Opportunities for Quality Seed Production and Diffusion through Integration of the Informal Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

In perpetuating the preferred crop species, seed is exchanged among family members, neighboring communities or between tribes and regions according to customs and practices in many African traditions. Overtime, this form of seed sharing and trade formed the basis of the informal seed system also referred to as the farmer-based system or the traditional system. The majority of farmers in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are resource-poor and operate under myriad of constraints including technological, social, infrastructural and cultural limitations thus are mostly unable to access and source recommended quality crop seeds from the existing formal seed systems. Such seeds are pricey and their distribution channels are geographically limited in SSA. These challenges have partly resulted to the growth and persistence of the informal seed sector in the region. Crops established using poor quality seed lead to low yields and poor quality products. Most of the seeds exchanged in the informal sector do not meet the desired quality recommendations and these setbacks have been attributed to low crop production, disease and pest spread across farms and regions. While it is recognized that the informal sector is key in SSA, the challenge in enforcing quality has not been fully addressed to date. Further, due to overreliance on the formal sector for innovation dissemination, there is slow diffusion of new superior improved seeds. Seed is the most easily adopted innovation for improving agricultural productivity and ensuring food security. Essentially, all other agronomic efforts only enhance the inherent capability of a good seed, thus for greater yields, its quality must be unquestionable. The relative importance of the formal and informal seed suppliers is determined in part by biological and technical factors associated with seed production, multiplication, processing and distribution. The development of the formal seed system alone cannot solve the severe lack of quality planting materials in developing countries especially in SSA where perpetual food insufficiency is the norm. Enhancing the informal seed supply systems in the region could partly be achieved through gradual technical supported integration of the two seed systems and exploiting their synergy benefit at community levels. This review is premised on published work and has attempted to examine existing opportunities for enhancing quality seed production and distribution through integration of the two major systems.