July 14, 2023

Laws and regulations enabling and restricting Africa’s vegetable seed sector
Authors: Katrin A. Kuhlmanna, Tara Francis, Indulekha Thomas & Pepijn Schreinemachers
International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability 
Volume 21, 2023 - Issue 1
(Taylor & Francis Online)
Article: 2210005 | Received 01 May 2022, Accepted 28 Apr 2023, Published online: 10 May 2023

ABSTRACT

“Farmers in sub-Saharan Africa do not have much choice of quality seed of vegetable cultivars adapted to local growing conditions and consumer demand. Only a handful of vegetable seed companies invest in local breeding research, while nearly all rely on seed imports. Our objective was to analyse to what extent existing seed laws and regulations enable or restrict the development of a research-based vegetable seed sector in Africa. Using a regulatory value chain approach, we analysed written laws and regulations for 13 countries and interviewed private and public sector stakeholders. We generally find that countries have taken a government-centred approach to seed quality control without recognizing that government agencies have little capacity to do this properly for vegetable crops. Mandatory Value for Cultivation and Use (VCU) trials and state-controlled seed certification are the two examples of regulatory approaches that may work for cereals but are not well suited for vegetables. No country has vegetable breeding as a goal in their national seed policy, and only four set out specific objectives for the vegetable seed sector. Tailoring seed policies, laws and regulations more specifically to vegetables could stimulate local variety development and seed production and benefit smallholder farmers and consumers at large.

Click on the following link to access the content: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14735903.2023.2210005

Website: http://www.africa-seeds.org/en/

Published: August 4, 2023