Author

03/09/2009Vegetable Breeding & Seed Systems

for Poverty Reduction in Sub-saharan Africa (vBSS)

Project Profile

Victor Afari-Sefa

Ronia Tanyongana

06 November 2010

ILRI, Nairobi, KENYA

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Building a Sustainable Seed Sector in Sub-Sahara Africa

For poverty reduction in

Sub-Sahara Africa

Background Information

Approved: 17th November, 2006;

Effective Start: 1st August, 2007;

End of Phase 1: 31st May, 2011;

Project Purpose

To develop an emerging, vibrant seed industry for

indigenous and exotic vegetables by building the

capacity of the private and public sector to breed

varieties in different agro-ecological zones, test

and multiply promising lines, disseminate these

lines and, promote demand to encourage

widespread adoption by farmers.

Ultimate Outcomes1. Public and Private Sectors’ capacity to breed

indigenous and exotic vegetable varieties developed;

2. Sustainable institutional mechanisms for vegetable

seed supply in four countries representing diverse

agro-ecological zones operationalized;

3. Seed supply and availability of superior, multi-disease

resistant and a-biotic stress-tolerant varieties of

targeted vegetable crops increased;

4. Productivity by vegetable farmers utilizing improved

varieties increased;

5. Demand of improved vegetable varieties by farmers

and consumers in target areas increased.

Strategy: Vegetable Value Chain

Seed

BreedingSeed

testing

Seed

production

Vegetable

productionPost

harvestMarkets Consumption

& nutrition

Breeding, testing

and release

Basic/foundation

seed production

Seed commercialization,

improving production &

consumption systems

RBUs &

Regulator

Private

sector &

Regulator

Public & Private

sector &

Civic Society

Regional Breeding Units (RBUs)

Warm arid

and semi-

arid

Warm

humid

warm sub-

humid; cool

tropics

Warm arid and

semi-arid; warm

sub-humid; warm

humid and cool

tropics

M&E System & Indictors • Semi annual progress reports : setting-up of the RBUs

• annual project review meetings.

• monthly management meetings for each RBU.

• Baseline & Impact study data collection.

Some Key Indicators

• Number of improved varieties of vegetables released for

commercialization.

• Number of farmers, NARES and private seed

companies trained in various aspects of the VC.

• Numbers of beneficiary farmers and women reached in

dissemination & outreach programs.

Major Achievements:

RBUs helped to Increase Quality Seed SupplyThe RBU Team in Alaotra Region

MadagascarThe RBU Team in Samanko Region

Bamako - Mali

Part of the RBU Team in Arusha

AVRDC-RCA

The RBU Team in

Yaoundé, Cameroon

Regional Breeding Support – Capacity Building

Understanding plant

Pathology

Building capacity in seed health

and quality

Capacity building in

vegetable breeding

Multi-location Variety TestingPVS: a fast tract approach to variety release

and demand promotion in Tanzania

Farmers in Dodoma and Iringa region

selected African nightshade lines BG16

due to its late flowering habit and broad

dark green leaves which they said makes

it quite appealing as a leafy vegetable.

Seeds of the line BG18, a Solanum

americanum was also demanded.

Multi-location Variety Testing: Private Sector

Variety Release and PromotionIn Tanzania, late blight-resistant tomato

line LBR 44-2 was released as a new

cultivar in December 2008 and registered

under the trade name ‘Kiboko’ translated

from Swahili as: ‘Best of its Kind’.

African Night shade

released by

Lagrotech – our

private partner in

West Kenya

Pending Releases in Tanzania Hub

Crop LinesEthiopian mustard ST3, MLEM1

Tomato LBR11, LBR6

African nightshade SS49, BG16, TZSMN55-3

African eggplant DB3, AB2 & Mayire Green

Spider plant GPS and PS

Cowpea CP-ML-5

Sweet Pepper ISPN7-3, 9946-2192

Hot Pepper 9950-5107

Seed CommercializationEast Africa Seeds

Kibo Seeds

East Africa

GRN Sarl

Cameroon

SEMANA

Madagascar

1. AVRDC – NARES – Seed Companies – Farmers

(Tanzania)

2. AVRDC – Seed Companies – Farmers (East & Southern

Africa)

3. AVRDC – Seed Companies – Agro- Dealers – Farmers

(South & East Africa)

4. AVRDC – NGOs - Farmers (Across)

5. AVRDC – Farmer Associations – Farmers (West Africa)

6. AVRDC - NARES – Farmers (Across)

Seed Commercialization: Possible Distribution Channels

Seed Commercialization: Demand Creation

Gender Issues • Labour division versus asset distribution along VC. Production at

community level is usual a women’s domain, although

traditionally land is owned by men.

• Improved vegetable varieties and seeds for planting required to

improve production by women and increase household incomes.

• 80% of the farmers involved in participatory varietal selection

activities and training on nutritional recipes are women.

• 94% of vendors in vegetable markets are women. Increased

productivity will have a direct effect on sales volumes & income.

Region District No. of Participants Overall

Total

Male Female

Kilimanjaro

Rombo 11 13 24

Hai 0 27 27

Mwanga 12 8 20

Same 4 16 20

Moshi Rural 6 14 20

Sub Total 33 78 111

Arusha

Arumeru 20 80 100

Arusha 14 111 125

Sub Total 34 191 225

Grand Total 67 269 336

% of Total 20 80

Production, Processing & Preservation

Training Courses For Farmers

Institutionalization of the RBUs;

Ensuring adequate foundation seed;

Defining VC pathways in terms of income enhancement and

nutrition improvement;

Coordinating stakeholder efforts along the VC;

Improving business planning and forecasting by public and

private partners;

Maintaining variety quality through capacity building and

strengthening the regulatory system. Variety release in Tanzania

Lack of national, regional and local level statistics e.g., area

under vegetable production, requisite data for estimating seed

demand (challenges in downstream impact assessment).

Major Challenges

Innovation Platform: the institutional answer

Innovation Platform members of the

vBSS Madagascar Hub planningvegetable breeding strategies for their

country

Innovation Platform members

of the vBSS Tanzania Hub on

RCA field inspection

Accelerate the process of demand creation through education

and capacity building for both exotic and IVs.

Uplift, where required, the regulatory environment and

promote quality of operations, avoiding falling into a trap of

over-regulation.

Instill and maintain an Innovative Systems (Network)

approach & create/strengthen a platform for private–public

dialogue and planning for vegetable VC management.

Encourage innovate processes of adoption both in producing

improved varieties and in promoting health and prosperity.

Lessons Learnt & Future Perspectives

We wish to acknowledge the generous support of the

BMBF and various participating institutions for