delivery of improved varieties/hybrids to farmers

A member of CGIAR consortium www.iita.org

DELIVERY OF IMPROVED VARIETIES/HYBRIDS TO FARMERS

Baffour Asafo-Adjei, S.O. Ajala, H. Ishikawa, N. Maroya and R. Okechukwu

IITA Ibadan Sept. 8 – 10, 2015


• Current IITA seed delivery approach

• Partnerships

• Way forward for enhancing partnerships in seed and planting material delivery


SEED DELIVERY SYSTEM IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

• Seed - Most important input that determines the productivity of crop production enterprises.

• Many farmers in S-SA use seeds from informal sources . In West & Central Africa, the formal sources supply only 10 – 30 % (from various reports).

• Seed delivery system – generally good in East & Southern Africa but weak in West & Central Africa.

• Shortage of all classes of seeds in W. & C. Africa

Nigeria seed industry example• The best in W. & C. Africa and has the largest seed market; has over 100

registered seed companies currently.• Has serious shortfalls in all classes of seeds for IITA mandate crops


SHORTFALL IN CLASSES OF SEEDS OF SELECTED CROPS IN NIGERIA 2013

*Bundles (one bundle = 50 1m long stem cuttings); Rate: 50bundles/ha ** Seed yam or mini-setts (seeding rate of 10,000 seed yams/ha) Source: Innovating the Nigerian Agricultural Seeds Sector – Proposed action plan for WAAPP-Nigeria. 2013

Crop Area under cultivation (Ha)

Certified seed requirement (MT)

Percent Shortfall in seeds requiredCertified seed

Foundation seed

Breeder seed

Maize OPV

2,335,102 46.702 67 89 51

Maize Hybrid

1,000,758 15,011 55 89 63

Soybean 105,154 5,258 68 90 96.5Cowpea 2,524,580 176,721 100 100 83Cassava 3,126,570 156,325,510* 13 100 100Yam 2,776,010 27,760,100,000*

*100 - -


CURRENT APPROACHE TO SEED DELIVERY AT IITA

Two sequential activities• Pre-release activities• Post-release activities - Breeder seed maintenance - Seed delivery


Pre-release

Key activities include:• Conduct of regional and international trials in collaboration

with NARS partners, seed companies to identify desirable varieties/hybrids in their countries

• Further on-station evaluation by NARS at more locations

• On-farm testing of best-bet varieties and subsequent release after meeting requirements in their countries

• Production of Breeder / pre basic seed by IITA and the NARS - ahead of release


Post-release activities

(i) Maintenance of breeder seed stock

• Train NARS scientists to maintain breeder seed stock, and produce pre basic and basic seeds/planting materials of the new varieties/hybrids

• Both IITA and NARs partners maintain breeder seed stock for generation of pre basic and basic seed. - Ensures availability of basic seeds of new varieties/hybrids for generation of quality certified seeds at all times when needed.


Post-release activities 2

(ii) Seeds delivery • Formal seed delivery system (Through seed

companies)

• Informal seed delivery system {Community-based seed production system and others (e.g. on-farm & off-farm sources)}


Post-release activities 3Formal seed delivery system• IITA breeding programs supply pre

basic and basic seeds to seed companies or NARS upon requests

• Donor funded projects at IITA supply pre basic and basic seeds/planting materials of to seed companies for generation of certified seeds/planting materials to improve farmers’ access to quality seeds/planting materials.

• 2015/2016: IITA-GoSeed -produce & sell B/S & F/S to seed companies


Seeds / planting materials supplied to seed companies under some donor-funded projects at IITA

• * Cassava – Bundles; Yam - Seed yam, plantlets or mini-setts

Crop

Project

period

Quant. Seeds (tons) or Planting materials* supplied Breeder/Pre basic

Basic

Maize WECAMAN/AMS/NIPPON 1994 - 2006 100 400Nigeria ATA 2012 - 2014 31 112AGRA 2013 - 2014 3.2 5.4CORAF 2013 - 2014 1.0 -SARD-SC Maize 2013-2014 22 156

Soybean Ng. ATA 2012 - 2014 9 20AGRA 2013 - 2014 2.5 5.0

Cassava Nigeria ATA 2012 - 2014 - > 2,000,000AGRA 2013 - 2014 88 630

Yam

YIIFSWA 2014 667 Pts. -YIIFSWA 2014 840 Tbs. -


Post-release Activities 4.Informal seeds delivery system: Community-based

seed production system (C-BSPS) Unlike the on-farm and off-farm sources of seeds,

community-based seed production systems produce seeds that meet quality standards

• WECAMAN and other projects (AMS and NIPPON) , produce >3000 tons of OP maize seeds from 1994-2005 using community-based seed systems to avail improved seeds to farmers in communities not reached by the formal seed delivery system.

• AVEC-BF project in Burkina Faso increased cowpea certified seeds production from 7.7 tons in 2010 to 44.4 tons in 2012 through a C-BSPS implemented in five communities. Impact was tremendous.


High quality seed production and high economic impact

Cowpea seed producers who trained by AVEC-BF project won the top awardfor agriculture in the national exhibition competition in Burkina Faso!!

