Increasing Local Production Through Improved Quality Seeds

Climate change, inadequate public investment and inadequate support to smallholder farmers are the triple challenges facing Africa’s food production according to Dr. Agnes Kalibata, President, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).

Further, rapid population growth and urbanization present the most daunting challenge to meeting the goal of eradicating extreme hunger and poverty in Sub Saharan Africa.

“Global food demand in 2050 is projected to increase by at least 60 percent above 2006 levels, driven by population and income growth, as well as rapid urbanization. In the coming decades, population increases will be concentrated in regions with the highest prevalence of undernourishment and high vulnerability to the impacts of climate change,” according to a new report from the United Nations.

The image of Kenya children in the arid and semi arid regions starving and dying from hunger and malnutrition is certainly emotive and swiftly moves the nation and international community to compassionate action.

Currently, close to 1.3 millions Kenyans are affected by the drought situation in the country according to the Devolution Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri.

Kilifi is the worst-hit county among the 23 counties affected by the drought. Other affected counties include Tana River, Kwale, West Pokot, Tharaka-Nithi, and all the counties in northeastern region.

The Famine Early Warning System Network, (FEWSN) report states that deterioration of food security is expected to continue even after onset of the short rains.

“In northeastern pastoral areas, especially parts of Garissa and Tana River, rangeland conditions and livestock productivity are atypically poor, even for the dry season, since these areas experienced substantial rainfall deficits of 25 to 50 percent of normal during the last long rains.

As a result, poor households with substantial pasture, browse, and water deficits, and depleted incomes inhibiting effective market access are experiencing food gaps and moved to Crisis (IPC Phase 3) acute food insecurity in September. These households are likely to remain in Crisis (IPC Phase 3) acute food insecurity through at least January 2017.”

Given the excruciating spectacle of death and hunger, it is easy to argue that low input, low productivity rain-fed small farm agricultural production systems are the culprit and must be replaced with production systems that utilize fertilizers, high yielding hybrid seeds, pesticides and irrigation.

“The challenge in Kenya and Africa is its diversity – different crops grow in different environments, from the highlands to the lowlands,” says Joe Devries, Chief, Agricultural Transformation, AGRA.

“70 million farmers are in these zones and everyone needs high yielding seeds to allow them to produce adequate levels and surplus that is drought tolerant, adaptable to climate change and has early maturity,” he adds.

“The base of everything else is good seed. The challenge is the disconnect between researchers and getting the seeds out to the farmers because it is the heart of agriculture transformation,” says Kalibata.

According to the experts, only an average of about 20 percent of farmers in Africa use seeds of improved varieties. The numbers are lower among smallholder farmers who account to 70 percent of the continent’s population.

Kenya has a more advanced seed sector in the region with about 60 percent of farmers using improved seeds according to Eng. J.A Nkanya, Chief Engineer Agricultural Engineering Service.

“The government in partnership with our development partners has funded the research and development of locally adapted, high yielding varieties and is willing to share this key technologies with private seed companies to ensure that we meet the seed demand in the country and indeed the continent.”

The stakeholders were speaking at the sidelines of the ‘10k Seed Club’ bringing together seed companies in Africa organised by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) in Nairobi to review the progress and learn from each other on the best approaches towards the intended mark in Nairobi.

Over the years, these companies have