contribu-
tions. Furthermore, we would like to recognize the roles played by a diversity of players in
the seed sector, with whom we have been engaged in seed sector development over the past
few decades. Our partnership with them has assisted us in the compilation of this paper.
Address correspondence to Walter Simon de Boef at Federal University of Santa Catarina,
Centre for Agricultural Sciences, Florianópolis-SC, Rodovia Admar Gonzaga, 1346, Itacorubi,
Florianópolis – SC, Brazil. E-mail: walterdeboef@gmail.com
39
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40 N. P. Louwaars and W. S. de Boef
formal seed systems, and balance public and private sector involve-
ment. It explores variation among seed value chains, with the aim
of making seed programs and policies more coherent with farmers’
practices and more effective at reaching food security.
KEYWORDS Sub-Saharan Africa, seed systems, food security,
integrated approaches
INTRODUCTION
Seed and other planting materials form the basis of crop production. Key
issues in analyzing the contribution of seed to agricultural output are avail-
ability, quantity, quality, and affordability, which means physical access to
the right seed at the right time for the right price. Throughout the world, it
is the farmers themselves who produce the largest quantity of seed of most
crops. This farm-saved seed is used for both locally and scientifically bred
varieties.
The public sector supports seed sectors in different ways, notably by
carrying out research in breeding and developing varieties; by arranging
(and subsidizing) seed quality controls or seed promotion; and by protecting
breeders’ rights. The public sector can also stimulate investments in the seed
sector by introducing tax measures and by subsidizing certain seed prod-
ucts. Furthermore, the public sector may participate, directly or indirectly,
in the production and distribution of seed for crops considered essential for
national food security.
To a large extent, the quality of seed determines the success of crops
in terms of yield (and yield stability) and product quality, and thus its con-
tribution to food security and the value of crop products in the market. The
quality of seed has several aspects: its genetic properties, i.e., the inher-
ent genetic makeup of the variety, and the germination rate, seed health,
and purity of the seed. This genetic diversity provides options to cope with
adverse conditions and risks, whether seasonal, short term, or related to
climate change in the long term.
There are a number of diverse initiatives for increasing the availability
and quality of seed in Africa, including those that aim to:
●
Strengthen the public functions of seed quality control and varietal
registration;
●
Support multinational, commercial seed companies for producing and
trading their seed;
●
Strengthen national or local entrepreneurship in the seed sector;
●
Provide support to farmers for producing better quality seed; and
●
Supply seed as part of emergency supplies.
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Integrated Seed Sector Development in Africa 41
This diversity of interventions responds to variations in demands, crops, and
settings that characterize agricultural development.
Seed sector development gains attention when seed security and food
security are linked together with agricultural economic development in sub-
Saharan Africa. Good-quality seed is essential for any food production; it is
also a technology transfer agent crucial for increasing productivity and pro-
duction. Furthermore, seed is a potential commodity for stimulating local and
national economic development and entrepreneurship, and is an important
component of agricultural biodiversity. A diversity of practices and realities
exist in seed sector development. Many of these practices have been cre-
ated based on a linear approach to seed sector development, thus with the
assumption that one particular seed sector or system exists. These prac-
tices have been supporting the public seed sector since the 1970s and
primarily the private seed sector since the 1990s. Likewise, seed policies
have been designed and implemented within such a linear approach. These
have resulted in seed programs that are incoherent with the practices and
variations that exist in agriculture in Africa.
As a r esult of the increasing global interest in agriculture, in a context
of rising food prices and concerns about food security and climate change
adaptation, seed sector development in Africa has regained the attention
of governments, donor communities, civil society, and other stakeholders.
At local level, farmers and entrepreneurs seek opportunities in the seed mar-
ket. Within this context, this paper elaborates the concept of i ntegrated seed
sector development (ISSD), initially formulated as way to integrate formal
seed systems and farmers’ seed systems at the technical (Louwaars 1996a)
and institutional levels (Louwaars 1996b; De Boef, Louwaars, & Almekinders
1997). Subsequently, the seed system perspective has been used for on-farm
management of genetic resources (Jarvis et al. 2004; De Boef et al. 2010;
Jarvis et al. 2011), participatory plant breeding (Almekinders, Thiele, &
Danial 2007), and seed security and support of on-farm seed production
(Almekinders & Louwaars 1999; Latournerie-Moreno et al. 2006). The institu-
tional bottlenecks that hamper the implementation of on-farm management
of genetic resources have been recognized and have led to the inclusion
of integrated seed systems in the debate on seed and variety legislation
(Tripp 1997; Louwaars, 2002; Louwaars, 2007; Bragdon et al. 2009).
