More than 350 representatives from governments, research institutions and seed production companies gathered in Kenya this week to address the challenge of providing high-quality seeds to African farmers. Experts say a lack of quality seeds is hampering food production across the continent and pushing many countries into a hunger crisis.
According to the United Nations agency, more than 280 million people in Africa are food insecure, and more than 1 billion of them cannot afford healthy diets.
One of the problems is that many African farmers do not have access to high-quality seeds, leading to higher rates of crop failure.
Daniel Forrest with the African Seed Trade Association. He said delegates meeting in Mombasa were working to resolve some of the challenges.
“We’re talking about Africa, a region that’s currently grappling with issues like false seeds and fake seeds,” Agan said. “Some people call it fake seeds. We’re talking about plant health. How healthy are those certified seeds grown in any environment? And then we’re also talking about seed movement. That’s been one of the great elephants. In a sense, the space for seeds to move from one country to another has been a very, very big problem.”
In October 2022, Kenya approved the use of GMOs after a ten-year ban. However, the lifting of the ban has worried neighboring countries, which are skeptical of genetically modified seeds and products.
Tanzania said it would monitor its borders to prevent any such food from Kenya entering the country.
Charles Miller, a board member of the African Seed Trade Association, said countries would benefit if they could coordinate policies to allow seeds to move smoothly across borders.
“We work together as an industry to lobby for this coordination,” Miller said. “For example, we have the ability to produce seeds in Kenya and ship them to Tanzania or even Senegal at any time when needed, under the same rules and regulations, it It makes the business model more transparent and clear. It also provides more security on the other side of the production schedule.”
Another problem is the lack of seeds that can thrive in harsh conditions such as drought. Justin Rakotoarisaona is the Association’s Secretary General. He said there wasn’t enough money for researchers to produce more seeds that could overcome Africa’s changing climate patterns.
“By research, I mean the development of new varieties, the public sector budget is allocated to this less and less, and there is no plant variety protection in Africa,” said Rakotu Ali Saona. “Yes, but it is very difficult to implement. This means the private sector may have no incentive to produce or develop varieties because there is no return on investment.”
Charles Miller is also head of strategic alliances at Solynta, a company that specializes in breeding hybrid potatoes, a cross between two inbred potato lines. He said his company’s product is an example of the benefits advanced seeds can bring to African farmers.
“It’s very innovative that we’re producing hybrid potatoes and delivering these new genes through real seeds,” Miller said. “Unlike traditional tuber seeds, you can store our seeds for long periods of time without refrigeration. You can transport them very easily…so the effort, effort and sustainability of using our seeds are reduced The sexual angle is significantly higher than the traditional system”.
Currently, seed policies in much of Africa remain stuck in the status quo.
COMESA, the regional grouping for the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, has introduced rules to harmonize seed trade, but only seven of 21 countries have ratified the regulations.
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