Source: CNFA
http://www.cnfa.org/our-work/our-programs/65-west-african-seed-alliance-wasa 

Project Name and Duration: West Africa Seed Alliance (WASA), October 2007 - October 2012 (Five Years)
Funding Source: USAID
Location: Ghana (Main office Accra), Mali, Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso


Summary:

The goal of the West Africa Seed Alliance (WASA) is to establish a sustainable commercial seed industry capable of ensuring that small-scale farmers have affordable, timely and reliable access to adapted genetics and traits in high quality seeds and planting materials; playing a leading role in the growth and development of viable agricultural inputs systems; supporting the overall growth of the West Africa agricultural sector; and improving the agricultural enabling environment.

This five-year, multilateral public-private sector alliance will be executed in partnership with the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), the African Seed Trade Association (AFSTA) and the Seed Science Centre of Iowa State University (SSC-ISU), with the cooperation of other regional and local partners. The Alliance is committed to partnering with African institutions to ensure local ownership and sustainability of seed industry activities. WASA also supports an African-led agenda by improving trade-related capacities for market access, enhancing the food supply, and developing agricultural research to sustain long-term productivity growth.

• strengthening the competitiveness of local seed companies and agrodealers;
• improving access from the private sector of improved inputs;
• agrodealer identification and training;
• demand creation activities; and,
• linking smallholders to output markets through agrodealers.

Activities:

Currently, with the exception of certain commercial crops (i.e. cotton), the majority of West African agriculture is at a subsistence level, and most of the land is cultivated by smallholder farmers. For the most part, farmers rely on saved seed or seed sourced through informal networks. These sources tend to be inconsistent in terms of quality, vulnerable to new pests and diseases and, while cheap, take up valuable land due to extremely low productivity. Fertilizer or chemical inputs tend to be wasted on this seed. Therefore, although the cost of inputs may currently be low, the cost per ton of output is exceedingly high, profitability is low, and smallholder farmers are trapped in a cycle of low productivity, which prevents them from generating a marketable surplus.

Improved seed varieties and other inputs (fertilizer and crop protection products) are imperative to the transformation of the agricultural sector from subsistence farming to small-scale commercial agriculture. However, this transformation will take time. Until small producers are linked to reliable input and output markets, they will hesitate to take the risk of investing in improved inputs.

Therefore, in conjunction with ICRISAT, CNFA is actively implementing the following activities in Ghana and Mali:

Agrodealer Business Training: based on CNFA’s franchised 6-module agrodealer business management training program, will focus on basic business management skills and aspects for managing distribution of multiple product lines (seeds, fertilizer, tools and crop protection products.)

Agrodealer Training in Product Usage: builds the capacity of agrodealers through training in product handling and usage by input-supply companies themselves.

Demonstration Plots and Field Days:  will work with Agrodealers to organize demonstration plots and farmer field days, in cooperation with input supply companies.

Seed Marketing Information: will assist seed companies and associations to establish seed marketing strategies.

Seed Business Management Training: drawing on private sector partners, will build the business capacity of the local seed company managers through training on business planning, supply chain management and marketing.

Linking Inputs and Outputs: will link agrodealers and farmer producer groups to commodity traders and crop processors to create market pull for farmer production.

Planned Activities for Year Two:

Seed Marketing Information: will assist seed companies and associations to establish seed marketing strategies.

Seed Business Management Training: drawing on private sector partners, will build the business capacity of the local seed company managers through training on business planning, supply chain management and marketing.

Linking Inputs and Outputs: will link agrodealers and farmer producer groups to commodity traders and crop processors to create market pull for farmer production.

Major Accomplishments:

Two WASA/CNFA teams, consisting of a Agribusiness and Financial Services Manager and a Training and Demonstration Coordinator, are fully operational in Ghana and Mali since February. A similar WASA/CNFA team is being recruited for Nigeria and started activities in July.

The teams in Mali and Ghana have completed a detailed mapping and surveying exercise in selected areas and a data base of over 600 agrodealers/stockists in the Ashanti region of Ghana and 300 agrodealers/stockists in the Sikasso region of Mali is under preparation.

In Ghana and Mali more than 15 demonstration plots with improved varieties of corn, rice, and sorghum are managed by agrodealers/stockists. These demonstration plots serve as a demand creation tool and are also used to train agrodealers/stockists and their customers in improved agricultural practises and the appreciation of new improved crop varieties. Farmer field days will be facilitated by WASA/CNFA teams to bring together agrodealers, extension workers, farmers and other stakeholders.

Fifteen commercial trainers in Mali and seven in Ghana were trained in delivering the six module business skill training for agrodealers. Agrodealer training in business management skills will start in August.

The first four techical training courses in fertilizer use and safe use and handling of pesticides were held in Ghana in July attended by 100 agrodealers, extension staff and other stakeholders. Similar training courses will be held in Mali.

WASA seed specialists were recruited in Mali and Nigeria and started addressing issues such as foundation seed production, seed producer surveys and seed company support.

The issue of lack of foundation seed of improved varieties needs to be addressed urgently as this is the basis of certified seed production used by smallholder farmers. The WASA team organized the production of foundation seed of sorgum and groundnuts in close cooperation with national breeders. A large foundation seed production program was initiated in Nigeria and involves sorghum, miller, rice, groundnuts, cowpeas and several vegetable seeds on more than 400 acres. It is expected that improved availability of foundation seed will boost the activities of small start-up seed companies in Nigeria and Mali in the 2009 season.