The objective of the current paper is to outline ISSD as a useful con-
ceptual framework for creating coherence among seed practices, programs,
and policies. The focus of this paper is on sub-Saharan Africa; it addresses
the variation in agriculture and practices in seed sector development and
characterizes informal and formal seed systems, emphasizing their structure
and limitations. The facilitation of interactions between the two seed sys-
tems is considered the first ISSD principle. Subsequently, the differentiation
between development and market-oriented seed value chains is addressed
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42 N. P. Louwaars and W. S. de Boef
as a basis for a line of reasoning that no single public-, private-, community-,
or NGO-based intervention can support seed sector development. The indi-
vidual farmers themselves use different seed systems for different crops, such
as (international) commercial seed for exotic vegetables; seed from national
commercial chains based on international or public research for maize; local
semi-commercial sources for groundnut seed produced for the city market;
and farm-saved seed for mainly home-consumed crops like sorghum, finger
millet, and beans. This leads to the second ISSD principle, which is that seed
sector development needs to be approached in a pluralistic manner, includ-
ing public, private, community-based, or NGO stakeholders, each of them
assuming specific responsibilities in dissimilar seed value chains. In con-
clusion, the paper underlines the key principles for ISSD and shares some
final remarks.
VARIATION AND COMPLEXITY IN AGRICULTURE AND SEED
SYSTEMS
Farming and cropping systems vary along agro-ecologies. They also vary
in their objectives for agriculture: livelihood, food supply, and/or income
generation. This variation defines the structure of the seed system. The
diversity in seed systems is also associated with the type of farmers, sub-
sistence or commercial, or any variation in-between. Another differentiation
in seed systems is associated with the crops, whether these are food or
feed crops produced for home consumption and/or the market (cereals,
pulses, vegetables) or produced as cash crops within a specific value chain
(oil crops, vegetables, tobacco, cotton). The system of reproduction has a
major effect on the structure of seed systems, and the variation becomes
evident when comparing selfing cereal and pulse crops with hybrid maize
varieties, and vegetatively reproduced crops such as potato, cassava, and
banana. Another key element is the orientation of the seed sector, which
is organized either according to the principles of agricultural development
(food security), the principles of the market (profit), or a mixture of these.
These variations have great implications on the structure of seed value
chains. A diversity of organizations operate in seed supply, varying from
public and private organizations to NGOs, farmers’ cooperatives, and infor-
mal farmers’ groups. The objectives and opportunities determine to a large
extent which of these stakeholders take the lead and which cooperate
in these seed systems. In return, the mixture of stakeholders has impli-
cations for the type of programs and policies that aim to strengthen the
seed sector.
Given the different functions of seed in food security, entrepreneurship,
technology transfer, and biodiversity, the objective for supporting seed sector
development is not solely embedded in policies that target each of those four
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Integrated Seed Sector Development in Africa 43
areas of attention. The multiple objectives create a complexity in which no
single strategy for agricultural development, and therefore seed sector devel-
opment, exists. ISSD as a concept embraces these multiple objectives and
this complexity. It uses a system approach to better understand complexity
and, consequently, applying a value chain approach identifies different seed
systems that operate in parallel, in a dynamic model. These sectors are char-
acterized as the basis for the development of programs and policies aimed
at vibrant and pluralistic seed sector development.
INFORMAL SEED SYSTEM
The first distinction can be made between the formal and informal sys-
tems. Informal seed systems cover methods of seed selection, production,
and diffusion by farmers, including the exchange of seed. Farmers obtain
seed and varieties through informal networks based on exchange with, or
gifts from, relatives and neighbors, or through bartering with other far m-
ers or purchasing from local markets. Key issues in determining the use of
seed by farmers are availability, quantity and quality, and price. Seed has
to be available, which means that there has to be physical access to the
right quantity of seed of the right variety at the right time, and it needs to
be affordable. Farm-saved seed is the most prominent source since farmers
are familiar with the seed they grow themselves and know that the variety
is adapted to local conditions and preferences. Infor mal seed systems are
also referred to as farmer-managed seed systems (Bal & Douglas 1992), tra-
ditional seed systems (Cromwell, Friss-Hansen, & Turner 1992), and local
seed systems (Almekinders, Louwaars, & de Bruijn 1994). We refer to the
informal seed system as to distinguish it from the formal system; it is illus-
trated in Figure 1 (Almekinders, Louwaars, & de Bruijn 1994; Almekinders &
Louwaars 1999; Thijssen et al. 2008; Dalton et al. 2010).
