| dc.description.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. | en_US |