Why Informal Seed Sector is
Important in Food Security
African Technology Policy Studies Network
Biotechnology Trust Africa

SPECIAL PAPER SERIES | No. 43
Joseph M. WekundahWhy Informal Seed Sector is
Important in Food Security

Joseph M. Wekundah

The African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS) is a multidisciplinary network of researchers, private sector actors andpolicy makers promoting the generation, dissemination, use andmastery of science, technology and innovation (ST&I) for African
development, environmental sustainability and global inclusion.
ATPS intends to achieve its mandate through research, capacity
building and training, science communication/dissemination andsensitization, participatory multi-stakeholder dialogue,knowledge brokerage, and policy advocacy.
Published by the African Technology Policy Studies Network
P O Box 10081, 00100 GPO Nairobi Kenya
2012

Published by the African Technology Policy Studies Network

ISBN: 978-9966-030-42-9

Table of Contents
Acknowledgement

4

List of Acronyms

5

Introduction

6

What is the Background & Role of Seed Sector in

7

Eastern & Southern Africa for Food Security?
What are the Seed Systems Found in Africa?

8

What is the Status & the Economic Value of

10

Seed Industry?
What are the Opportunities Available from the11

International & Regional Treaties, Agreements,
Protocols, etc.?
What Policies & Legal Frameworks Do the Target

13Countries Have?
What is the Right to Save, Use, Exchange & Sell

15

Farm-saved Seed?
The Way Forward
References

16
17

Why Informal Seed Sector is Important in Food Security | 3

Acknowledgement
This paper was produced as part of the implementation of the ATPS phase VI
Strategic Plan, 2008-2012 funded by ATPS Donors including the Ministerie van
Buitenlandse Zaken (DGIS) the Netherlands, Rockefeller Foundation, OpenSociety Foundation, UNESCO, European Union, African Union, amongst others.
The authors hereby thank the ATPS for the financial and technical support during
the implementation of the Intellectual Property Program. The authors particularly
thank the Executive Director of the ATPS Prof. Kevin Urama for his visionary
leadership and all members of his team at the ATPS. We are also grateful to theProgramme Coordinators including Mr. Joseph Wekundah of the Biotechnology
Trust Africa, Dr. Maurice Bolo (ATPS), Dr. Nicholas Ozor (ATPS), Prof. Moni
Wekesa (Mount Kenya University) for their technical supports to the Programme.

4 | Why Informal Seed Sector is Important in Food Security

List of Acronyms
ASAL
ATPS
AU
BTA
CSIR
IP
ILO
IK
IPR
ISTA
OECD
STAK
TEK
TK
TRIPS
UPOV
WHO
WTO
WIPO

Arid and Semi Arid Lands
African Technology Policy Studies Network
African Union
Biotechnology Trust Africa
Council of Scientific and Industrial ResearchIntellectual Property
International Labour Organization
Indigenous Knowledge
Intellectual Property Rights
International Seed Trade
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
Seed Trade Association of Kenya
Traditional Environment Knowledge
Traditional Knowledge
Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property
Union for Protection of New Plant Varieties
World Health Organization
World Trade Organization
The World Intellectual Property Organization

