Presentation by Daniel Otunge, African Agricultural Technology Foundation Delivered at the B4FA Media Dialogue Workshop, Accra, Ghana - September 2012 www.b4fa.org

1. Seed Trade Environment in Ghana
By Daniel Otunge
OFAB Coordinator
d.otunge@aatf-africa.org
B4FA’s Media Fellowship Programme,
GHANA

2. What is AATF?
• The African Agricultural Technology
Foundation (AATF) was set up in 2003 to
facilitate transfer of proprietary technologies
to smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa.

3. AATF Projects
 AATF: Projects include:
 WEMA,
 Cowpea,
 Nitrogen Efficient Rice,
 Striga Control in maize,
 Aflatoxin control,
 Virus resistant bananas;
 Cassava,
 OFAB

4. About Open Forum on Agricultural
Biotechnology
• This is a platform for sharing credible, factual and
balanced information on modern biotechnology with a
view to impacting policy making process.
• Started by AATF in 2006 in Nairobi
Dr. Noah Wekesa, former
Minister for Science
& Technology, KENYA, opening
OFAB in 2006

5. OFAB Chapters
AATF
OFAB
Ghana: CSIR
OFAB
Uganda: UNCST
OFAB
Tanzania: COSTECH
OFAB
Nigeria: NABDA
OFAB Burkina:
INERA
OFAB
Kenya: ISAAA

6. SEED TRADE IN GHANA

8. Ghana Seed Schemes
Breeder’s
Seed
CSIR
Foundation
Seed
GLDB
Certified
Seed
Companies/individuals
Standard
Seed
QDS
State agencies: research, certification and release
FARMERS
Production/Market linkages

9. The Role of farmers
 Informal seed sector dominates seed industry in Ghana.
 About 80% of seeds planted are farmer-saved grains
 Recognized by government
 Registered individual seed growers/merchants
 Distorted market system

10. Role of national institutes
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)
institutions produce most of breeder’s seed
 Established in 1957
 Under the Ministry of Environment, Science &
Technology
 13 Research Institutes in agriculture, fishery,
forestry, industry, environment and health
 600 research scientists
 All biotech research done by CSIR bodies

11. Role of research institutes
• Breeder’s seed is given to GLDB to produce Foundation for
seed companies and other players to produce certified and
standard seeds
• Challenges include: Inadequate funding; brain drain; ill
equipped laboratories; inadequate training; poor project
supervision, dependency on donor funding, etc.

12. Role of Universities
 National public universities in Africa also play significant roles
in production of breeder’s seed
 They do this to fulfill both training and commercial purposes
 For instance, the University of Ghana’s
 Institute of Agricultural Research (IAR) and
 West African Center for Crops Improvement, etc

13. Role of Seed Companies
 Ghana has about 30 registered small-to-media companies
 The small, local companies make significant contributions in
multiplication of foundation seeds
 The multinationals like Monsanto, Pioneer, Bayer, Syngenta,
Pannar, SeedCo, Viba Seed, etc., have the resources to
produce their own seeds breeder’s seed, including biotech
ones, and present to authorities for NPT, DUS, certification and
release.
 There is fear of control of seed supply by multinationals

14. Role of Seed Companies
 Plant breeding is a very expensive undertaking that
takes over 10 years to complete: It is worse with biotech
due to elaborate risk assessment. It costs upwards of
$100 m

15. Role of CGIAR
 The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research
(CGIAR) also plays important roles in plant breeding in Ghana:
Most relevant ones include:
International Maize and Wheat Research Center (CIMMYT)
International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA)
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
(ICRISAT )
Africa Rice Center (WARDA)
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and
International Potato Center (CIP)

16. Role of regional organizations
 NEPAD centers of excellence
 FARA (Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa)
 CORAF/WECARD (West & Central African Council for
Agricultural Research & Development)
 RECS (Regional Economic Communities like ECOWAS
 AGRA (Alliance for the Green revolution in Africa)
 AATF,
 WACC (West African Center for Crops Improvement)

17. SEED REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT

18. Seed regulation in Ghana
• The Ghana Seed Inspection Division (GSID) is
responsible for seed certification and release.
Certification steps include:
• Determination of eligibility of cultivars/seeds; Verifying source; Field
inspections; Lot examination; Sampling; Seed testing; Labeling; Sealing; Quality
control
• GSID has on seed packaging materials which they sell to seed
growers

19. Seed regulation in Ghana
• The National Seed Council (NSC) is responsible for
policy formulation
• National Seed Testing Laboratory carries out testing:
– Moisture content,
– DUS (Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability),
– Purity
– Germination
– Health
Biotech crops go through even more rigorous tests

20. Seed regulatory environment
The country has the following regulations that affect seed:
• Seeds (certification and Standards) Decree of 1972
• Seed and fertilizer Act Law
• Biosafety Act 2011
• Biosafety Regulations
The Media needs to interrogate the current system to guard against
Overregulation

21. Use of other inputs
Use of other inputs like fertilizer is still very low in Africa compared to
other regions of the world because:
 Inputs are very expensive due to taxes
 Lack of availability,
 Poverty
Hence interventions by:
– Seed companies,
– Relief agencies,
– Governments,
– NGOs (eg AGRA, IFDC)
– Churches