The informal seed system has several limitations (Louwaars 2007). The
most common one is the assumption that seed is usually readily available in
informal systems. In such situations, farmers are not well prepared when fac-
ing shortages. Such shortages can be acute, for example, owing to drought or
civil unrest, or chronic, basically as a result of poverty and because farmers
are unable to put seed aside from the harvest as a result of low productivity
(Sperling, Cooper, & Remmington 2008; Lipper, Anderson, & Dalton 2010).
seed selection
production
diffusion
FIGURE 1 Informal Seed System.
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44 N. P. Louwaars and W. S. de Boef
The consequential dependence on seed relief may lead to loss of genetic
resources (Richards, Ruivenkamp, & van der Drift 1997; Sperling, Osborn, &
Cooper 2004).
The fact that seed supply of major crops is anti-cyclical when compared
to crop production creates another serious limitation to the performance of
informal systems. Plenty of seed is available after a highly productive season
and, consequently, seed demand is low. This is because most farmers have
been able to combine saving seed with their consumption needs. However,
seed availability after a poor season is inadequate not only for the individual
farmers who rely on farm-saved seed, but also for their social networks.
Seed shortages may occur when contacts with communities in areas that
have experienced better cropping conditions during a previous season are
limited, and farmers may have to rely on poor-quality planting materials,
such as food grain obtained in the market and whose varietal characteristics
and seed quality are unknown (David, Mukandala, & Mafure 2002; Louwaars
2007; McGuire 2008).
The seed of some crops is more easily produced than that of others.
Germination capacity and vigor are at stake during processing and stor-
age (e.g., soybean in the humid tropics). Diseases can be transmitted by
seeds and may also build up over time (e.g., beans). Varieties may “degener-
ate” because of insufficient or inadequate selection (notably cross-fertilizing
crops like mustard, maize, and sunflower). The ability of farmers to produce
quality seed may be limited by such factors.
Farmers tend to possess good knowledge of their major crops, and
selection is likely to be more precise and intense for those crops than for
others. The availability of modern varieties of crops may trigger a wider use
of variation and a stronger interest in selection by farmers. In several cases,
this practice has led to the development of “new farmers’ varieties” that
can be fairly uniform and well adapted to advanced mono-crop production
(Almekinders & Louwaars 1999; Salazar, Louwaars, & Visser 2007).
The improvement and adaptation of crops, in times of changing farming
conditions, will continue to be slow as long as farmers’ selection depends
on natural ways to create diversity. Adaptation may be necessary, for exam-
ple, to contend with a gradual decrease in soil fertility or the presence of
new diseases or strains of diseases; to meet the needs of farming systems
in the process of change because of expanding population; to deal with the
introduction of new technologies or radical changes in food and agricul-
tural markets; or to cope with climate change. Many of these changes are
substantial and can neither easily be met by existing genetic diversity, nor
by farmers’ capacity to select and exchange materials. However, movement
of materials that have the potential to cope with change has been widely
reported, although these movements within informal systems and associated
exchange mechanisms and markets remain limited (Louwaars 2007; Lipper,
Anderson, & Dalton 2010).
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Integrated Seed Sector Development in Africa 45
Despite the extensive local knowledge base of those communities that
depend on their own varieties and seed, the knowledge system and prac-
tices associated with the informal seed system maintains a certain lack of
awareness. This lack of awareness often relates to diseases or processing
and storage practices, but also to the maintenance of varieties. Interestingly,
with regards to this last point, there are also contradictory examples of situ-
ations where farmers have an insightful understanding of crop reproduction
systems, as can be seen in the case of sorghum in Cameroon (Alvarez et al.
2005), maize in Mexico (Louette, Charrier, & Berthaud 1997), and cassava in
Brazil (Emperaire & Peroni 2007).
