Abstract
Across East Africa, national seed policies and commercial seed enterprises have focused on increasing farmers’ access to modern seed varieties. These new varieties are developed and delivered to farmers via the formal seed system, which is comprised of government and private sector seed breeders, processors, and vendors. However, the formal seed system only provides a small share (<20%) of smallholders’ seed in the region. Most farmers source seed from informal seed systems, including own-saved seed, exchanges with neighbors, and local seed markets. At the local level, informal seed systems are preferred by farmers because of proximity and local varietal preferences (e.g., crop variety tastes and suitability for local environmental conditions). At the national and regional levels, the conservation and use of local crop varieties through informal systems has also provided a wealth of crop genetic diversity increasingly recognized as critical for climate change adaptation. To evaluate how policies in East Africa impact seed systems we systematically code 117 provisions in 21 national seed policies in Ethiopia (n=11) and Uganda (n=10), highlighting the implications of current and proposed policies for the availability and accessibility of: (i) improved seed; (ii) quality-controlled seed; and (iii) genetically diverse local seed in both the formal and informal seed systems in each country.
Highlights
In Africa, the agricultural sector dominates rural livelihoods and the economy
Findings suggest that seed policies are largely framed and formulated to regulate and support the formal seed sector; yet the bulk of seed used by smallholders in the two countries are from the informal sector
Upon further analysis of the policies, we find that while national seed policies have some direct negative impacts on informal seed systems through introducing additional restrictions and costs on farmer- and community-based seed development and exchange, as it does in the lack of positive impacts in the informal seed sector
Summary
In Africa, the agricultural sector dominates rural livelihoods and the economy. The overwhelming majority of rural residents are smallholder farmers (Joughin, 2014; Thijssen et al, 2008); this is true for Ethiopia and Uganda. Without access to alternative sources of food or income, smallholders are highly vulnerable to fluctuations in weather patterns (Di Falco et al, 2010), to changes in government support (World Bank, 2015), and to shifts in both local and international markets (Joughin, 2014; Alemu, 2010). These contextual variables are directly linked to food security at the household and regional levels (Kristjanson et al, 2012). Food insecurity continues to be a pervasive problem in Sub Saharan Africa, especially in smallholder-based food systems (Bangawyo-Skeete, 2012). These problems are exacerbated by other factors impacting food access and production, including a growing population, spikes in food prices, declining soil fertility, and climate change (Kristjanson et al, 2012; Barungi et al, 2011; Holden et al, 2004)
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