Why Informal Seed Sector is Important in Food Security | 5

Introduction
The desk study on the Intellectual Property (IP) environment in Eight East andSouthern Africa countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Lesotho,
Swaziland and Mozambique) revealed that only two countries (Kenya andTanzania) have Plant Breeders Rights laws under UPOV convention 1978. Twoother countries i.e. Uganda and Lesotho have their bills awaiting approval byparliament for implementation. The others have no Plant Breeders Rights hence
they rely on Seed Acts for phytosanitary process, importation and exportation ofseeds.
The International and Regional Treaties/protocols or conventions have provided
some opportunities for the protection of plant varieties, however, the national
Governments have not yet seized those opportunities. For example, the TRIPS
Agreement has Article 27.3(b) and provides for the countries to develop
alternative system to patenting in the protection of plant varieties. Two countries
have gone the UPOV way as indicated (Kenya, Tanzania) however all the others
have not yet seized the opportunity to develop policies and legal frameworks
towards plant variety protection. Ethiopia however is the only country thatemphasizes the Plant Breeders Rights and Farmers Rights as stipulated in theInternational Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources and Food and Agriculture. UPOV
1978 has farmers' priviledge for purposes of allowing farmers to save seed fromtheir crop to plant in the following season, but it does not allow them to exchangeor sell the seed.
This policy paper will therefore attempt to provide the background andunderstanding of informal and formal seeds sectors, the current status in theregion, opportunities available through the International
treaties/conventions/protocols; policies and legal frameworks required and theway forward for the National Governments in Africa.

6 | Why Informal Seed Sector is Important in Food Security

What is the Background & Role of
Seed Sector in Eastern & Southern
Africa for Food Security?
During the 1970s the national Governments and donors recognized theimportance of quality seeds and all their support went to the establishment ofhighly subsidized formal seed sector mainly seed parastatals. However, theirsuccesses were limited due to several reasons including financial sustainability
and lack of small scale farmers' orientation in both variety development and seedsupply chains. In the 1980s there was a policy shift of disbanding the parastatals
and encouraging the private sector development.
Being a profit driven undertaking, the commercial seed companies were confined
to seeds of hybrid maize and vegetables targeting high potential areas. Therefore
seeds of grain legumes like beans or other minor crops such as sorghum andvegetatively propagated crops were and are rarely supplied by the formal seed
sector, unless when they were/are purchased in bulk by development and/or
relief operations. As a result, during the 1990s, NGOs, and ruraldevelopment/relief agencies became interested in the seed sector by supporting
community owned/based seed production and supply.
Their aim was to transform local community farmer (seed producers) into formal
seed producers. Though the sustainability was limited, the approach was
successful in accessing the seeds to remote and poor farmers. In the 2000s there
was a renewed effort to improve seeds accessibility with focus on supporting theprivate sector (small and medium enterprises) and also the establishment ofbusiness-friendly seed regulations such as harmonized seed regulations acrosssub-regional organizations e.g. East and Central Africa, Southern Africa andWestern Africa regions. Despite the good efforts, the companies tended to focus
more on profitable crops/varieties e.g. hybrid maize and other high value crops(vegetables and flowers) rather than a range of crop species which constitute thebackbone of the poor resource farmers' food security/cash e.g. pulses, small
grains and tubers and roots.

Why Informal Seed Sector is Important in Food Security | 7

Seed is one of the most critical inputs in agricultural production. Good quality
seed has significant potential of increasing on-farm productivity and enhancing
food security. The seed industry as indicated above has undergone dynamicchanges within individual countries, regions and globally.
These changes have come with challenges that require institutional reforms in thelocal seed industry. With the advent of liberalization, local and foreign seed
companies have continued to play an increasing role in seed research, breeding,multiplication and trade.
Regional integration and international trade, together with scientific advantages
in the area of biotechnology, have posed additional challenges that require thelocal industry to quickly adapt to the changing environment in order to remaincompetitive both locally and regionally.

What are the Seed Systems
Found in Africa?
There are three major groups of seed supply systems identified in Africa. These
are: Informal seed supply (local seed supply systems), Integrated seed supply(community based) systems and the Formal seed supply systems.
3.1 Informal seed supply systems
It focuses on farmer management of local varieties which have been selected
overtime and produced under local circumstances. The system covers methodsof local seed selection, production and diffusion. The systems are sometimes
described as traditional and informal, operating mainly at the local level throughexchange mechanisms and involving limited quantities per transaction. In
addition, the varieties will have special attributes e.g. taste and nutrition that givethe varieties added value within the community.
The system builds on the huge agro-biodiversity present within the boundaries of
the African states. These systems provide about 80-100% of the seed used in the
African states.