Despite the limitations that informal seed systems exhibit, their advan-
tages are significant both in developing and industrialized countries. In those
countries that are agriculturally advanced, there is widespread recognition
that “good farmers can produce good seed for themselves and their neigh-
bors” (CGN 2007). An estimated 80% of all seed used in Africa is produced in
the informal systems (Byerlee et al. 2007), and for many crops the estimate
is closer to 100%, which means that informal seed supply is the main source
of seed for most crops and farmers in developing countries, and is likely
to remain so for the foreseeable future (FAO 2010). Therefore it deserves
recognition by, and the attention of, scientists, development partners, and
policy makers.
FORMAL SEED SYSTEM
The formal seed system provides tested seed of uniform varieties that have
been evaluated for their adaptation to certain farming systems. The structure
of the formal seed system is guided by scientific methodologies for plant
breeding and controlled multiplication operated by public or private sector
specialists. Significant investments have been made throughout the devel-
oping world to improve varieties and to produce and promote quality seed
for some major food crops. The formal system is illustrated in a simplified
format in Figure 2.
Within the formal seed system, commercial seed production and mar-
keting is only possible for a limited number of crops. The private sector
concentrates on hybrids (notably maize) and high-value horticultural crops
that can guarantee that all the overheads, including transportation and
quality-management costs, will be covered, and that can offer some profit.
Profit margins on self-fertilizing crops like most cereals and legumes are
generally low due to competition with farm-saved seed. In some countries
(e.g., Brazil, India), commercial companies produce such crops when they
can generate enough profits from large quantities or when supplying large
commercial farmers only. The private sector generally operates at country-
wide and international levels, and involves cash transactions and a profit
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46 N. P. Louwaars and W. S. de Boef
genetic resources
breeding
release
multiplication
marketing
FIGURE 2 Formal Seed System.
orientation that results in the production of large quantities of seed and the
marketing of just a few varieties with wide adaptation.
The public sector supports seed systems in different ways, notably by
conducting research in breeding, by carrying out varietal development, by
organizing (and subsidizing) seed quality control, or by promoting qual-
ity seed and improved varieties. Policy and legal frameworks facilitate
investment in breeding and seed production, providing access to plant
genetic resources, protecting breeders’ rights, and ensuring seed quality con-
trol. The frameworks may follow international standardization and regional
harmonization of methodologies that address genetic resource access, intel-
lectual property rights, varietal release, seed certification, and phytosanitary
measures for import and export.
The limitations of the formal seed system can be seen at the level of the
individual components in the chain and in terms of the connections between
the components. Consequently, formal seed chains, as with any value chain,
are as strong as their weakest link. A formal seed chain where the breeding
component is weak has “nothing to sell” that farmers do not already have
and tends to lose impact, since many farmers purchase seed primarily to
access new varieties. Similarly, the chain will break when seed production is
poorly organized and seed quality is low, or when the delivery system fails
and seed does not reach the farmers in the right quality and quantity at the
right time and price (Gregg & Van Gastel 1997). In such situations, “farm-
saved seed” of the informal system outperforms, or is more competitive
than, “formal” seed. The interdependence of the dif ferent components is a
challenge for the organization of formal seed chains (Louwaars 2007).
VARIATIONS IN VARIETY AND SEED REPLACEMENT
Despite the prominent assumption in the 1970s and 1980s that local varieties
would rapidly and completely be replaced by modern varieties (Frankel &
Soulé 1981), informal seed systems, with their traditional and local varieties,
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Integrated Seed Sector Development in Africa 47
have remained vital for many major crops in the developing world. For
food crops, adoption of modern varieties varies. Over the past decades, the
area planted with modern varieties of maize has increased significantly in
sub-Saharan Africa. In 2006, modern maize varieties (including both hybrids
and open-pollinated varieties) covered 33% of the area in Eastern Africa and
38% in Southern Africa, excluding South Africa (Mason et al. 2011), and
it reached 60% in 2005 in Wester n Africa (Alene et al. 2009). In the early
2000s, adoption rates for modern varieties reached up to 60% for wheat and
40%–50% for rice (Evenson & Gollin 2003). Variety replacement for those
major (non-African) food crops is estimated 40%, while variety replacement
of food crops such as sorghum stays as low as 10% (Byerlee et al. 2007).
It is evident that the situation for maize is different than for other crops.
