West African Seed Alliance to improve incomes of
smallholder farmers
Bamako, Oct. 5, Ghanadot/GNA
- Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) on Monday
entered into partnership with the Economic Community of West
African States (ECOWAS) and United States Agency for
International Development (USAID) to establish the West
African Seed Alliance (WASA).
The Alliance aimed at raising yields and incomes of
smallholder farmers in the sub-region by increasing their
access to improved, locally adapted varieties of major food
crops identified.
It includes the African Seed Trade Association (AFSTA), to
promote a sustainable commercial seed industry focused on
ensuring that smallholder farmers in the sub-region had
affordable, timely and reliable access to good quality seeds
and planting materials.
Signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on behalf of
AGRA, its President Dr Namanga Ngongi, said WASA being
implemented by the International Crop Research Institute for
the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), would work closely with
West African governments and regional organisations to
implement policies that would encourage private sector
investments in local seed production and stimulate the
increase adoption of improved high-quality seed and
complementary inputs.
He explained that though USAID support to WASA started in
2007, the MOU was to reinforce the alliance.
AGRA in 2007 initiated a 150 million- dollar programme to
import improved varieties of rice, maize, millet, sorghum
and other food staples to millions of Africa’s smallholder
farmers.
Dr Ngongi noted that there was the need to institute
structures to ensure that production of seeds met the
required climate of the sub-region and “where irrigation is
required, we work with the private sector to meet the
production”.
He explained that farmers in the sub-region only cultivated
about a hectare to three hectares, and did not use improved
seeds of varieties of locally bred materials with the
exception of cotton and cocoa.
These farmers, Dr Ngongi said relied on poor quality seeds
from previous harvests and crop yields were quiet low and
did not often provide enough food for their families let
alone having surplus to sell or stored for consumption in
future.
Dr Joe DeVries, Director of AGRA’s Seed Programme said the
livelihoods of smallholder farmers in West Africa were
directly linked to a modernised agriculture, hence, the need
for public-private sector partnership to ensure a successful
agricultural enterprise.
Mr Bemi Teme, President of Malian Institute of Economic
Research alluded to the saying “no seed no yield” and urged
WASA to work hard to enrich activities of agricultural
institutions.
GNA
