Seed celebration in Tanzania
Tucked under Tanzania’s breathtaking Morogoro hills is a maize demonstration farm where about 450 farmers from neighbouring villages have gathered for a field day. Everyone is in a celebratory mood, swaying and ululating with the music. A stranger might think that the riotous colour and music mean that a big party is on. Well, the stranger would be right!
These farmers have a cause to celebrate. In the midst of the hunger and food insufficiency affecting small-scale farmers in Tanzania this year, farmers in this village doubled – some actually tripled – their maize harvests.
Why celebrate?
Ahmed Tembo explains that he harvested 24 bags of maize in the just-ended season. Until Tanseed International, a Tanzanian seed company, introduced farmers to improved seed varieties, he was able to harvest only 3 bags from his 2-acre plot. The new varieties, he says, have bigger and fuller cobs unlike those he borrowed from his neighbours or collected from previous harvests.
“We got yields beyond our dreams even though we did not apply fertiliser as recommended by the Tanseed extension staff. We would have loved to apply the fertilizer, but could not afford to do so – it has become too expensive,” says Mr Tembo.
Mama Saidi, another farmer, says “I planted my new hybrid maize in mid March. When the rains disappeared at the end of April, I feared massive crop loss as has happened in other years. But this time I harvested 24 bags of maize at the end of July. I was amazed that the crop took only 3 months to mature, whereas previously it took 4 months! These seeds are a wonder – especially considering that the dry season started early this year.
“Seeing a demonstration farm is grand – a miracle! The demonstration shows us what works…we learn by observing and sharing views, then we apply the skills on our farms. Initially, we had so many problems. We didn’t know how to identify the right seeds or the right fertiliser or how to apply it!”
Clapping her hands with joy, Ms Saidi is quick to add, “Through the demonstration we get to see and interact over the different varieties and application of fertilizer.”
Like Ahmed and Mama, most smallholder farmers in Africa face the challenges of unavailability of seed, poor seed distribution networks, ineffective seed promotion and high prices for improved varieties. Furthermore, most farmers lack basic knowledge about fertilizers and selection of appropriate seeds. As a result, they often opt for seeds of inferior quality and lower yield potential, resulting in food insecurity and low incomes.
Seed Production for Africa (SEPA)
Through the SEPA programme, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, AGRA, will assist 40 African seed companies over 10 years to ensure that improved crop varieties are produced and distributed to smallholder farmers through private and public channels, including seed companies like Tanseed, so that farmers can choose to adopt improved seed varieties. To qualify for the grant in this programme, AGRA requires that the seed company employ innovative community-based mechanisms to promote the production and distribution of the seeds.
AGRA’s support will facilitate seed distributors in Africa to reach more farmers in remote places. Both small and medium local companies will be assisted in increasing production of improved crop varieties. For example, Tanseed started its business with only 50 tonnes of seed – but with funding from AGRA, production will increase fivefold to 250 tonnes of maize, pigeonpea and sesame seeds within the first year of support. Importantly, the number of outgrowers producing seeds will undergo a similar expansion.
Tanseed’s outreach to farmers
Tanseed International has established a total of 50 demonstration plots. The company also conducts regularly scheduled field days at every stage of crop growth, dispatches mobile seed shops and participates in agricultural trade shows to exhibit its products. All these efforts are geared towards ensuring that improved crop varieties are promoted and distributed to farmers. Moreover, Tanseed, through funding from AGRA, is recruiting and training 60 agrodealers and stockists of the new varieties in different parts of the country to bring improved seed varieties closer to farmers.
Important to Note
In 2007, grants for seed multiplication issued by AGRA’s Programme for Africa’s Seed Systems (PASS) resulted in the production of approximately 400 tonnes of certified seed, some of which is already benefiting smallholder farmers in eastern and southern Africa.
PASS-funded initiatives conducted 280 on-farm demonstrations of improved seed and other crop management practices.