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February 16, 2009
Source:
SEED INFO, Official Newsletter of the WANA Seed Network - No.
36, January 2009
Ethiopia is an agrarian country.
About 86% of its population resides in rural areas and make a
living from agriculture. Agriculture is the mainstay of the
economy in the traditional mixed crop-livestock production
systems and largely practiced in the middle and highland
agro-ecologies. The agricultural sector is largely
under-developed and dominated by subsistence farmers, focusing
on household food security.
There is a growing demand for improved seeds against a huge
shortage in the country. About 90% of certified seed is supplied
by a subsidized public seed enterprise. Public sector seed
supply remains inadequate to satisfy a constantly growing demand
from farmers. The role of the private sector in the production
and marketing of seeds is low and confined to hybrid maize seed
(25-30%).
A policy change is now in effect to encourage the participation
of domestic and foreign companies in seed production and
marketing of hybrid maize and self-pollinating crops in an
attempt to address the critical shortage of improved seeds. The
new strategy aimed at gradually withdrawing the public sector
from production to regulatory tasks as the private sector
develops and expands to take over seed production and marketing.
There is growing interest of the private sector to engage in
seed production and marketing illustrated by the recent
expansion of investments in commercial private farms in
different parts of the country. Nevertheless, efforts have been
isolated and beset with a number of policy and technical
constraints. To date the private sector is too weak to take off
the ground and make the anticipated contribution unless
organized and backstopped by a strong policy environment.
The establishment of a national seed trade association was one
essential component lacking in efforts to strengthening the
private sector. The Ethiopian Seed Trade Association
(ESTA) was established in 2005. To date it has only managed
draft bylaws and obtain legal status. The slow progress and weak
performance stemmed from lack of vision, clear work-plan,
commitment and strong leadership.
ESTA, reinforced with the election of new five-member board in
June 2007. The board has sets the annual plan of action and
seeks financial support to kick-start activities. The
association is currently undertaking the following activities:
(i) establishing an office with essential facilities and forming
an office management team; (ii) creating a forum for members and
non-members to discuss policy and technical issues; (iii)
delivering services to members; (iv) training of members; and
(v) linking ESTA to African Seed Trade Association.
Objectives
The objectives of ESTA are as follows:
• To promote the use of improved
quality seed conforming to national and international quality
standards
• To promote the development of seed industry for improving crop
production in Ethiopia, in Africa, and the world
• To represent the interests of the seed industry in Ethiopia
and internationally
• To improve communication between the seed industry in Ethiopia
and the world
• To promote activities that lead to regulatory harmonization in
Ethiopia, Africa, and other regions to facilitate seed movement
• To interact with national and international organization
involved in seed activities to promote the interests of the seed
industry
• To improve communication between seed suppliers in Ethiopia,
Africa and the entire world by providing necessary seed industry
information and holding meetings, seminars, workshops, etc
• To advise relevant government regulatory authorities in
drafting rules and regulations pertaining to seed trade, etc
Membership
Although over 20 firms are licensed to produce seed to date only
the following are registered as members:
- three government farms
(Bale state farm, Awassa state farm, Coffee plantation),
- Ethiopian Seed Enterprise,
- Pioneer Hi-Bred Seeds Ethiopia, and
- 10 local private seed companies.
by Melaku Admasu, Pioneer
Hi-bred Seeds Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; E-mail:
melakua@ethionet.et
RELATED NEWS FROM
SEED INFO, Official Newsletter of the WANA Seed Network - June
2007 June 2007
BIRTH OF THE ETHIOPIAN SEED TRADE ASSOCIATION (ESTA)
By Mr. Techane Adugna, MinAgri, Ethiopie
E-mail:
tadugna2002@yahoo.com
Ethiopia has high potential for
agricultural development with a total area of 113 millions
hectares out of which
73.45 millions hectares (65%) arable arable. The area under
major crops is about 7 millions hectares (9.5%).
The main food crops include cereals, legumes and oil seeds.
Cereals occupy 80 to 85% of the total cultivated
area, followed by legumes and oil seeds The smallholder farmers,
almost exclusively dominate the agricultural sector of the
country. They account for about 96% of total land cultivated and
more than 95% of all food
crops produced. Although smallholder farmers produce the bulk of
crops, the production and productivity are very
low. The main reason is restricted use of inputs, notably
improved seeds and fertilizers. The use of seed of poor
genetic potential is one of the contributing factors for low
productivity. Over 95% of seed sources come from farmsaved seed
of non-improved land races. The total seed requirement
(potential demand) is estimated at 400,000 to 500,000 Metric
tons of the major cereal crops. However, the amount of improved
seed supply is very small i.e. about 22,000 Metric tons or about
6% of the potential demand for all crops per year. This
indicates that only few farmers have access to seeds of improved
public varieties. The existence of such an enormous gap
between potential and effective demand can be considered as the
major indicator for the existence of
huge potential market for seed in the country.
The Government policy and strategy are aimed at broadening the
agricultural production by improving the
support to research, extension, infrastructure, irrigation and
above all the private sector. There is favorable
policy environment for the development of seed industry in the
country.
Although the policy environment is conducive, the participation
of the private sector is not to the level expected due to
reasons mainly associated with lack of capital, limited
technical know-how about seed and lack of confidence in the
business.
Different public research centers and universities are involved
in the seed variety development. Currently,
about 390 varieties (including cereals, pulses, oil and fiber
crops, vegetable and forage crops) are released
and registered under the regulatory body. However, many of the
released crop varieties are not multiplied
for commercial distribution mainly due to a weak linkage between
research and seed growers.
Formal seed production is mainly in the hand of the Ethiopian
Seed Enterprise (ESE), which is one of the
public enterprises involved in the production, seed quality
control, distribution and marketing of both
foundation and commercial seeds. It mainly produces under
contract arrangement with farmers and commercial seed growers.
Limited private companies like Pioneer Hi-Bred Seeds and some
commercial seed growers are involved in the production of
limited quantity of seeds with about 8% of the total certified
seed supply annually.
It has been noted that the existing private and public companies
produce limited amount of seed that do not
cope with the growing demand in the country. In addition, seed
production is faced with substandard
seed quality, lack of facilities and equipments, absence of an
organized seed system, loose coordination
among stakeholders.
In view of the above, the Ethiopian seed stakeholders got
organized to set up the Ethiopian Seed Trade
Association (ESTA) whose objectives are mainly to work in
partnership with the policy makers to address
these constraints in order to improve the supply of environment
where the private sector will operate more
efficiently. With the funding from the French Government, the
launch workshop of the association in which 25
persons participated, was held on June 13, 2007 at the Hilton
Hotel in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia.
The Secretary General of the African Seed Trade Association
(AFSTA), Mr. Justin Rakotoarisaona stated
during his presentation the key elements for the good
functioning of seed association and gave practical
advice for its management. He insisted, among others, that the
association should consider as a priority the
establishment of a Secretariat, which is crucial for the success
of the association. He also thanked the French government for
its financial support to the African seed industry for the
creation and the reinforcement of national seed associations in
Africa.
A Board composed of 6 members, chaired by Mr. Melaku Admasu of
Pioneer Hi-Bred Seed Ethiopia, was elected during this launch.
With a view to being networked with the African seed industry
and beyond, the Ethiopian Seed Trade Association considers
joining AFSTA amongst its priorities. |
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