22. HOW SEEDS REACH FARMERS

23. Role of seed companies:
 The seed companies in Ghana are increasingly becoming the
central players in production and distribution of seeds to
farmers.
 They reach farmers through:
 Agro-dealer networks
 Demonstration plots and extensive network of
 sales and marketing agents
 Promotion
 Media
 Farmer field days
 Exhibitions

24. Role of extension service:
• In Ghana DAES is responsible for agriculture
extension
• However, generally the extension service is:
–Ineffective
–Underfunded
–Understaffed

25. Role of information

26. Role of information:
Information on available varieties is provided to farmers right form the time of
variety release which are usually made public through the press and
catalogues.
 Sources of information include:
 seed companies (promotion, demo farms, sales & marketers,
exhibition, info materials)
 The mass media
 agro-dealers,
 NGOs
 Extension
 Use of ICTs (mFarms, esoko, etc.)
 Farmer associations
 Exhibitions

27. Farmer level promotion
This is mainly done by:
 Seed companies (sales agents)
 Industry association (SEEDPAG)
 Traditional meetings
 Demo farms
 Farmer field schools
 IEC materials, etc
 Extension service
 Farmer Groups (eg Ghana National Association of Farmers &Fishers)
 NGOs, (AATF, AGRA, ISAAA, World Vision, Action Aid, Oxfarm, among
others)
(SEEDPAG: Seed Producers Association Of Ghana)

28. Role of AFSTA:
 The African Seed Trade Association is an industry body formed
to promote trade in quality seeds and innovative agricultural
technologies
 It has about 26 National Seed Trade Associations and 70
member seed companies spread across Africa.
 In Ghana it operates through SEEDPAG.
 Main programs include: ASIESA, WASA,COMRAP and Biotech
awareness.

29. Role of AFSTA:
 The national associations partner with government
departments and seed companies to create channels through
which farmers can access seeds more easily.
 Organizes annual congress where farmers get information at
exhibition booths.
Congress: 5-8 March 2013

30. Role of AGRA:
 The AGRA’s Program for African’s
Seed Systems (PASS) is perhaps the
most ambitious and well coordinator
effort to improve supply of quality
seeds to farmers in Africa.
 PASS aims to increase Africa’s
capacity to breed, produce and
deploy quality seeds to farmers
Dr Joe Dvries, PASS Director

31. Role of AGRA:
PASS programs encompass:
 Strengthening seed regulatory frameworks
 Advocating for better polices and laws
 Building capacities of seed companies
 Developing agro-dealer networks
 Supporting farmer cooperatives
 Funding local seed producers
 Academic and skills training

32. THE STATUS OF PLANT INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY RIGHTS (IPRS) IN
Ghana

33. What is IPR
• IPRs are legal instruments used to protect creations of the mind which have
commercial value, such as inventions.
• They grant exclusive rights to the creator to protect access to and use of
their property from unauthorized use by third parties.
• Article 27 of the TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of IPRs) Agreement have
brought about a major shift towards Plant Variety Protection (PVP)
• Other important bodies that emphasize IPRs are UPOV (International
Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants and ARIPO (African
Regional Intellectual Property Organization) .

34. IPRs
• New Plant Varieties are eligible for the intellectual property
protection under UPOV , WIPO, TRIPS and ARIPO among
others.
• Few countries in the sub-region have Plant Breeder’s Rights
law.
• Protection of plants through intellectual property is riddled
with controversy centered on the threat to food security.

35. IPRs in Ghana
• Ghana has a draft legislation on protection of plant variety to
be tabled in Parliament.
• Currently, despite the fact that the country has Patent Act,
2003, Act 657, section 2(e)- (g) of the Act excludes patentability
of plant or animal varieties or essentially biological processes
and the products of such processes.
• The weaknesses in IP legislation and reluctance to grant
patents for plant variety protection are some of the reasons for
slow investment in the seed subsector in Ghana.

36. Challenges facing seed sub-sector
The following are some of the major challenges facing the seed
systems in Africa:
 Unstable government policy
 Weak seed market systems
 Low seed adoption rate
 Lack of up to date data on seed
 Inadequate capacity building
 High production costs
 Inadequate distribution channels
 Poor extension service
 Poor storage facilities

37. Challenges facing seed sub-sector
 Poor policy implementation
 Inadequate enforcement of seed laws and regulations
 Poor funding of research for seed development
 Counterfeiting and adulteration of seeds
 Underdeveloped irrigation systems
 Inadequate land for seed production
 Lengthy variety release process
 Expensive credit facilities

38. Challenges facing seed sub-sector
 Lack of harmonized regional seed policies and regulations
 Unavailability of seeds in commercial quantities
 Lack of awareness of new varieties
 High relative price of seeds
 Lack of insurance system for agriculture industry
 Insufficient supply of good quality foundation seeds
 Underinvestment in diffusion strategies
 Poor agro-dealer network
 Weak national seed trade/grower associations

39. Comments and discussions
THANK YOU
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