Successful Seed
Systems Sown in the
Wake of Crop Failure
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The drought of 2002 took millions of Ethiopians to the brink, recalls Dennis Latimer, Head of Agriculture and Natural Resources projects for Catholic Relief Services (CRS). “Many rural families sold all their assets—goats, farm implements, and even the wooden rafters from their houses—all at depleted prices since the neighbors were selling off their assets as well.”
Out of the crop failure of 2002 came the project “Rapid Response Maize Seed Production to Enhance Food Security in Drought-Prone Areas of Ethiopia” to help alleviate seed shortfalls in the affected region. Funded by USAID and with CIMMYT as the executing agency, the work involves CRS and other nongovernment organizations, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Ethiopian Agricultural Research Organization (EARO), and farmer groups.
Replacing Food Aid
with Farmer Empowerment
Latimer, like other partners in the project, had recognized
the need to help drought-affected families recuperate
their assets and, somehow, to create positive outcomes from a very bad
situation. Most non-government organizations tender bids to buy large
amounts of seed for free distribution, an approach that Latimer and his
CRS colleagues say has many downsides. It creates dependency; discourages
farmers from diversifying into agricultural pursuits other than maize
cropping; undermines existing, small-scale, seed distribution
networks; and, importantly, often results in the distribution of varieties
that do not match local agro-environments or farmer preferences.
The approach proposed by CRS and adopted by the project rests on three assumptions: (1) farmers did not have sufficient assets to purchase seed for 2003; (2) good seed of local, farmer-developed varieties was available through indigenous networks; and (3) farmers have valuable knowledge and judgment.
“The farmer seed system is very strong in Ethiopia—not just for purchasing from small local vendors, but through community and family networks and barter,” says Latimer. The project was designed to capitalize on this and build up seed production capabilities for local markets. One of the greatest opportunities identified, according to Latimer, was the introduction of improved, open-pollinated maize varieties. Fresh seed of hybrid maize must be purchased every season for sowing, to obtain the benefits of such varieties. In contrast, farmers using open-pollinated varieties can save seed from the harvest and sow it the following cycle, without a loss of yield or other desirable traits. Seed of open-pollinated varieties is also much easier to produce than seed of hybrids, making the former apt for use in community seed production.
Farmer Feedback
and Fairs for Seed Trade
One role of CIMMYT has been to select appropriate, locally-adapted varieties for seed multiplication and eventual distribution. The center has also sponsored and conducted seed production training for staff of EARO and of theA wassa College of Agriculture, monitored seed production in the field, and provided breeder’s seed in 2004 of eight varieties for multiplication under irrigation. Modest amounts of excess seed are going to CRS and FAO for use in on-farm demonstrations in 2004 that will acquaint farmers with the varieties’ attributes and obtain their feedback. Seed of preferred varieties will eventually reach farmers through an approach advanced by CRS—seed fairs—that also promotes new planting options and community seed distribution and production systems.
The Right Seed for a
Rain-Starved Countryside?
The FAO project “Strengthening Seed Supply Systems at the Local Level” is already working to create systems that are farmer based, farmer owned, and farmer managed, to ensure sustainability. Farmers are being trained in seed production and in the rigorous management practices that ensure seed quality, and are putting up 70% of the cost for seed storage facilities.
Central
to this undertaking, says project director Osman Ibrahim, are improved,
open-pollinated varieties. “In the past, NGOs and relief organizations
were sending out any kind of seed they could get their hands on, with
little knowledge of characteristics or adaptation. All too often, seed
turned out to be of longseason, local varieties that would fail under
the area’s droughty conditions. CIMMYT and EARO must be credited
with properly assessing the growing environment here and identifying and
really promoting suitable, earlymaturing, open-pollinated varieties.”
The collaboration of institutions such as EARO, CIMMYT, FAO, and nongovernment organizations to address seed supply problems is seen as very positive by Laura Powers, Agriculture/Food Security Advisor for USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, who was instrumental in putting together that agency’s project. “These efforts demonstrate what can be achieved when committed and capable partners pull together to build food security in the wake of crop failure,” she says.
For more information:
s.twumasi@cgiar.org
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January, 2005