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.

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.
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ICRISATWestandCentralAfrica | 2015Highlights | Future-proofscienceforupcominggenerations