A presentation on Integrated Seed Sector Development

1. Integrated Seed Sector Development
A systems approach towards seed sector
development in Africa
Marja Thijssen, Wageningen UR
Nairobi, 14 July 2014

2. Integrated Seed Sector Development
Outline:
 Agriculture, ISSD and seed
systems
 ISSD guiding principles
 National program: ISSD Ethiopia
Seed system: Local seed
business
Governance: Partnerships and
innovation
 Continental program: ISSD Africa
 Recap

3. Integrated Seed Sector Development
 Quality seed is a key input for
increasing agricultural production
and productivity
 Seed sector is complex and
farmers gain access to seed from
diverse seed sources
Goal of ISSD:
 Creating vibrant, market-oriented and pluralistic seed
sectors
 Enhancing farmers’ access to quality seed of superior
varieties
 Contributing to food security and economic development

4. Seed systems
Farmers gain access to seed from
diverse seed sources
Characterizing seed systems:
 Domains: public, private, informal,
formal, mixed
 Type of crops: food crops, cash crops
 Type of varieties: landrace, improved,
exotic, hybrid
 Type of seed quality assurance:
informal, QDS, certified, ...
 Seed dissemination mechanism: local
exchange, agro-input distribution
schemes, agro-dealers
National private
companies
Major food and cash
crops
Maize (hybrid and OPV),
sunflower
Improved varieties
through public breeding
Certified
Agro-dealers and input
schemes

5. Informal, intermediary & formal seed systems
Farmer-
saved
Food crops
Cowpea, millets,
sorghum, banana,
cassava
Local varieties and
introduce and
recycled improved
varieties
Farmer seed
farmer-saved and
exchange, local
markets
Community-
based
Major food and cash
crops
Beans, cowpea,
pigeon pea, green
grams, millets,
sorghum, maize,
banana, potato
Local varieties and
introduced and
recycled improved
varieties
Farmer seed
Farmer-saved and
exchanged, local
markets
Relief
Food security
(subsistence) crops
Beans, maize,
cassava
Local, improved and
imported
Various
Free distribution,
voucher schemes
Local Seed
Business
Major food and cash
crops
Beans, rice, maize,
sorghum, potato
Improved varieties
released through
public programmes
Standard, QDS
Distribution and
marketing
National
companies
(public –
private)
Major food and cash
crops
Maize (hybrid and
OPV), sunflower,
brewing sorghum,
wheat, rice
Improved varieties
released through
public programmes
Certified
Marketing through
agro-dealers and
distribution through
input schemes
Multi-
national
companies
Cash crops
Maize (hybrids),
exotic vegetables
Improved varieties
released through
private breeding
companies
Quality
Direct marketing and
through agrodealers
Closed
value chains
Plantation and
greenhouse cash
crops
Sugar cane, tea,
cotton, tobacco,
flowers
Improved varieties
released through
private breeding
programmes
Quality
Seed import for use
within value chain
Informal Intermediary Formal

6. ISSD guiding principles
 Foster pluralism and build
programs upon a diversity of
seed systems
● Every country has its own
landscape of seed systems
● Different seed systems have
different seed value chains
 Promote entrepreneurship and
demand/market orientation
● In formal and informal seed
systems
● In the public and private
sector
•Plant genetic resources
management
•Variety development
•Early generation seed
production
•Seed multiplication
•Seed dissemination
•Seed use

7. ISSD guiding principles
 Facilitate interaction between informal and formal
systems
● Recognize informal seed systems
● Interaction between various components of the
seed value chain
variety
development
EGS
production
seed
multiplication
seed
dissemination
PGR
management
seed selection
production
diffusion
PVS
CBM
Local seed outlets
Seed extension

8. Development
and food
security
drivers
Market and
profit drivers
Developmen
t oriented
ISSD guiding principles
•Plant genetic resources management
•Variety development
•Early generation seed production
•Seed multiplication
•Seed dissemination
•Seed use
 Enhance complementary roles of private and public
sector
● Market and profit drivers versus development and
food security drivers

9. ISSD guiding principles
 Support enabling policies for a dynamic seed
sector
● Policy frameworks supporting multiple seed
systems
● Adaptation of policy frameworks to changing
circumstances
 Promote evidence based seed sector innovation
● Facilitate stakeholder partnerships for
experimentation with innovative approaches
towards institutional bottlenecks
● Collaboration with knowledge institutes for
research and studies

