Mr Bett
Business Reporters
The Common Markets for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) this week launched the harmonised seed regulations aimed at improving seed production and certification across the region.National seed review teams from Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi participated in the launch and will take part in a three-day meeting to discuss strategies to improve the movement of seeds across the region.
“Regulatory environment surrounding seed production and certification has made it costly to do business in this sector, discouraging private sector companies from investing in innovation and expanded production.
“The aim of harmonising country seed laws and regulations under the COMSHIP is meant to bring about consistent domestication, application, monitoring and improvement in seed certification, quarantine and phytosanitary measures and in the evaluation and release of seed varieties among COMESA member countries,” said Kenya’s Principal Secretary for Agriculture Richard Lesiyampe who was officiating on behalf of the Cabinet Secretary Mr Willy Bett at the launch.
Mr Bett said the launch is an opportunity to collectively reflect on how best to plan and avoid or mitigate risks that face the agriculture sector in the region.
He said the creation of trade and marketing blocks is quickly deepening trading across borders and making the region a one stop shop.
With the integration of East Africa Community states and COMESA membership, Mr Bett said the market for farmers and other participants in the economies has tremendously widened.
“There is need for a vibrant, modern and competitive seed industry that is able to meet national and contribute to regional seed requirements in terms of adequacy, affordability and quality of seed is therefore essential for improving agricultural productivity. Just as the agriculture sector is the mainstay of our economies in the region, seed is the backbone of the agriculture sector. Seed is a most critical input in agricultural production and has the greatest potential in increasing on-farm productivity and enhancing both household and national food security,” he said .
Historically, the regulatory environment surrounding seed production and certification has made it costly to do business in this sector, discouraging private sector companies from investing in innovation and expanded production.
UK Aid, through the Food Trade ESA programme, has provided targeted grants to a number of organisations implementing projects that are bridging gaps within the sector. The grant provided to ACTESA has helped to support the domestication of harmonised seed trade regulations across East and Southern Africa.
The focus of the Food Trade ESA programme is improving the quality and quantity of staple foods that our farmers produce and to ensure that they benefit from trading surpluses across the region.
“Our work with ACTESA has laid a very important foundation to promote coherence in the production and trade of seed across East and Southern Africa. By working to ensure that national level seed laws are aligned with regional policies, private sector firms will be willing to increase investments in commercial seeds for export, making better seeds and inputs readily available to farmers across Africa,” explained Steve Orr, team leader of the Food Trade ESA programme.
The project “Domestication of harmonised seed trade regulations within COMESA and the EAC” has been implemented by Food Trade ESA in partnership with ACTESA since January 2015.
Activities have focused on supporting national teams to embed harmonised seed regulations, promoting awareness of the COMESA seed trade harmonisation regulations, and providing capacity building in production to smallholder farmers.
ACTESA, with the support of FoodTrade ESA, facilitated domestication of harmonised seed trade policies and regulations in Kenya, Zimbabwe and Uganda. The three countries joined Burundi and Rwanda which completed the review and gazetting of their seed trade policies and can now fully participate in the production, certification, registration and trade of improved seed varieties across the region. The project is also supporting similar processes in Zambia and Malawi.
“Now that the five countries have gazetted the laws, the work starts,” ACTESA chief finance officer Gizila Takavarasha said.