8 | Why Informal Seed Sector is Important in Food Security

3.2

Integrated seed supply systems (community based seedsystems)
These systems cover methodologies that aim to improve the local supply
systems, borrowing technologies and improvements from the formal sector andusing informal channels. The systems focus on improving local varieties throughbreeding and seed selection and introducing improved seeds from NARS, andInternational Agricultural Centres. The systems make use of the large variety ofboth locally improved crops as well as seeds of improved varieties released by
the formal systems. It operates between the formal and informal seed systems as
they can introduce both improved varieties as well as proven, quality declared
seeds of local varieties. Quality declared seeds are sometimes referred to as
standard seeds where regular inspections are conducted for diseases and pests.
These systems could also produce certified seeds through the use of formalized
and standardized quality control measures using small scale seed enterprises,
and integrating them into seed markets. The systems can also improve on theinformal systems to produce standard seed and/or quality declared seeds, forexchange within the community.
3.3 Formal seed supply systems (commercial sector)
The formal seed supply systems cover seed production and supply mechanismsthat are ruled by defined methodologies. The systems mainly deal with hybrids
and specialized horticultural crops, well-developed sectors; where hardly any
public support is needed. The systems have uniform standards based on
distinctness, uniformity and stability (DUS). The national governments can only
support this sector through designing policies and regulatory framework thatstrengthen efficiency and effectiveness of variety release, seed quality control,
phytosanitary measures and plant breeders' rights. In some cases, financial
incentives may be necessary to get sustainable businesses off the ground (small
and medium enterprises) and again public investments in research and capacity
building is important. This sector produces only 10-20% of the seed requirements
by the national governments in Africa.

Why Informal Seed Sector is Important in Food Security | 9

What is the Status & the Economic
Value of Seed Industry?
StatusThe majority of farmers in Africa mainly get their seeds from the informal channels
which include farm saved seeds, seed exchanges among farmers and/or local
grain/seed market. These channels contribute about 80-100% of seed supply
depending on the crop and country. Despite the importance of these systems,
unlike the formal, informal sector systems are rarely supported by governments.
Subsequently, its improvement has been limited or non-existent.
Therefore, this has negative effects on agricultural productivity and the income of
farmers and more particularly to poor and marginalized farmers. It has been
proved that once well supported and linked to sources of improved varieties, theinformal seed sector can be a reliable and efficient way to access improved
varieties of crops whose seeds attract a very limited interest of commercial seed
sector. Therefore an integrated seed system carried out by NARS and partners,
with support from the International Centres, play a crucial role in improving theinformal seed supply towards the standard seed or to some cases formal seedsupply systems.
The Kenyan seed industry has developed into a vibrant regional leader with 67
seed enterprises currently operating in Kenya. But the informal seed sector stillaccounts for 80% of the total seeds produced. In 2007, national requirements forcertified seeds ranged between 28,000 and 35,000 metric tons with maize seeds
accounting for about 80% of the total quantity.
Even with that amount of seed, it only contributes 20% of the total seeds
produced. Kenya still experiences shortage of quality seed for crops like
potatoes, wheat, and some pulses and certain varieties of maize seeds suited forArid and Semi Arid Lands (ASAL), partly because farmers plant wheat andpotatoes and other crops from their previous harvests, but partly because they
have no alternative (no seeds available).

10 | Why Informal Seed Sector is Important in Food Security

Economic value of seed globally
The commercial world seed market is approximately valued at US$30 billion. Outof these, Sub-Sahara Africa accounts for only US$800 million, representing only
3%. The key players in the African seed industry contributing to the 3% includes:
South Africa US$160 million, Morocco US$160 million, Egypt US$140 million,
Nigeria US$120 million, Kenya US$42 million, Zambia US$15 million and Malawi
US$10 million. Other African countries contribute to the balance. On theInternational level, USA and European Union account for US$7.5 billion, andUS$5.2 billion respectively. The main crop species dealt within the International
trade of seed are maize – US$800 million, herbage US$427 million, potatoes
US$400 million, beetroot US$308 million, Wheat U$75 million, horticultural crops
US$1.15 billion. Other seeds dealt in are valued at US$740 million. Seeds
therefore need to be handled carefully in order to fully exploit their benefits andpotential. Governments will require clear strategies to encourage improvement of
the informal seed sector towards quality declared seed supply to gain from its
benefits and potential.