Modern variety adoption and yearly purchase of formal quality seed of maize
hybrids has increased through an emerging commercial maize seed sector
(Kenya), public maize dissemination systems (Ethiopia), a strong associa-
tion between NGOs and private companies in seed marketing (Ghana), and
public subsidized input programs (Malawi, Zambia) (Scoones & Thompson
2011). The increase is the result of major initiatives that foster market-led
technology adoption (Toennissen, Adesina, & Devries 2008). The “maize
model” boosts technology use and is enforced by favorable institutional and
policy frameworks. International donor and philanthropic programs have
promoted market-oriented seed sector development. In several countries
(Malawi, Zambia), the maize model is embedded in national subsidized input
programs targeting national food security and enterprise development; how-
ever, in both countries these programs take a major share of the government
budget available for agriculture (Chinsanga 2011; Nakaponda 2011), which
indicates limited sustainability. Smale, Byerlee, and Jayne (2011) and Scoones
and Thompson (2011) question whether the maize model is economically
viable and institutionally sustainable, and point out that it is not applicable
to other seed systems or food crops. Alternative approaches are required, for
example, upgrading or strengthening ‘fragile’ public breeding and seed sys-
tems (Scoones & Thompson, 2011), supporting local seed business (Thijssen
et al. 2008; Neate & Guei 2011), and strengthening national seed companies
(MacRobert 2009; O’Connor Funk 2009). The primary focus on maize is an
illustration of the limited picture dominant in seed sector development, vari-
etal replacement, and adoption of modern varieties in sub-Saharan Africa; it
only addresses part of a much more robust reality of food and seed markets
(Lipper, Anderson, & Dalton 2010; Sperling & McGuire 2010).
INFORMAL SEED SYSTEM AND LOCAL VARIETIES
Variety replacement is not a sole indicator for the performance of the for-
mal and infor mal seed systems. More than 80% of the seed planted by
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48 N. P. Louwaars and W. S. de Boef
African farmers remains to originate from informal systems (African Union
2008; Byerlee et al. 2007). Farmers to a large degree rely on informal seed
sources, independent of whether they cultivate local or modern varieties.
Despite all investments in technology, dissemination, and marketing sys-
tems, the continued importance of informal seed systems in any region
or production system is by a large degree defined by the fact that most
small-scale, poor farmers operate in complex, risk-prone, and diverse envi-
ronments. Poor farmers in those environments are difficult to cater to in
formal research and technology development systems (Chambers, Pacey, &
Thrupp 1989; Pretty 1995). Local varieties from informal sources do remain
to meet the needs of many farmers and communities (Jarvis et al. 2011).
Farmers continue to use farm-saved seed of both local and modern varieties
for a number of reasons (Lipton & Longhurst 1989; Tripp 2001; De Boef
et al. 2010; Lipper, Anderson, & Dalton 2010); those most frequently stated
include: (i) inadequate access to markets; (ii) the structure and functioning
of market channels often unfavorable to those farmers living in remote areas;
(iii) limited access to financial resources or credit to buy or produce seed;
(iv) the limited effectiveness of the formal system in providing timely and
adequate access to quality seed of improved varieties; and (v) the lack of
interest or capacity of the research system for developing genotypes that are
specifically adapted to their production environment, owing to economic
and organizational considerations.
The structure of the formal seed system and its organization through
existing policy and regulatory frameworks widely ignore, and to some extent
undermine, the value of the informal systems. They can even result in a
distortion or dismantling of such traditional and often valuable systems. The
methodologies for seed regulation frequently result in barriers for potential
interactions between the formal and the informal systems, other than those
at the stage of germplasm collection and the commercialization of varieties
(Tripp 1997; Louwaars, 2007; Jarvis et al. 2011).
ISSD PRINCIPLE: THE TWIN TRACK APPROACH
TO SEED SYSTEMS
One of the fundamental principles of the integrated seed sector development
(ISSD) concept is the need to develop a twin track approach where the
effectiveness of both the informal and formal seed systems can be improved
through a concerted effort ensuring that proper integration is promoted at
every component of the seed value chain. The seed value chain between the
formal system (genebanks, breeding, multiplication, and marketing) with the
informal system is promoted. The integration between formal and informal
seed systems in the conventional setting is visualized in Figure 3.
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Integrated Seed Sector Development in Africa 49
seed selection
production
diffusion
genetic resources
breeding
release
multiplication
marketing
FIGURE 3 Linkages Between Formal and Informal Seed Systems in the Conventional Setting.
Note: Dashed arrows visualize interactions between the formal and informal seed systems.
