Public Private Partnership in bean seed
systems in Africa is key to sustainability
Jean Claude Rubyogo, Enock
Maereka, NARS, and CIAT Colleagues
.
CIAT APR, 22-26 June 2015

Variety release
Phase Period Number of
varieties
Phase 1-4 Before 2000 284
Phase 5 2001-2004 96 (380)
Phase 6 2004-2008 119
Phase 7 2009-2014 238
357 in the last ten years)

1
2
3
4 Certified seed 2
Farmers
Certified Seed 1
(Private seed
producers )
Basic seeds (NARS )
Breeder seeds (NARS )
Farmers
5 Traders
Centralized seed system (before 2004)

Some challenges before 2004
 Limited information/knowledge on varieties
and seed systems (centralized and
decentralized)
 Inadequate supply and limited diversity of
seed sources
 Limited client oriented seed marketing
(centralized)
 Inefficiency in the seed production
 Delays in availing varieties to farmers:
◦ Delays in variety use after release

1
2
3
4
Certified seeds (large
and small packs) using
market and non market
channels
Farmers
Quality Declared Seed (QDS)
by local seed producers
(individual or groups –supported
by Development partners (GOs,
NGOs, CBOs etc.)
Basic seed 2
(Private seed
producers)
Pre-basic seed (NARS/ Private sector
)
Breeder seed (NARS)
Farmers5 Traders
Integrated Seed System for wider impact (2004)
Inclusion of Quality Declared

Use of certified bean seed (% area
sown) in selected African countries
Country 2004 2010 2014
Ethiopia <1 5.4 15.6
Kenya <2 3.4 5.9
Malawi <1 5.2 5.2
Uganda 3.6 6.3 8.9

Multi-functional partnership
established
33
6 6
75
50
8
19
125
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
Private Seed
companies
Public Seed
enterpries
Individual Seed
entrepreneurs
Farmers
organizations
Numberofbeanseedproducers
Categories of seed producers
Evolution of number of common bean producers in
ESA, by category of actors (2007-2013)
2009 2013

Increased bean productivity:
case of Ethiopia (2004/5-
2013/14).
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
1.6
Productivity(tons/ha)
Years
More than
70% increase
in bean
productivity:
from 0.861
tons per ha to
1.49 tons per
ha between
2004 and
2014.
Reliable grain market pulls use
of quality seed, improved
agronomic practices, grain

Trend of bean production in
Ethiopia
211,347
138,422
222,701
241,418
329,775
362,890
340,280
387,802
455,115
-
50,000
100,000
150,000
200,000
250,000
300,000
350,000
400,000
450,000
500,000
2004/5 2005/6 2006/7 2007/8 2008/9 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2013/14
Pdoduction(tons)
Year

Trend of bean export revenue in
Ethiopia
8,145,673
20,222,285
34,643,744
44,746,960
49,046,076
49,656,920
59,274,028
75,861,072
83,305,950
-
10,000,000
20,000,000
30,000,000
40,000,000
50,000,000
60,000,000
70,000,000
80,000,000
90,000,000
2005/6 2006/7 2007/8 2008/9 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14
Revenue(USD)
Year
Export revenue (USD)

COMPARING PRODUCTVITY, LAND UNDER BEANS AND TOTAL
PRODUCTION: RWANDA

The PPPs process
Generating and
disseminating lessons
learned for scaling up
Participatory evaluation
and performance
tracking
Scheduling activities
around seed
production, variety
promotion and seed
distribution
Making available
breeder seed of
preferred variety
(ies) to seed
companies and
support services.
Building of
partnership to scale
up seed supply
Demand creation
for improved
varieties
1
2
3
6
5
4

Adoption of innovative approaches for
fast and efficient distribution of bean
seed.
 Sale of seed in small
pocket-friendly packs
 Wider impact strategy
 Convenient and
affordable access by
farmers
 Affordable testing of new
varieties
 Diversity of bean varieties
accessed

Increasing demand of quality bean seed pulled
by differentiated /profitable grain
market/nutrition
As result of intensive demand creation, farmers
increasingly realizing the value of varieties and
their utilization

Increased bean seed production:
case of CEDO – Uganda (2010-
2013).
149.1
171.8
301.3
380.4
-
50.0
100.0
150.0
200.0
250.0
300.0
350.0
400.0
2010 2011 2012 2013
Amount(tons)ofbeanseed
produced
Year

Some constraints of private seed
companies
 Limited availability of breeder/basic
seed from NARS
 Inadequate knowledge on quality bean
seed production/post harvest and
business/marketing skills
 Inadequate capacity of seed services
to inspect seed fields

Cost sharing - breeder
 1: 3 seed ratio:
(DARS 1 and
private company : 3
)
 In kind payment
(breeder seed
equivalent)
 Contracting
arrangement
Dr. Reuben Otsyula
KALRO

Breeder Seed Production (kg)
Year 2013 2014 2015
DARS-EX Agris
(Malawi)
55 1,563 2,500
KALRO–Bubayi
(Kenya)
2,000 3,600 23,000
Total 2,055 5,163 25,500

Results: basic seed ( tons)
Year 2013 2014 2015
DARS-EX Agris 0.8 15.0 36.2
KALRO –
Bubayi
30.0 72.0
Total 0.8 45.0 108.2

What did PABRA (NARS/CIAT)
bring on board?
 Facilitate the partnerships between NARS
and private companies
 Technical backstopping, training on bean
seed pre and post harvest technologies
and seed business
 Facilitate linkages between certified seed
producers and basic/breeder seed
producers
 Supportive messages on utilization e.g.
nutrition messages (iron and zinc) or
marketability
 Engagement with policy makers (national

Future plans
 Explore the possibility of co-owning the
released varieties (rather than being NARS
sole property ) – management/sharing the IP
(CIAT/NARS/private seed companies)
 Bring in the private sector on board before the
release and grant exclusive/non exclusive!!
rights
 Private sector to pay some royalties to support
breeding or nucleus seed production
 Integrating QDS and support to private
companies (for synergies and impact )
What are sustainable institutional mixes for
delivering and out-scaling seed and
complementary technologies?

Seed system support Innovations under
Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable
Agriculture (SFSA)
 Strengthen multiple varieties release across
countries – for economy of scale –wider
market/cross border seed trade
 Facilitate variety licensing to seed companies
and wider commercialization of bean seed
 Fine-tune and deploy embedded crop
insurance in the seed price to pull the use of
certified seed (two students) PABRA/CCAFS-
UoN
 Marketing test and scale up use of seed
dressing systemic Apron Star (fungicide
+insecticide) – pull seed ?

Other areas to expand seed
systems/ICM
 Mechanization of
small and medium
holders
◦ Participatory testing and
strengthen supply value
 Production efficiency
◦ Weed control –
strengthen supply chain
◦ Environment effects??
◦ Soil fertility (foliar
feed/boosters!!)

Thank you