AGRA's Programme for Africa's Seeds Systems (PASS)

Good seed lays the basis for farmers to double or triple their yields. Through its varied responses to different management practices, seed plays a major role in determining the level of investment farmers make in their crops. But across Africa, smallholder farmers have very limited access to responsive, high-yielding, locally adapted varieties of their staple food crops. They must instead rely on low-quality seed that has been saved and reused, degenerating over the course of decades. Poor seed plus poor soil means that African farmers produce only about one-quarter the global average yield.

AGRA’s Program in Africa’s Seed Systems (PASS) works to dramatically increase Africa’s capacity to breed, produce and disseminate quality seed of staple food crops such as maize, rice, cassava, beans, sorghum, millet and other staples. This US$150 million initiative aims to develop seed systems that deliver new crop varieties to smallholder farmers efficiently, equitably and sustainably.

To do so, PASS operates through four sub-programs which form a seed value chain that begins with educating a new generation of plant breeders and seed specialists and ends with improved seed on the shelves of village-level agro-dealers. The four sub-programs are: Education for African Crop Improvement (EACI); Fund for the Improvement and Adoption of African Crops (FIAAC); Seed Production for Africa (SEPA), and the Agro-dealer Development Program (ADP).

PASS operates across the seed value chain to:

· Train plant scientists to breed improved varieties of Africa’s indigenous and staple food crops;

· Build the capacity of national agricultural research systems in the strategic fields of plant breeding and seed production;

· Develop crop varieties (using farmer-participatory methods) that are disease- and pest-resistant, grow well in local environments, able to withstand climatic variations, and meet consumer preferences;

· Support private African seed companies and farmer cooperatives to produce, distribute and market improved seed;

· Strengthen networks of village-based agro-dealers to distribute the seed to remote farmers;

· Strengthen associations of women farmers and farmers generally;

· Develop seed storage and processing capacity;

· Promote policies that accelerate the release of proven new varieties; strengthen seed regulatory systems; eliminate seed trade barriers; and harmonize regional seed laws.

Early Accomplishments (October 2009):

PASS’ work across the seed value chain has already trained over 150 African crop scientists; funded some 60 crop breeding programs; steered 125 new crop varieties into the field; provided start-up capital for 35 African seed enterprises which have collectively produced approximately 15,000 MT of certified seed, nearly all of which sold out within a season; and enlisted 9,200 agro-dealers who have provided smallholder farmers with $45 million worth of seed and farm inputs.

Find out more about PASS’s Early Accomplishments.

Over the next five years, AGRA and its partners aim to:

· Provide PhD fellowships in plant breeding to 80 African scientists (EACI)

· Provide MSc fellowships to up to 170 aspiring African agronomists and strengthen the crop science programs in at least 10 African universities (EACI)

· Develop and release 400 new crop varieties over 10 years (FIAAC)

· Assist over 50 African seed enterprises to serve the needs of smallholder farmers within five years (SEPA)

· Train at least 10,000 well-functioning agro-dealers (ADP)

PASS is a key part of AGRA’s comprehensive approach:

· Conserving diversity: PASS works with smallholder farmers to meet their need for good seed across a range of agro-ecologies, and encompassing a wide variety of crops. Working with and conserving this diversity is a key part of AGRA’s comprehensive approach.

· Spanning the agricultural value chain: When farmers have access to good seed, investments in other farm improvements, such as adoption of integrated soil fertility management and purchase of appropriate fertilizers, make sense.

· Building Public-Private Partnerships: From supporting National Agricultural Research Organizations to new seed companies, the work of PASS builds partnerships between the public and private sectors.

Facts and Figures about Africa’s Seed Systems

· While many developed regions rely on a handful of staple crops such as wheat, rice and maize, African smallholder farmers grow hundreds of varieties of dozens of crops to meet local food needs.

· Agricultural R&D spending in the countries of sub-Saharan Africa between 1981 and 2000 grew at only 0.6 percent per year on average, and declined during the 1990s.

· Prior to the creation of PASS, a study conducted in the West African countries of Nigeria, Ghana, Mali and Benin could identify a total of only eleven seed companies.

· From 1997 to 2007 in West Africa, there was only enough improved maize seed to meet one-third of farmer demand. This masks large difference among countries. In Niger, for example, improved seed covers only 4% of farmer needs.

· Obstacles to developing a robust seed system in Africa include lack of access to capital; only 1 percent of commercial bank financing goes to agriculture.

· Africa suffers from a severe shortage of seed processing equipment. In Northern Ghana, for example, there is only one seed processing unit to service over 50 seed growers.