The interactions between the formal and informal systems can be
characterized as follows:
●
Conservation and development organizations recognize community bio-
diversity as a means to contribute to in situ conservation and on-farm
management of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, and
to enhance the resilience of farming systems (Sthapit et al. 2008; Jarvis
et al. 2011). These types of interactions foster the use of local and
traditional varieties, and thereby may result in strengthening the infor-
mal seed system (De Boef et al. 2010). However, they may also result
in the use of local varieties in participatory plant breeding by identi-
fying the criteria and materials for breeding programs as illustrated in
Andean countries (Almekinders, Thiele, & Danial 2007) and at a global
level (Ceccarelli, Guimarães, & Weltzien 2009), improvement of local vari-
eties in response to market opportunities such as illustrated in Nepal
(Gyawali et al. 2010), or promotion of local varieties in local seed busi-
ness development as illustrated in Ethiopia (Abay, de Boef, & Bjørnstad
2011).
●
An increasing number of international and national breeding programs
involve farmers in various stages of the breeding cycle (Witcombe et al.
1996; Almekinders & Elings 2001; Ceccarelli, Guimarães, & Weltzien 2009),
with further implications for varietal release (Witcombe & Virk 1997),
as well as for production and marketing of seed of varieties (Bishaw &
Turner, 2007; Aw-Hassan, Mazid, & Salahieh 2008) and structure of formal
and informal seed value chains (Almekinders, Thiele, & Danial 2007).
●
Farmer participation in release committees and the inclusion of
participatory varietal selection in variety testing procedures are examples
of further integration at the level of variety release (Almekinders & Elings
2001; Louwaars 2002; Witcombe & Virk 1997).
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50 N. P. Louwaars and W. S. de Boef
seed selection
production
diffusion
genetic resources
breeding
release
multiplication
marketing
Agro-dealers and
marketing
networks, and
voucher systems
Local seed business
development
Specialized units or
producer groups
for early
generation seed
Participatory varietal
selection and farmer
representation
Participatory plant
breeding
FIGURE 4 Integration Between Formal and Informal Seed Systems in an Integrated Setting
Including Examples.
Note: Dashed arrows visualize linkages between the formal and informal seed systems, each further
elaborated by examples.
●
Enhanced technical knowledge can improve on-farm storage of seed
(Almekinders & Louwaars 1999; Latournerie-Moreno et al. 2006).
●
Farmers are increasingly recognized as strategic partners for reaching seed
security and an increasing number of farmers buy commercial seed of their
food crops from emerging small-scale seed enterprises. As such, farmers
are supported in commercial seed production and marketing (MacRobert
2009; De Boef & Thijssen 2010; Neate & Guei 2011), with implications for
the structure of the seed value chain, for example, addressing the supply
of early-generation seed, seed quality-control mechanisms and structure of
seed marketing promotion programs driven by the government, donors,
or NGOs (African Union 2011).
●
The role of agro-dealers and marketing networks is increasingly being
recognized in seed sector development, thereby enforcing market forces
for dissemination at a local level (MacRobert 2009). Voucher systems can
be instrumental in transformation from relief to market-orientated system
of seed and variety dissemination (Longley 2006).
Figure 4 outlines interactions between formal and informal seed systems and
provides some examples.
DEVELOPMENT AND MARKET ORIENTATION OF SEED
VALUE CHAIN
In the 1970s, in the context of the Green Revolution and its transfer of
technology paradigm, formal seed systems were promoted in order to boost
agricultural production and productivity. The Green Revolution is not merely
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Integrated Seed Sector Development in Africa 51
based on the availability of quality seed of modern varieties; rather it could
only became successful when technology introduction was embedded in
a broader programme investing in agricultural infrastructure and farmers’
capacities in entrepreneurship, and enabling policies for input and output
prices. In sub-Saharan Africa, as with the rest of the developing world,
the orientation of the formal system originally was primarily public. The
justification for public investment was that seed was regarded as a cru-
cial agent for technology transfer, ensuring farmers would benefit from
one of the major technologies becoming available: high-yielding varieties.
Consequently, quality seed of such varieties was produced and distributed
to farmers. The Seed Industry Development Programme, led by the Food
and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, assisted many countries
in setting up seed farms, contract grower schemes, and seed conditioning
and processing plants for their major food crop seed (Feistritzer 1984).