What are the Opportunities
Available from the International &Regional Treaties, Agreements,
Protocols, etc.?
Most countries in Eastern and Southern Africa are either members of TRIPS or areabout to be members. This agreement (TRIPS) recognizes the need to protect
innovations. However, it has provided an opportunity, through Sui-generis, underwhich UPOV was established to protect plant varieties. The same article 27.3(b)has opportunities for the national Governments to establish policies and legal
frameworks that can protect farmers' rights in the seed industry. The AU Modellaw is concerned with access to biological resources and it provides a few
pointers for the development of property rights over plant varieties andrecognizes the need to protect the rights of local communities over their
biological resources, their knowledge and practices. It further affirms local
communities' inalienable right to keep, use, exchange and share their biologicalresources (seeds) that sustain their livelihoods.
Why Informal Seed Sector is Important in Food Security | 11

The International Treaty for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) affirms the sovereign rights of national Governments over their plant
genetic resources and recognizes both the Breeders and the Farmers' Rights.
The international debate resulted in formulating justification for Farmers' Rights.
However, the wide diversity of relevant stakeholders' views spurred a lengthy
debate on the contents of rights and whether such rights should be of private,community or common nature. This included debates on the inclusion of
Farmers' Rights into the sui-generis option of TRIPS by reducing the uniformity
and novelty requirements of Plant Breeders' Rights to accommodate theprotection of farmers' varieties in the regular breeders' rights system. These
debates led to formal policies notably in the African continent and in India wheremodel laws were formed that combine both breeders' rights and farmers rights'
e.g. the AU Model Law.
Article 9.1 of IT-PGRFA contains the justification, that the contracting parties
recognize the enormous contribution that local and indigenous communities andfarmers of all regions of the world, particularly those in the centres of origin andcrop diversity have made and will continue to make for the conservation anddevelopment of plant genetic resources which constitute the basis of food andagricultural production throughout the world.
Article 9.2 of IT-PGRFA provides responsibilities i.e. the contracting parties agree
that the responsibility for realizing Farmers' Rights as they relate to plant genetic
resource for food and agriculture rests with National Governments. This meansthat the issue of Farmers Rights is the responsibility of the National Governments.
Article 9.3 of IT-PGRFA is where interpretation of the right to save, use, exchange
and sell farm saved seed is made, but subject to national law and as appropriate.
This still points out that the responsibility is with the national governments,
although many experts regard this article as void since it explicitly subordinates
the interpretation of the Farmers' Rights to the scope of other national laws.
However, even if taking into consideration that Farmers' Rights is primarily anational responsibility the Governing body of IT-PGRFA should consider it usefulto advice national governments on possible ways to operationalize Farmers'
Rights and on the need to develop laws or regulations that provide the proper
framework for such implementation.
12 | Why Informal Seed Sector is Important in Food Security

Finally, UPOV roots for plant breeders rights and UPOV 1978, includes farmers'
privilege to save seed from their harvests; to plant in the following season,
however, it is against selling to other farmers.
Over and above the International treaties, and agreements discussed above,
there are organizations on International level that handle various issues affecting
the World Seed Industry, especially the formal seed sectors: The Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) gives regulatory guidelines onfield certification standards; while the International Seed Testing Association(ISTA) provides rules for seed testing. Seed trade industry issues are articulatedby the International Seed Federation (ISF) which encompasses both public andprivate industry representatives of breeders and seed companies. Even withthese organizations setting standards for the formalized seed supply system, thechallenge will be on the IPR for Genetically modified organisms on some
protected plant varieties. Secondly, there are no rules for the informal seed supply
systems which appear neglected and yet it provides most of the seed nationally in
Africa.

