Yet amid global debates on achieving food security and better rural livelihoods, this issue is often given only peripheral attention.
Throughout Africa, seeds are expensive, of poor quality and difficult to access due to trade barriers. With a swelling global population and projected future yield losses due to climate change, we need to step one level down the production chain and pay adequate attention to this most primary of agricultural inputs: the seed security means that farmers, especially smallholder farmers, enjoy uninterrupted access to quality seeds and new varietals at fair prices and at the right time.
For this reason, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has recently agreed to implement a new harmonized seed regulatory system, which should make it easier for for seeds to be sold across borders, with less bureaucracy and cheaper goods. The agreement comes after more than 10 years of research and policy negotiations among the 15 SADC member sates.
The new system is to be piloted in four countries – Malawi, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe – over the next four years, overseen by the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) and funded through a $4.1m grant from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.
The four pilot countries will now begin the process of implementing the new system by aligning domestic and regional policies in regard to seed production and distribution. The pilot will give the SADC a chance to assess and address what it takes to implement the new policy. For example, staff in the seed inspection and certifying offices will require training on the new nomenclature under the regional protocol, laboratories will need to be refurbished and upgraded, a seed variety catalogue needs to be developed for the whole region and some new regulations will need amending.
Source: Africa Daily
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