The Green Revolution, with its initial focus on development, stimulated
the building of centralized seed production units in many countries as pub-
lic institutions or state enterprises. Their structure was along the lines of
the successful private seed industries of Europe and North America. Formal
seed systems subsequently developed specialized in-house and, later, inde-
pendent seed quality-control institutions to create quality awareness among
both seed producers and customers, and to safeguard the interests of farm-
ers. These were also similar to the official seed certification agencies in
North America and Europe. However, a crucial difference between private
seed industry in the north and the public seed systems in sub-Saharan
Africa was that the seed value chain in the latter was development ori-
ented rather than profit oriented; seed was primarily distributed and not
marketed. Varieties were developed within (international) public institutions,
released through public research institutions, and then seed was produced
and disseminated through public (extension) organizations. Consequently,
the breeding component was driving the chain (see Figure 5, left-hand side).
In the 1980s and 1990s, however, seed policies followed the general
economic trends of structural adjustment, which forced the transformation
of public seed units into private or public market and profit-oriented seed
enterprises. Such private orientation r esulted in a shift in focus toward just a
few commercially interesting crops and a more exclusive client base, notably
(hybrid) maize seed for commercial farmers. The private-sector interest in
the maize seed and breeding sector has shown major weaknesses in pub-
lic research and seed systems (Setimela et al. 2009). Remaining and often
weakened public breeding programs that are responsible for other major
food (non-maize) crops are unable to disseminate their varieties to farm-
ers upon release. The seed value chain for major food crops (other cereals,
pulses, and oil crops) lacks the seed production component, as shown in
Figure 5 (right-hand side). In many cases, NGOs began operating in this vac-
uum; in other cases, research centers chose to work directly with farmers in
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52 N. P. Louwaars and W. S. de Boef
Breeding
Seed
Production
Dissemination
Marketing
Breeding
Seed
Production
Dissemination
Marketing
Green Revolution
• Seed is a technology
transfer agent
• Government should
provide farmers with
improved seed
• Investment in
infrastructure and
capacities
Structural adjustment
• Withdrawal of public
sector
• Privatization of seed
services
• Seed production of
commercial crops
only
• Varieties remain on
shelves of public
breeding institutes
FIGURE 5 The Effect of Structural Adjustment on the Development-Oriented Seed Value
Chain.
disseminating their varieties. Emerging small-scale seed enterprises, or local
seed businesses, aim to fill this gap in the seed value chain for many food
crops (Thijssen et al. 2008; De Boef & Thijssen 2010; De Boef et al. 2010;
Neate & Guei 2011).
The transformation from development to market orientation proved
much more difficult than expected, largely because of the shift in “driver”
needed for such a transition. In development-oriented seed chains, as high-
lighted above, it is the breeding component that drives the chain. Seed
production and marketing are necessary to take new varieties to as many
farmers as possible. In commercial seed systems, the marketing component
takes primary lead in the chain (MacRobert 2009; O’Connor Funk 2009).
Even though the basic components are the same (breeding, seed production,
marketing), developmental and commercial seed systems are fundamen-
tally different, as illustrated in Figure 6. Insufficient appreciation of this
difference is an important reason for the fact that many attempts to com-
mercialize the public seed production infrastructure have failed (Louwaars
2007). Consequently, plural pathways to (Scoones & Thompson 2011) or
integrated approaches for seed sector development are advocated that cre-
ate room for both development and market orientation, and thereby create
space for multiple approaches better matching the multiple seed systems,
instead of one single approach built primarily on the “maize model” (Smale,
Byerlee, & Jayne 2011).
ISSD PRINCIPLE: DEVELOPMENT AND MARKET ORIENTED
SEED CHAINS
The second ISSD principle is to accept and work with both public-
(development) and private-oriented (market) seed chains, ensuring that the
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Integrated Seed Sector Development in Africa 53
Breeding
Seed
Production
Dissemination
Marketing
Development and
food security = drivers
Market and profit =
drivers
Crops:
• Food security
• Farmer saved
• Vegetatively propagated
• Low multiplication factor
Crops:
• High value and market
(flowers, exotic
vegetables)
• No competition of
farmer saved seed
(hybrids)
• Seed quality complex
to maintain
FIGURE 6 Development Versus Market Orientation of the Seed Value Chain.
comparative advantages and interactions of each are used to their full advan-
tage for achieving an integrated seed sector, thereby contributing to the
overarching objectives of food security, economic development, the pro-
motion of agricultural entrepreneurship, and biodiversity conservation and
use. The development- and market-oriented chains are the same; however,
flows of information and decision-making processes are distinctively differ-
ent. In addition, while the public system focuses on seed production to meet
national targets, private production is based on sales figures and predictions.