What Policies & Legal Frameworks
Do the Target Countries Have?
Under normal circumstances, a national Government is expected to develop
policies before the legal frameworks. However, most African countries start withthe legal frameworks before developing policies. Kenya for example establishedan IPR legal frameworks in the late eighties/early nineties and to date only a draft
policy is developed. Similarly, Seed Acts and/or plant variety Protection Acts havebeen in existence for over a few decades and yet the policies to guide thedirection of the Acts were only recently developed.
It has also been noted that most Acts developed by the African countries are in
response to a crises e.g. In the case of Kenya the IPR Act was developed basedon the dispute on ownership of HIV/AID vaccines developed between the
Universities of Nairobi and Oxford.

Why Informal Seed Sector is Important in Food Security | 13

The Plant Breeders' Rights Act was developed because of the demand from theinternational horticulture industry which was interested in vegetable and flower
growing. In other cases Acts have been developed because of importation andexportation of seeds with neighbours or other countries.
Most of the Acts developed are geared towards International standards with little
regard to local circumstances. The Acts are also influenced by the outside forces,
hence they are inclined to meet the objectives of the outside forces less or none ofthe objectives of the national country. Similarly, if at all a policy is developed, thesame trend is followed targeting the International Standards when majority offarmers, for example, still have their informal seed sector (which is neglected).
Kenya has developed a seed policy and the objectives of the policy aim ataddressing or improving the formal seed sector through the private sector. Thishas been influenced mainly by the seed companies, especially multinationals,
represented by Seed Trade Association of Kenya (STAK). In the whole document,
there is only one paragraph that talks about informal seed sector and in thatparagraph it acknowledges the importance of the informal seed sector since it
provides 80% of the national seed requirement. In addition, there is only one
policy statement which aims at capacity building within the informal seed sector
but does not state how it will be done. The formal seed sector contributes only
20% of the national seed requirement and yet the whole policy is focused on it;
and that sector is confined to hybrid maize seed and horticultural seeds only.
To improve quality of seed, generally, efforts must be directed to stimulating theinformal seed sector through introduction of new germplasm at various intervals.
Therefore focus should be on how to transform the informal seed sector rather
than focus on a sector that cannot meet the national seed requirement. Finally,
the committees to formulate the policy and develop legal frameworks must be allencompassing; including the civil society, farmers, so that the place for informal
seed sector can be considered in such policies and legal frameworks.

14 | Why Informal Seed Sector is Important in Food Security

What is the Right to Save, Use,
Exchange & Sell Farm-saved Seed?
This right relates to the management of farm saved seeds and propagating
materials. It formalizes the law of the land that encompasses farmers'
management of their seed systems. These customary rights are noted infunctional mechanisms and relationships between stakeholders involved in suchmechanisms but they are challenged by rather recent regulations such as seedlaws and Intellectual Property Rights.
The majority of the genetic diversity maintained on-farm is managed in small
scale agriculture in which farmers' seed systems dominate and where the formal
seed sector plays a limited and additional role. Farmers' seed systems depend on
the free exchange of seeds either through small gifts, barter exchange or trade.
This system needs protection from negative impact of regulations designed topromote the formal seed system (like the Kenyan Systems). Such negative
impact may stem from agricultural policies (Kenya Seed Policy) and seed laws,
environmental policies; regulating access and trade and innovation policies.
Since time in memorial, farmers' seed systems do not only cover traditional landraces but also modern varieties developed by scientific plant breeding andmodern farmers' varieties. When modern varieties enter the farmers' seed systemand seeds are shared among farmers, intellectual property rights may interfere
and there is likelihood for the farmers' materials to be eroded as well.
When farmers share their materials across legally defined borders ofcommunities or states, biodiversity laws that limit access to genetic resources
may be offended. Hence, there is need for clear direction on how the Farmers'
Rights are administered. This still remains a challenge to national governments in
Africa.
In addition, modern seed laws often do not take into account important aspects offarmers' seed systems as is illustrated by the occurrence of modern farmers'
varieties that may be uniform and clearly distinct from the officially released
varieties of the same crop.