10. Coordinating partners:
 4 Ethiopian universities: Bahir Dar, Haramaya,
Hawassa and Mekelle University
 Oromia Seed Enterprise and the Ethiopian Seed
Association
 Wageningen UR Centre for Development Innovation
Collaborating partners:
 Federal, regional and local government; private
companies, NGOs and seed producer cooperatives
and their partners
Development partner:
 DGIS, the Netherlands
ISSD operationalized in national
programme in Ethiopia

11. Set-up of ISSD Ethiopia programme
Localseedbusiness
Nationalprivateseed
companies
Internationalseed
companies
Supporting a
pluralistic and
market oriented
seed sector
Strengthening
demand driven
seed services
Policy
development
Enabling and
evolving policies
Policy
implementation
Partnerships
and
Innovation
Capacity
development
Experience sharingProcess facilitation
Research and studies

12. ISSD Ethiopia: LSB development
Local Seed Business:
 Supporting farmer groups
 in the development of community-based small
business enterprises
 on the production and marketing of quality seed
 of crops and varieties with high local demand
 Vector for introducing improved varieties
 Production of quality seed of local varieties
 Building capacities in
four key performance
areas

13. ISSD Ethiopia: LSB development
 24 crops and 127 different varieties
 Gradual scaling from 35 groups to over 200 groups
0
5
10
15
20
25
2010 2011 2012 2013
Tigray
SNNPR
Oromia
Amhara
Seed production (excluding potato, in kt/year)

14. ISSD Ethiopia: LSB development
Seed for business:
Ethiopian farmers as seed entrepreneurs
www.youtube.com/user/ISSDethiopia

15. Private
seed
companies
LSBs
Public seed
companies
ISSD
ISSD Ethiopia: Partnerships & innovation
Strengthen seed sector
coordination and facilitate
systemic change:
 Partnership platforms:
unite seed sector stakeholders
 Joint definition and prioritization
of challenges
 Suggestions for interventions
 Innovation projects:
study challenges,
experiment with possible
solutions,
learn lessons, and
feed these into policy
dialogue

16. ISSD Ethiopia: Partnerships & innovation
Platform
LSBs
Policy and enabling
environment
Action learning and
research
Partnership projectUp-scaling
Local-regional interface
Regional-national interface
ExperimentingMonitoring
Learning Strategizing
LOCAL
REGIONAL
FEDERAL
Core group

17. ISSD Ethiopia: Partnerships & innovation
Innovation projects:
 Diverse modalities addressing seed quality:
● Amhara: comparative study on seed quality
● Tigray: seed import regulations
● SNNPR: awareness raising on new seed
proclamation
● Oromia: establishment seed regulatory agency
 Other projects:
● Access to early generation seed
● Access to finance for seed producers
● Seed marketing
● Seed and gender
● Seed related education, training, extension

18. ISSD Ethiopia: Partnerships & innovation
Partnerships in seed sector development in Ethiopia
www.youtube.com/user/ISSDethiopia

19. ISSD Africa
Mali
EthiopiaGhana
Uganda
Malawi
Burundi
Mozambique
Zambia
8 multi-stakeholder country task teams plus
international partners
 Operating under the umbrella of the AUC ASBP

20. ISSD Africa
 ISSD assessments in 8
countries in Africa:
How to make seed
programmes and policies more
coherent with farmers’
practices and realities
 AUC-ASBP
ISSD Communiqué:
“A pluralistic approach to seed
sector development is required
to optimally serve objectives of
food security, economic
development,
entrepreneurship and
biodiversity”

21. National ISSD programmes in Africa
Scaling the ISSD approach in Africa through national
programmes
 Operational in:
● Uganda
 Formulated for:
● Burundi
● Ghana
● Mozambique
● Tanzania
Different programmes with different set-up based upon
national realities and demands

22. ISSD Africa: next phase
 Collaboration with national seed programmes on 4
selected themes, being approached from and ISSD
perspective:
1. Common challenges to promoting seed
entrepreneurship
2. Access to varieties in the public domain
3. Matching global commitments with national
realities
4. Supporting seed sector development in the
context of AUC African Seed and Biotechnology
Programme and NEPAD Comprehensive
Agricultural Development Programme

23. Recap
 Theory of change:
Increasing farmers access to quality seed increases
productivity
Increasing seed access through ISSD, which is a
comprehensive, inclusive and systems approach
Improved productivity leads to food security and
economic development
 Proven success in implementation of the approach in
national programmes in Ethiopia and Uganda
 Endorsement of ISSD approach the AUC at continental
level, with support from a variety of partners at national
and international level

24. Thank you
For more information
please visit:
www.ISSDseed.org