Figure 6 shows the clear distinction between the types of crops promoted by
the public system (major food crops) and the private system, which focuses
on profitable seed products (high value crops, hybrids). The ISSD princi-
ple is to accept that each chain has to play an important role in seed sector
development, i.e. instead of taking a linear approach (Douglas 1980) adopt a
pluralistic approach and promote complementary seed sector development
pathways in response to the variation, as is characteristic of agriculture in
Africa (De Boef et al. 2010).
In an ISSD framework, different types of entrepreneurship can be
supported. It avoids making a priori choices for any type of seed value
chain.
●
Large-scale seed companies, which operate internationally, promote the
most commercial crops by providing their varieties and their business
skills, including the development of distribution channels. These compa-
nies mainly deal with just a few commercial crops (hybrids, vegetables,
and GMOs) and target customers who are farmers that can manage
their environmental variation well through the use of mechanical land
preparation, fertilizers, pesticides, etc.
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54 N. P. Louwaars and W. S. de Boef
●
Seed companies that o perate nationally target highly commercialized and
medium-level farmers as primary customers, initially by providing good
seed of varieties bred by the public research system, possibly with some
level of exclusivity. Their product range includes some food and indus-
trial crops. These companies may be privatized public enterprises or seed
companies established by local investors.
●
Local seed businesses, developed by advanced farmers or farmers’ groups,
emerge at different levels of proficiency, bridging the divide between
advanced informal and emerging formal. These farmers’ groups may ini-
tially produce seed for their own use or for larger enterprises as contract
farmers, or they may develop their own seed marketing organization.
Because of lower overheads and transport costs, such local seed busi-
nesses are able to provide farmers with a broad range of seed products
that would not be profitable enough for larger companies.
●
Finally, agro-industries, such as oil mills, breweries, cotton ginneries,
and flower traders, interfere and, in most cases, control seed business
in order to make sure that their main operations are fed with the right
type of produce. This kind of involvement develops into rather closed-
value, chain-based seed operations that focus on the producers supplying
the chain.
All these different types of seed entrepreneurship can contribute to
providing the total amount of seed needed in the country, and public policy
needs to find ways to support and regulate them based on their needs and
limitations.
ISSD GUIDELINE: GENERAL OVERVIEW
The final consideration of the ISSD concept is to understand and define the
systems in each country, or specific area, using the following guidelines:
●
Recognize the existence and consequent relevance of the informal seed
system.
●
Facilitate the integration of informal and formal seed systems.
●
Endorse and support a pluralistic approach to seed sector development
involving private and public systems and civil society, and create room
for a diversity of international, national, and local seed businesses to
contribute their strengths and operate in their specific niches.
●
Recognize the driving forces as being food security, economic devel-
opment, promotion of agricultural entrepreneurship, and biodiversity
management.
●
Define a range of seed systems and structure them for the seed value
chain.
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Integrated Seed Sector Development in Africa 55
●
Design programs built upon a variation of seed systems.
●
Design enabling policies that foster pluralistic approaches in seed sys-
tems evolving in response to the dynamic nature of seed sectors in
development.
ISSD provides an integrated view of the roles of seed in agricultural
development in the widest sense. It avoids blueprint solutions and simplistic
one-directional ideas about what an ideal seed sector should look like and
how to achieve it. Such linear approaches have been dominating seed poli-
cies and programs for the last 50 years. ISSD basically provides a framework
in which countries can fit in their own particular situations and into which
evolving developments can be fitted. As such it also provides guidance to
development partners in public, private, and civil society to identify gaps
and opportunities for strengthening the diversity of seed systems in parallel.
ISSD can help circumvent clashes between those who promote the devel-
opment of the international private system, those who focus on promoting
local-level seed entrepreneurship, and those who focus their efforts on pro-
moting agro-biodiversity to enhance resilience. ISSD-based seed policies
allow governments to channel their investments and those of their partners,
and provide a basis for regulatory frameworks that support diversified seed
systems in their country, notably through seed laws, breeders’ rights, and
biodiversity laws, and within each create several options for implementation.
In this way, the ISSD concept provides an important basis for the African
Seed and Biotechnology Program, headed by the African Union (2008; 2011),
by promoting coherence among practices, programs, and policies for seed
sector development at a continental level.
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