　 2010 (before the project) 2012 (after the project) DifferenceProduction of

certified seeds (kg)7,670 44,398 36,728 kg (+479%)

Production of grain seeds (kg)

28,530 73,726 45,196 kg (+158%)

Average income of farmers from cowpea

(f CFA)7,963 44,529 36,566 f CFA (+459%)

Year 2010 Year 2011 Year 20120

10000

20000

30000

40000

Active Year

Tota

l yie

ld (K

g)


Post-release Activities 5

Informal seed delivery (C-BSPS) Contd.

• Most of the 2.0 million bundles of cassava stem cuttings supplied to ADPs in Nigeria were distributed to lead farmers / CBOs & NGOs for production and sale of the next generation of stem cuttings to other farmers in their communities.

• Similarly, the nearly 46,300 tubers of QDS yams supplied to ADPs under WAAPP-Nigeria Yam project were to be multiplied under C-BSP systems and supplied to farmers in various communities.

C-BSPS approaches have proved effective and efficient in delivering quality seeds/planting materials to farmers not reached by the formal system.


PARTNERSHIPSIITA has excellent partnerships with both public and private sector players in the seed delivery system. These include:• NARES – Involved in variety evaluations, promotional activities and

release of varieties/hybrids, and also maintenance, production, and dissemination of pre basic and basic seeds to certified seed producing entities

• Private seed companies – For certified seed production and marketing

• FBOs, CBOs, NGOs and other players involved in production and dissemination of improved seeds to farmers in communities not reached by the formal seeds delivery system


PARTNERSHIPS (2)• Farmers• End user private companies• National seeds regulatory / certification agencies • Donors – especially those that fund IITA projects on variety

development and deployment.


PARTNERSHIPS (3)Partnerships with players in the seed value chain has been mutually beneficial to the partners and IITA• Supply of quality breeder &

foundation seeds• Training of seed companies,

NARES, CBOs NGOs in seed production and provision of technical guidance

• IITA varieties/hybrids available to and used by farmers to increase yields, incomes and improve their livelihoods – (alleviating poverty and hunger – Achieving vision)


ENHANCING PARTNERSHIPS AND SEED DELIVERY: WAY FORWARD

Strengthen existing partnerships & establish new onesNeed for constant review, monitoring and evaluating seed delivery systems to make them more effective and efficient

Key Issues /Areas to consider:• Training seed producing entities in quality seeds production and

marketing; Seed business management

• Linking with NARES, seed companies and other seed producing entities to promote new improved varieties and sensitize farmers on benefits from using improved seeds


WAY FORWARD (2)• Aiding successful C-BSP entities to transform into micro-enterprises to

better serve their clients. They should be linked to – Sources of quality foundation seeds,– Sources of credit, – Markets – Seeds regulatory and certification agencies.

• For the RTB crops, there is a need for IITA to equip where possible the main national research institutions with high ratio and rapid propagation technologies (tissue culture, aeroponics etc.), and also sensitize and facilitate establishment of formal seed system for RTBs

• IITA to play advocacy role at donor and governments levels to support variety release and seed delivery by actors along the seed value chain


WAY FORWARD (3)

• Need to institute regular seed sector stakeholders’ workshops to update/review their activities and strategize for improving seed delivery to farmers.

• Linking with NARS, seed companies, regulatory/certification agencies and other seed producing entities to map local stresses of crops to effectively deploy varieties/hybrids to specific environments

• Need to rationalize the existing breeder and basic seeds delivery system (particularly to seed companies) with activities of the GoSeed unit to improve efficiency and effectiveness.

• The impact of IITA’s seeds and planting materials delivery needs to be continuously assessed (as was done for maize)


IMPACTIITA seed delivery system has impacted positively on farm families and farming communities in sub-Saharan Africa especially W. Africa. Using the Guinea savanna zone of Nigeria as an example:

With a seed rate of 20kg/ha, • Every ton of OP maize breeder seeds released into the seed delivery

systems by IITA will plant 50ha to produce 75tons of foundation seed (assuming 1.5t/ha yield).

• This will also plant 3,750ha to produce 7,500 tons of certified seed (assuming 2.0t/ha yield), that farmers can use to plant 375,000ha.

• Similarly, every ton of foundation seed will plant 50ha to produce 100 tons of certified seeds that will plant 5,000ha.


IMPACT (2)Assuming the average maize farm holding/family is 3.5ha and the average family size is 10 ,

• The 7,500tons of certified seed generated from 1.0 ton breeder seed will serve (375,000ha/3.5ha ) = 107,143 farm families and impacting directly on 1,071,143 people.

• Similarly. The 100 tons of certified seeds generated from 1.0t of foundation seeds will serve (5,000ha/3.5ha) = 1,429 farm families and impacting directly on 14,290 people.

Delivery of quality seeds / planting materials of improved varieties/hybrids is crucial for realization of the vision of lifting 11 million people in Africa out of poverty !!!!


THANK YOU

delivery of improved varieties/hybrids to farmers

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