Why Informal Seed Sector is Important in Food Security | 15

Such varieties may result from introgression of genetic material of modern
varieties into farmers varieties either or not in the context of participatory plant
breeding. In some cases this process erodes the materials of farmers, unlessthere is a programme to initially collect the farmers' materials and keep in genebanks where their materials are completely eroded, they could fall back to their
germplasm kept in the bank.

The Way Forward
It is apparent that most countries in Eastern and Southern Africa are stillcontemplating on which way to go in terms of seed production and marketing.
Most of them are members of WTO-TRIPS except Ethiopia which is justnegotiating to be a member. They are also members of the IT-PGRFA and hence
they can implement both the Breeders' Rights and Farmers' Rights. They also
have the option to go the Sui-generis way for both the Breeders' Rights in UPOV
but also focusing on Farmers Rights.
To be objective and addressing the needs of the local farmers, the National
Governments should assess both the formal and informal seed sectors before
formulating policies and developing legal frameworks for the seed sector. Theirnational needs should supersede the international forces hence their objectives
in policy making or formulation of legal framework should address the desires ofthe local farmers. This means that the National Governments should support bothinformal and formal seed sectors with emphasis on integrated seed systems toaddress the issue of seed quality. However, if the informal seed sector isneglected, the quality will continue to get worse and in the long run, have low
productivity as it appears with the current trend in many African countries. The
introduction of foundation seed from NARS at regular intervals to the informal
seed sector will determine the improvement of agricultural productivity.
Ethiopia is rooted for both Breeders' Rights and Farmers' Rights and there isnothing wrong with other Governments studying the systems and establishingthe integrated systems. India has tried this and other countries could learn fromtheir difficulties and benefits before deciding on which way to go. The
International Agreements have provided opportunities for national governments
to decide based on their local needs.
16 | Why Informal Seed Sector is Important in Food Security

References
CTA Publication – N.P. Louwaars with G.A.M. Marrewijk – Seed Supply Systems indeveloping countries.
Government of India, 2002. National Seed Policy.
Government of Tanzania 2002 – Plant Breeders Rights Act.
Government of Tanzania 2003. The seeds Act.
Jean Claude Rubyogo, Louise Sperling, Losira Nasirumbi and Sindi Kasambala –Developing seed systems with and for the marginalized: case of common beansin East, Central and Southern Africa.
Lemma Desalegn (Dr). Nigussie Dechassa (Dr.), Niels Louwaars (Dr.), Marya
Thiysen (Dr.), Walter de Boef (Dr.) and Joep van den Broek – Concept note on
integrated seed sector development.
Niels Louwaars and Bert Visser (2007). Perspectives on Farmers Rights:
Consensus reached and challenges remaining during the International Seminaron farmers Rights in the context of Global Regime on Intellectual Property Rights.
Republic of Kenya (2009). National Seed Industry Policy.

Why Informal Seed Sector is Important in Food Security | 17

The African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS) is a multidisciplinary network of researchers, private sector actors andpolicy makers promoting the generation, dissemination, use andmastery of science, technology and innovation (ST&I) for African
development, environmental sustainability and global inclusion.
ATPS intends to achieve its mandate through research, capacity
building and training, science communication/dissemination andsensitization, participatory multi-stakeholder dialogue,knowledge brokerage, and policy advocacy.

African Technology
Policy Studies Network
Contact the Executive Director at
The Chancery, 3rd Floor, Valley Rd.
P O Box 10081, 00100-Nairobi, Kenya
Tel: (254 020) 2714092, 2714168,
2714498, 2723800
Fax: (254 020) 2714028
http://www.atpsnet.org

Science, Technology and Innovation
for African Development

ISBN: 978-9966-030-42-9