Advertisement
Seed certification and marketing policies in Mali: Do farmers actually benefit?
Seed certification and marketing policies in Mali: Do farmers actually benefit?
Upcoming SlideShare
ICRISAT Seed Systems: Seed Systems: Models & Lessons Learned.ICRISAT Seed Systems: Seed Systems: Models & Lessons Learned.
Loading in ... 3
1 of 2
Advertisement

More Related Content

Slideshows for you(19)

Similar to Seed certification and marketing policies in Mali: Do farmers actually benefit?(20)

Advertisement

More from ICRISAT(20)

Advertisement

Seed certification and marketing policies in Mali: Do farmers actually benefit?

  1. Seed certification and marketing policies in Mali: do farmers actually benefit? Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is a rapidly developing region of over 800 million people, but its population is projected to reach 1.5 billion people with profound implications for agricultural production and food security. unregulated traditional and informal seed systems because farmer associations find the certification process quite lengthy and they hardly afford the associated certification costs. On average, the certification of one ton of sorghum seeds, for instance, costs almost US$146 for both field inspections and laboratory operations. These costs are too expensive for most farmer cooperatives, and particularly prohibitive for individual farmers. Given this challenge, although farmers still register as seed producers, they often continue to sell their seed via informal networks without any quality control, which affects crop yields and undermines the effort to promote improved varieties and to adapt to the changing agricultural conditions. To help deal with these challenges, private enterprises have recently begun partnering with farmer associations; the private enterprises pay for the seed production and certification costs and buy the resulting seeds from the farmers. The aim of this partnership is to decentralize and increase the number of seed distribution points at the community level, improve the quality of the seed and help professionalize small-scale seed production and distribution. Sustainable agricultural intensification is seen as a serious option in the SSA region for satisfying 2050 global food requirements. At the same time, many challenges still hinder crop intensification in the region. Although agriculture constitutes approximately 40% of the gross domestic product in Mali, and seeds are the basic input of farming, the seed market still remains underdeveloped. In the last two decades many high- yielding and short-duration varieties (e.g., fada, lata, grinkan, fleur11 and icgv86124), both for food and cash crops have been released. However, despite the potential of these varieties, only small quantities of their certified seed are available to farmers in local markets because the approach to seed management is disconnected from the context at the local level. Seed management is organized around (i) research entities to create foundation seed, and (ii) farmers’ associations and some private seed companies multiplying and disseminating the new cultivars. Despite a growing seed multiplication movement during the last decade, the gaps still persist in the sector. In Mali, seed production, distribution and use are guided by the new agricultural development framework – Loi d’Orientation Agricole – a policy enacted in 2006 to promote sustainable and competitive agriculture. Following this Seed Law, when offered for sale, seeds must be certified with an official label indicating the kind and variety, germination rate, date of testing etc. Any seed that is not properly labeled is not supposed to be sold. This Seed Law aims to achieve increased agricultural productivity and improved seed dissemination, and to facilitate farmers’ access to high quality seed. Although a Seed Law is enacted with positive goals, the majority of farmers continue to rely on their traditional seed. More than 80% of the seed used still comes from the
  2. But there are challenges with this arrangement too. For instance, the agreement between seed producers and private enterprises does not allow for direct trade, so seed farmers cannot sell their production to their peers. At the same time, the private enterprises sell the certified seeds at a relatively higher price than most smallholder farmers can afford. Furthermore, with private companies buying all the seed, seed producers do not develop the necessary skills and knowledge to properly market their seed (e.g., determining market preference, developing mechanisms of price formation, and strategies of advertising, packaging and branding). As a result, many formal seed producers begin to see themselves simply as service providers to the private enterprises, and yet again the majority of farmers revert to using the traditional and informal seed systems. In general, although the Seed Law was enacted to facilitate the access of high quality seed to farmers, the majority of the seed used still comes from the traditional systems. The gaps between the national seed framework and the local context hinder the effective implementation of the Seed Law and prevent the farmers from having easy access to clean seed. Through the science policy platforms established in three pilot districts of Mali, namely Bougouni, Koutiala, and Segou, under the Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security (CCAFS) program, lobbying is on-going to inform high-level policy actors on the seed challenges. These actions aim at enhancing the awareness of high-level actors on supporting interventions to improve the living conditions of the most climate- vulnerable by facilitating easy access to good quality seed. 31 ICRISATWestandCentralAfrica | 2015Highlights | Future-proofscienceforupcominggenerations
Advertisement